Dear Diary,
Sat May 7th. All set, ready to go! Excited to visit the KER Unit for a few weeks and to join them at the SAEM SDM Consensus Conference in New Orleans. This will be my first visit to the Mayo Clinic, and one I’ve been looking forward to since I became a research collaborator last winter.
Wed May 11th. We just returned from the Consensus Conference. It was inspiring and motivating to see so many participants (most of them clinicians) trying to find ways to make SDM work in practice and to improve care for their patients. Victor presented his keynote lecture ‘What is SDM? (and what it is not)’ and we worked on writing a paper on this keynote for Academic Emergency Medicine.
Thu May 12th. First day at the KER Unit. What a day! I attended a course on EBM, discussed grants and ongoing research projects with Juan Pablo, Mike and Aaron, and had a braindump on SDM (old and new thinking) with Victor and Ian. Note to self: replace ‘yes, but…’ by ‘yes, and…’.
Sun May 15th. Friday, I finished the AEM paper with Ana and Erik. Gaby presented her study on the effects of social networks in management of diabetes on Saturday. In the evening, we got together for drinks and laughs (with bubbles, cheese and chocolates) at Annie’s place. Today, I’m going out to meet Nilay for brunch.
Mon May 16th. Started with the weekly huddle this morning: what a great way to get an overview of what each member of the team is working on right now. I worked on our Choice Awareness project* and attended the Patient Advisory Group to discuss Juan Pablo’s project on SDM in Thyroid cancer treatment. Amazing how this group of patients manages to come together every month (for over 10 years!), to improve the work of the researchers and to make sure that researchers don’t lose the connection with ‘the real world’.
Tue May 17th. Trying to see whether the Choice Awareness project can take us to the moon! Maybe. Also met with Kasey to learn more about the ICAN tool.
Wed May 18th. No trip to the moon (yet), we will have to find other methods to make this journey. I worked with Victor to build my Apollo II. Juan Pablo and Ian joined, which led to a conversational dance of thoughts, (crazy) ideas, hypotheses, and approaches. Best day ever! In spite of, as well as because of the challenges we faced this morning. In the afternoon we came together with a group of clinicians and researchers interested in SDM in diagnostics to see how to take this field forward.
Fri May 20th. Yesterday, I discussed the progress and challenges around the Choice Awareness project in the SDM journal club. We went for dinner and drinks afterwards to continue our discussion on SDM old and new thinking. I continued with the project today, focusing on capturing the differences in SDM between a mechanical approach and a human connection. It takes two to tango, but we have no way to measure that dance. Speaking of dancing (and of mechanical approach versus human connection), in the evening we had a birthday party at the local salsa place.
May 22nd. BBQ with the KER Unit team at Aaron’s place yesterday and smores at the river with Gaby, Mike and the Montori family today.
May 25th. Worked on the Choice Awareness project for the past few days. Met with the department of Neurology yesterday to discuss possible collaboration. Kasey received good news (scholarship), as did Laura (residency). Maggie arrived, and Ana said goodbye. Sara had her last day before her maternity leave. I worked on Aaron’s manuscript and discussed a second paper for AEM on SDM/informed consent with Rachel.
May 26th. Last day at the KER Unit. Overwhelmed by how much I learned about the team, the work, the collaborations. And, to be honest: about myself and about my work as a researcher. I’m impressed how a team that advocates kind and careful care manages to practice what they preach and welcome guests in such a warm and friendly way. After saying goodbye to Kirsten, this kind and careful visit ended with a road trip with Ben to the airport. What an experience.
With love, Marleen
Marleen Kunneman, PhD. Research fellow at the department of Medical Psychology of the Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam (the Netherlands), and research collaborator of the KER Unit.
*Note: Results of our Choice Awareness project will be presented at the European Association for Communication in Healthcare (EACH) Conference in Heidelberg (September 7th-10th, 2016). Oral presentation on September 10th: ‘Choice Awareness as Pre-requisite for Shared Decision Making in Videos of Clinical Encounters’.
