Visiting professor Vineet Arora teaches physicians to use the ‘FORCE’

Vineet Arora, M.D., MAPP, presented “Using the FORCE to Teach and Create Value in Academic Healthcare Settings” at the Annual Roger B. Thomas, Jr. Memorial Lecture Oct. 25 at the John H. Ammon Medical Education Center. Dr. Arora is professor of medicine, assistant dean of scholarship and discovery and director of GME clinical learning environment innovation at the University of Chicago. She is an academic hospitalist who specializes in improving the learning environment for medical trainee, and the quality, safety, and experience of care delivered to hospitalized adults.

She described the “win-win” opportunity utilizing bridging leadership, whereby the health care system aligns educational and organizational priorities. She also described how, by using the “FORCE,” value creation can be taught across the organization.

The acronym stands for:

• Finding the right champions.
• Observing culture.
• Redesigning the system.
• Cultivating situational awareness.
• Embedding processes that promote optimal behavior.

Following her medical grand rounds lecture Dr. Arora spent most of the day in onsite sessions sharing her knowledge about value-based care with Christiana Care faculty, residents and the education leadership team.

In her discussion with Department of Medicine faculty, she engaged on the opportunities to advance Christiana Care’s educational mission using social media and other novel forms of technology. The internal medicine residents had the opportunity to discuss challenges with handoffs and collaborate on practical solutions focused on safer transitions.

Dr. Arora is internationally recognized as an expert on patient handoffs in health care and has extensive expertise in using technology such as social media to improve workplace learning in teaching hospitals on a variety of topics. Her educational videos on handoffs, supervision, professionalism and costs of care have been used by educators around the country and have been featured on NPR and in the New York Times.

The Roger B. Thomas Memorial Lecture and associated activities are an annual opportunity for Christiana Care to collaborate with internationally recognized leaders in health care delivery. It honors Dr. Roger Thomas, a community internist who was the director of medical student programs for Medicine.

“It provided our clinicians, faculty and learners an intimate forum to learn from leaders such as Dr. Arora,” said Vinay Maheshwari, vice chair of the Department of Medicine. “She was an inspiration to those who attended, encouraging us to consider innovative ways to integrate education and quality improvement.”