Preconference Workshops

ASB Bank Visiting Professor

Workshop 2 - Professor Richard Gunderman

Leading a Life that Matters through Healthcare

In the ideal, a career in healthcare should be one of life's most fulfilling callings.  Physicians, nurses, and other health professionals are privileged to attend some of the most signal events of human life, including birth and death.  Yet many health professionals report feeling exhausted, discouraged, and burned out.  What steps can health professionals take to increase the probability of finding fulfillment in our professional lives?  How can we achieve greater coherence and even synergism between the professional and personal dimensions of life?  To answer these questions, we need to clarify the features of daily life that are most conducive to fulfillment, and devise strategies to increase the frequency and intensity of such experiences.  In this workshop, we draw on both current psychological research and classic texts in philosophy, literature, and religion to illuminate the humane dimensions of healthcare.

Workshop 1 & 3 - Glenn Colquhoun

Creative Writing

Story is an integral but often overlooked part of medicine. The earliest textbooks were significantly narrative. It is always informative about disease and it's processes but at the same time allows health professionals to stand back and see how they interact with the worlds of their patients. This workshop is limited to 10 health professionals who are interested in developing their ability to write stories about their experiences working in a health profession.  Participants will be expected to produce a short piece of written work about their work, i.e. fiction, non-fiction, drama or poetry, and submit it a month before the workshop. The works will then be circulated to others in the group before being discussed together at the symposium. 

Workshop 4 - Dr Jane Mills

Developing Supportive Relationships in the General Practice Workplace Including Mentoring, Clinical Supervision And Preceptoring

Strategically developing and promoting supportive relationships in general practice workplaces is important in creating teams, retaining staff and building capacity. Differences between mentoring, clinical supervision and preceptoring need to be considered when planning how to make this a reality. This workshop aims to increase participants’ knowledge about: the continuum of supportive relationships, the benefits of each and the barriers to implementation that can be faced. Skills will be developed in relation to assessing communication styles, implementing reflection on and in practice and setting up successful supportive relationships. The workshop will conclude with a problem solving session about the potential problems and pitfalls that can be encountered.