Top 10 Things You Don’t Want to Miss at the 2017 Empathy + Innovation Summit

Attending Cleveland Clinic’s 8th Annual Empathy + Innovations Summit later this month? Here Cleveland Clinic Chief Experience Officer Adrienne Boissy, MD, MA, handpicks 10 things you won’t want to miss.

10. Healing services & morning yoga. If you’ve attended in the past, yes, these (and other activities) are back!

9. Welcome reception. Don’t be tempted to get a late start! Our welcome reception kicks off the entire summit — and gives you and your national and international patient experience colleagues the perfect meet & greet opportunity.

8. 2 new workshops. Be sure to register in advance for two additional workshops on Sunday, May 21: REDE to Communicate and Shared Medical Appointments.

7. Empathy Amplified Award. We believe in honoring the work that you do. We’ve already received many submissions for teams and individuals who exemplify what it means to model empathy and compassion day in and day out. We look forward to presenting this award at the end of the summit!

6. Posters! Everyone has worked hard putting together their posters for the summit, so we’ve created a dedicated time and space for attendees to check them out. Talk with the creators who are trying to drive improvement in this space.

5. House of Blues. We work hard, but we also play hard. This year’s social event at the House of Blues is less formal than in the past. Plus, we have a few unexpected surprises in store for you (besides docs playing guitars)!

4. 360⁰ of Ideas. This interactive activity is the perfect chance to mix and mingle with individuals from other organizations.

3. Design-thinking workshops. Don’t miss these workshops highlighting hot topics in patient experience. Here, Cleveland Clinic collaborates with Mayo Clinic and Kaiser Permanente to showcase the work they’ve done on design-thinking —and how those efforts can impact our patients’ journeys.

2. We’ll tackle burnout! Our CEO and President Toby Cosgrove, MD, will be joined by Tait Shanafelt, MD, from Mayo Clinic, and Christine Sinsky, MD, from the AMA, to discuss this critical topic. It’s one that faces all of our front-line clinicians, and certainly impacts the experience of our patients.

1. When Breath Becomes Air. I’m truly looking forward to a special session on Tuesday with Luci Kalanithi, MD, and our own palliative care physician Kathleen Neuendorf, MD. This promises to be a powerful, facilitated discussion with Dr. Kalanithi about her husband’s life and death and her subsequent book, When Breath Becomes Air.