With the passing of his wife, Richard Woltman realized that some care providers weren’t completely prepared to have conversations about end-of-life issues and he and his family didn’t know what to ask. In memory of Kaye Woltman, the Woltman family established a three-part initiative to help provide training to health care providers to implement research-based practices that improve patient and family satisfaction in end-of-life care.
Description of the video:
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k and I were married nearly 25 years she
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was diagnosed with lung cancer in
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october two thousand nine we had no end
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of life plan maybe like a lot of
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Americans we were so blessed and were
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enjoying life so light so we thought it
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would never end
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k was a very sick woman and she finally
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lost her battle with cancer in August 27
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of 2010
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the diagnosis of a life-threatening
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illness can be an overwhelming and
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confusing experience patients and their
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families rely on healthcare providers to
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help them navigate this new and often
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unfamiliar territory unfortunately
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healthcare providers receive little to
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no training about how to communicate
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with patients and their families during
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this difficult time what seem to be
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lacking in the treatment initially was
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heart-to-heart talk about Kay's illness
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what it was all about and hindsight we
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sort of live along in one month after
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another month after another month with
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kind of a gradual downhill slide I had
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many opportunities to collaborate with
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Dean broom and Susan Hickman on work
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through the school and Dean broom asked
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me if I would be willing to lead a
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project related to a philanthropic gift
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the gift is from mr. dick waltman who's
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an Indiana University alone he had an
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experience with his wife at the end of
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her life and unlike some people they
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took their experience which was not the
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best and they decided to give money to
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the school of nursing so that we could
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develop programs to improve how we care
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for patients at the end of life the
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Institute of Medicine recently released
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a report on dying in America there's
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abundant research that shows we do not
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do a good job of caring for patients and
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families at the end of patients lives we
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need better skill and training at
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treating their symptoms more importantly
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we need to do a much better job at
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creating opportunities to have
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conversations about end-of-life planning
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I think what have been really great if
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we have been given kind of a map of
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prognosis and said basic is saying you
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know you're going to have a few months
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here where you'll be able to get around
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you've traveled and you won't be dealing
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with complications probably we didn't
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change our lifestyle very much I guess
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hoping there would be a cure the woman's
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experience is unfortunately all too
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common inspired by the challenges faced
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during his wife's last year of life I
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you alum mr. dick Wolfman made a
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generous gift to the Indiana University
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School of Nursing in 2013 the gift is
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housed in the IUPUI respect signature
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Center located in the School of Nursing
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this interdisciplinary Center
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facilitates research clinician training
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and community outreach to improve
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palliative and end-of-life communication
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the wolfman family communication gift
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has had a significant impact in four
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areas first it supports the endowment
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for the cave oltman lecture and
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communication this enduring gift will
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bring internationally recognized experts
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and palliative and end-of-life care
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communication to Indiana to share and
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network with our clinicians and
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researchers second the wolfman family
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communication gift supports the wolfman
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graduate student fellowship this support
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is essential to our graduate students
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are interested in communication and
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decision making in the palliative and
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end-of-life care context and provides
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much-needed financial support to both
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learn about this area and collaborate
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with faculty who are leaders in the
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field lastly the gift made it possible
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for dr. Lu cheveux shell to develop an
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innovative communication training
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program for clinicians throughout the
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region
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the woven interprofessional
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communication Scholars Program or wisp
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trains health care providers how to
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communicate with seriously ill patients
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and their families struggling with
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difficult decisions we've blended the
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principles of improvisational theatre
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pioneered at Northwestern Feinberg
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School of Medicine with an
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internationally recognized communication
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training program called vital talk the
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blend of these two programs has created
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an innovative new approach to training
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clinicians the legacy of the wolfman
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gift to the School of Nursing is that it
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has helped to develop leaders in this
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area to spread best practices and
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ultimately improve the care of patients
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and their families k once said to me we
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were very successful partners and she
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came in to tell me about some major
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problem that she had learned about and I
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was getting her an attitude about it
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because I didn't want to accept the boat
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bad news and she got very irritated and
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I was such a great lesson she said
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listen do you want me to tell you what
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you need to know or do you want me to
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tell you what you want to hear I had
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never ever forgotten that and that's
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that's not easy it's not easy to be the
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messenger sometimes I know the wolfman's
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could have had a better experience and
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we're grateful that their response to
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their experience was to give a gift to
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the School of Nursing we've not only
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taken a vision for what improving
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communication around palliative and
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end-of-life care is we've created a
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program that's going to allow students
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and the Health Sciences here to learn
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the skills necessary to improve their
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communication when they speak with
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patients and families about difficult
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issues around palliative in
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of life care finally come to grips with
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the fact I am NOT immortal and become
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too except with a little counseling that
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dying is part of living and that it's
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another phase of life and so I'm now
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very comfortable with all that I think
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perhaps it's time for physicians to have
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more flexibility and their patient
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experiences and step out of their
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training and put themselves into the
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patient's position and have the
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compassion to be forthright I think we
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have a long way to go in the country to
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understand and come to grips with end of
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life
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for more information you can visit the
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respect center website
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you
Program Initiatives:
The Kaye Woltman Endowed Visiting Lectureship in Health Communication through the IU School of Nursing is an annual lectureship that will allow trainees, clinicians, community providers, faculty, and students direct access to nationally recognized experts focusing specifically on the critical issues of communication across the lifespan.
Speakers will address topics such as ethical challenges healthcare providers face about palliative and end-of-life care or best practices when initiating difficult conversations with patients and their families.
The Woltman Inter-professional Communication Scholars Program (WISP) is a three year communication initiative that will provide training for healthcare providers and will advance and translate the existing science of communication research into practice, and is centered on the care of patients who are experiencing a life-limiting illness in any clinical setting, hospitals, hospice, ambulatory clinics, and long-term care facilities.
The program also intends to improve communication between members of the healthcare team and between the patient and their loved ones. According to Dr. Wocial the WISP project director, “the thing that sets WISP apart is the focus on a team approach to caring for patients.
Rather than simply providing participants with information WISP combines techniques from “medical improv” an innovative program developed by Professor Katie Watson at the Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University with techniques from “Vital Talk” a structured communication program focused on palliative care, to give participants an opportunity to more fully develop their communication skills through practice with expert coaches and mentors.
With this training, a healthcare team will be able to collaborate to determine who can best lead these types of critical conversations.”
The Richard and Kaye Woltman Endowed Fellowship in Health Communication will allow an IUSON graduate student with an interest in palliative and end-of-life care to play an active role in the development of the WISP communication project and support the work of the RESPECT Center.
The fellowship will exist in perpetuity, continuing to enable graduate students to focus their studies on communication during end-of-life/palliative care after the completion of the WISP project.
”This program will help make sure patients and their families are guided by healthcare teams through the difficult palliative and end-of-life care conversations” said Mr. Woltman. Lucia D. Wocial, PhD, RN, adjunct assistant professor at IUSON, nurse ethicist for IU Health, and program leader for the Fairbanks Center for Medical Ethics Program in Nursing Ethics, Marion Broome, former Dean of IU School of Nursing, and Susan E. Hickman, PhD will provide leadership and direction for the project.