The Penn Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy is thrilled to announce our next in-person clinical conflict management workshop: Martin Luther King weekend, Friday, January 13-Monday, January 16, 2023.

The 4-day workshop will be held at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and will run from 9:00-5:00 each day. The Penn Program in Clinical Conflict Management has offered over 100 workshops and conflict resolution seminars since the program's launch in May 2010.

In this Intensive, students will:

• Learn how to navigate and improve challenging clinical relationships (patient-provider, family-provider, inter-staff conflicts)
• Learn the techniques of facilitation among a diverse set of stakeholders
• Learn to effectively manage clinical disputes among and between caregivers, patients and surrogates through mediation
• Discover to how to define problems and assess underlying interests to generate mutually acceptable options
• Role-play in variety of clinical situations as both disputants and mediators
• Practice mediation with professional actors
• Use video-tapes of simulations to improve mediation techniques and strengthen interpersonal skills
• Receive constructive feedback in a supportive environment

This workshop is intended for nurses, physicians, clergy, social workers, clinical ethics consultants and members of ethics committees who face clinical ethics conflicts in their role in the healthcare system.

DESCRIPTION:

Professional mediators possess a unique skill set applicable to the facilitation of difficult conversations between individuals in emotionally laden situations. An effective mediation process can generate solutions that address the underlying interests of all disputants and resolve conflicts that appear intractable. This skill set has increasingly been recognized as invaluable to the work of clinical ethics consultants as they navigate conflicts between and among patients, families, surrogates and providers. Moreover, given wide-spread agreement that communication failures lie at the root of many clinical conflicts, mediation values and catalyzes the effective communication of individual concerns, values, perspectives and feelings -- all of which are essential to the clinical ethics consultation process. This hands-on Workshop introduces the principal techniques of mediation through the use of simulated role plays with a focus on conflicts caused by communication breakdowns, highly charged value-conflicts, and cultural differences.

Instructor-Student ratio of 1:6. Space is limited. Students can earn Penn course credit or take the intensive as a workshop. Cost of the workshop is $2,500, which includes meals and materials.  Tuition benefits can be applied for students taking it for credit.

To apply for the workshop:

https://hosting.med.upenn.edu/forms/mdprogram/view.php?id=35058

Workshop Instructors:

Edward J. Bergman, JD  |  Founding Faculty & Principal Mediator, Penn Clinical Ethics Mediation Program

Autumn Fiester, PhD  |  Director, Penn Program in Clinical Conflict Management; Associate Chair for Education

Aliza Narva, JD, MSN, HEC-c  |  Director, Clinical Ethics Consult Service, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania

Mary Walton, MBE, MSN, HEC-c   |  Emeritus Director, Clinical Ethics Consult Service, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania

For more information, contact: fiester@upenn.edu