Melissa Teply is palliative medicine physician and a mostly Midwesterner. She attended medical school at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, then completed residency training in internal medicine at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. She completed her hospice and palliative medicine fellowship at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, and then returned to the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, Nebraska, where she practices in both primary care and outpatient palliative care. Dr. Teply serves as the program director for the hospice and palliative medicine fellowship at UNMC and is passionate about communication skills education. She spends what free time she has reading any and all Brene Brown books and taking improv comedy classes (which is another plug for improving communication skills).
The Power of Words: What’s the Difference?
The Alliance Conversation Series brings you cost-free, fast-paced collaborative opportunities that highlight successful donation and transplantation practices across the country. Through shared insight, multidisciplinary experts identify solutions to critical challenges affecting the community of practice and actively share them for open discussion and broader knowledge of effective practices.
The sessions encourage real-time feedback and participation from viewers.
Overview: The transplant process is stressful for donor families, patients, and caregivers. It can often elicit a stress response that can significantly affect rational thought and decision making. While healthcare providers always have best intentions to help donor families, patients, and caregivers through the process, sometimes the actual impact of the way we communicate can intensify the stress response. To truly influence the impact, it is important to create an environment that promotes open and authentic communication. This panel discussion will focus on why word selection and empathic communication strategies are crucial in order to promote thoughtful decision making through the transplant process.