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Transcript

Katie Robinson, Ph.D., CHCP: Hello and welcome back to the Alliance Podcast, Continuing Conversations. I'm Katie Robinson and I am the VP of Instructional Design and Analytics at Vindico Medical Education. I've been actively involved in the Alliance community since 2017. And I currently serve as the vice chair of the Almanac. On Monday received a distinguished member award for my involvement in community.

Beth Ryan Townsend, CHCP: And I’m Beth Ryan Townsend, Director of Compliance and Special Projects for Continuing Education Company, a non-profit medical education company. I am heading into my 4th year on the Almanac Editorial Board, where I enjoy editing as much as I do writing. I want to extend a heartfelt congratulations on your well-deserved award, Katie!  I’m honored and very fortunate that I had the opportunity to work with you over the past few months.

KR: So Beth and I are here, recording live from the Alliance 2024 Annual Conference in New Orleans after presenting our session, “How and Why to Get Your Work Published.”

BRT: As members of the Almanac Editorial Board, we, along with Heather Ranels, designed a session focused on equipping the healthcare CPD community with the tools they need to get published, whether on the Almanac or another outlet. And we’re excited to share some of our insights with our listeners. At the time of recording, we’ve wrapped the third day of the Alliance 2024 Annual Conference. Let’s briefly discuss our experience so far. Have you had any favorite moments or key takeaways?

KR: Sure, well, first, I just think that there's a lot of ongoing conversations about AI, from a whole dedicated workshop on Monday, to it coming up in just about every single session that I've attended so far. So I think that there's just general consensus that AI can be useful for writing needs assessments, creating content or images for qualitative analysis of open ended data. But I think that there's still a lot of questions about how to use it for quantitative analysis of outcomes, which is obviously of interest to me, given my role at Vindico. A second, I feel like what's been super empowering is there's at both keynotes, Monday’s, or Tuesday’s and today's, there's been a lot of talk about reinforcing the importance of what we do. I think yesterday's session did a wonderful job of bringing it all back to the patient, reminding us that what we do on a day-to-day basis really, truly can impact patient care. And then secondly, and then today, the keynote really took a little twist on what we do and reminded us or didn't really remind us because I hadn't thought about it this way before, that what we do can actually be a restorative force in in maintaining the wellbeing of healthcare providers. And what the keynote speaker meant by that was that, you know, burnout is a very real thing today in the healthcare profession. And by giving our learners an opportunity to grow and network and learn, we can restore sort of a sense of pride in what they do and restore those qualities that help them to feel good about what they do. Is there anything that you'd like to share, Beth?

BRT: Well, I would agree with that. Both keynotes were particularly impactful. And I did really like his definition of wellbeing. He's said it's the state in which an individual can achieve their greatest desired potential as a complete human being. And the examples he gave of burnout were rather eye opening. And I agree that it's amazing that we get to work in a field that can potentially help them alleviate some of that. Well, Katie, let's talk about our session and get into the details of how we came up with this idea and designed it for the conference.

KR: Sure, so part of our job at the Almanac is to publish content that is relevant to the entire Alliance community. So we have some authors that love to publish, and they do it a lot, and they do it really well. But we also want to make sure that we're hearing from newer voices that, you know, may provide perspective that is new to the field and of interest. But time and again, we hear new authors often turning us down. And the reasons are almost always the same: lack of time, lack of ideas, or they're too costly or too hard. But really, all of these are misconceptions when it comes to publishing, especially in the Almanac, where it's free to publish, and there's a dedicated editorial team that's rooting for you and wants you to succeed. So that's sort of where it started. And that's sort of where we went with it.

BRT: Yeah, that's right. And we did start with the misconceptions and then discussed relevant publication options, strategies for writing, and ended with breakout sessions so participants could practice applying some of these concepts right away. Hopefully we provided enough tips along the way so we can look forward to future articles from the folks who either feel inspired or more confident to do so now.

KR: Absolutely. So this session was actually one of two Almanac focused sessions presented at the conference this year. So what value do you think that this type of active learning delivered by a staff of volunteers within the organization can bring to the community?

BRT: Well, you know, on a personal note, this was my first ever presentation. And I was actively learning each step of the way. So it was of high value to me, the whole process from coming up with the idea, submitting the abstract, mapping it out, and then fine tuning the presentation with both you and Heather, who I had never worked with before like this, to then actively delivering the presentation, which, you know, Katie, I was honestly a little nervous to do. But it was definitely a great learning experience and made me feel more a part of the community, not to mention getting to meet participants and hearing their ideas and our workshop sessions. As I mentioned at the beginning, I wanted to learn from them as much as they wanted to learn from us. And all in all, I think the Alliance really fosters a wonderful, safe environment for volunteering and learning, which in turn strengthens the CPD community as a whole.

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BRT: So Katie, we framed this session as a workshop. How do you think this format enhanced the learner experience?

KR: So first of all, I think that workshops are always a much more valuable learning environment than a passive learning experience. And I think that our session was really conducive to being a workshop format. So in my workshop, I challenged attendees to think about things that they've done, and think about those ideas and how we could make them more suitable for publication. So we talked a lot about their ideas. We talked a lot about potential collaborations that we could have to help, you know, develop those ideas. And if they couldn't come up with ideas, we had conversations that just lead to idea starters. And I think that really every person within our breakout sessions left the session with either an actionable idea for publication, or a plan on next steps that they needed to take to get their idea to a publication worthy state. How about your workshops? Beth, what happened in yours?

BRT: Yeah, well, mine was a little different. I asked them to actually do some writing, writing that may or may not be included on a forthcoming article that I plan to create for the Almanac. So there was some quiet time in the workshop. But I'm happy to say that the feedback from what they said they wrote, and I haven't had a chance to read it at this point yet, was positive and they were looking forward to talk to the forthcoming article. So Katie, our session was designed to provide attendees with the strategies and tools they need to get their work published. Can you share an example of a strategy you use when planning an Almanac article or maybe work for another publication?

KR: Sure. So I think, you know, one of the things that we've really tried to convey to the attendees, what a lot of people come in thinking that publication is, is a peer reviewed journal, right. And the Almanac is a peer reviewed journal in the way but we eliminate a lot of the barriers to peer review. Because we are rooting for each other, we want people to succeed. And so one thing that we really tried to convey was that there are alternative outlets for publication. So not just the Almanac, but also presenting a poster at a relevant clinical congress, a white paper, a blog post, presenting in a session at CMEPalooza or another Alliance meeting. These are all very reputable ways to publish your work with often lower costs and a faster time to publication. I think one thing Beth, that you covered really well, was the simplicity of publishing in the Almanac versus traditional peer reviewed publications. So could you briefly speak to that?

BRT: Sure. You know, if you can attach a document to an email, then you can submit to the Almanac. And I'm just kidding there, there is more to it. But I do think we try to make it an easy process. We're looking for content that's informational, or educational, just 700 to 1000 to 1500 words. It can include pictures or graphics. We do ask that you submit those separately. Articles are peer reviewed and revisions may be sent back to you. As far as what content is relevant, chances are, if it's something that interests you, others in the CPD community might want to know about it too. And that's a strategy I tried to express during our session. You don't have to be an expert to write an article. If you have the desire to learn more about something and maybe even want to collaborate with others, it's a great opportunity to share your discoveries. We talked about that too. One thing can lead to another with publications. So it's a step worth taking in your professional journey.

KR: Awesome. So for our listeners and attendees who are not able to attend today, here's what we recommend you do as next steps to jumpstart your journey to getting published.

BRT: Number one, download our slides, come up with some ideas, outline your story and reach out to the Almanac or editorial team if you're interested in publishing with us. If not research what outlet you think will best feature your story. Did any interesting questions or comments from the audience daily stand out to you, Katie, that you'd like to share?

KR: Yeah, so the one interesting thing was that somebody who attended our session didn't even know what the Almanac was. I think that sort of speaks to, you know, our need to increase awareness within the Alliance community about the Almanac, what it is, encourage people to share with their colleagues, and encourage people to reach out about the Almanac and ask for more information and ask how to publish. And then a second thing that happened, you know, which would help with this is that somebody asked if contact information could be provided by the authors. And I think that that's wonderful because it's continuing the conversation. So often times, you read a journal article, and then that's it. But if you can reach out to the author, then it's just more opportunity to learn and grow and continue these important conversations.

BRT: Well, Katie, that's a nice segue, because, you know, I'm currently working on an article about leadership and people management. In the spirit of the Almanac, Katie, are you willing to answer a few questions live here today so I can use your thoughts as a source for the upcoming article?

KR: Absolutely.

BRT: Well, thank you. Now, from your perspective, what are some creative ways managers can show gratitude to their employees, especially during challenging times? Or high stress periods? What role does recognition play in a healthy work environment? And how can managers effectively acknowledge and celebrate their team's achievements? It's a tough question.

KR: It is a tough question. And there's a couple of things going on there. You know, the recognition piece came up in the keynote today as well, and how recognition is such an important part of maintaining that healthy wellbeing of an individual. And so there are opportunities, I think, you know, within my company, we have social chat rooms, where somebody gets a promotion, and they get a shout out, it doesn't even have to be that big of a deal. It can be that somebody wrote a really great needs assessment, or somebody managed eight programs at a meeting last week. And those are just the types of things that we're making sure we get shout outs to anybody within the company that goes above and beyond. But in terms of the part about high stress and making sure that we're showing gratitude. I think that prior to COVID, it definitely would have been a team happy hour, which you know, we used to do that. And it was a wonderful, you know, outside the work environment way to connect and appreciate one another. But now with most of my team remote, one thing that I find helpful is just impromptu meetings, where 95 percent of our conversation is not even related to work. And I think that helps us reconnect on a level that's more personal than just work and stress and things that are contributing to our stress. I also have managers give out Amazon gift cards. I know sometimes it's not possible during times of high stress. But where an employee can feel rewarded for their work, a 25 dollar Amazon gift card can go a long way. Also, at my company, we have cross departmental quarterly meetings, which are just a way for the managers of each department to really highlight the success within their company. And these are often a way that just everybody leaves with like a much higher morale. And that can really be useful in times of high stress. And then I guess finally, one thing that I did with my with my team recently, my larger team, so there were about 12 or 15 of us, we all took the Myers Briggs Personality Test independently. And this is where you're like an ISTJ, or introverted versus extroverted, that kind of stuff. It was just really cool to see how personality traits you shared with your colleagues. And some people you're just like, I knew that you were gonna be like, one person I remember on our team was the defender and she's, she's just a person that stands up for everybody before she stands up for herself. And so some people were like, spot on. And then others were like, really? So there's just kind of a fun thing that's informative, right? It really helped me to learn the learning styles of and the management styles needed for the people on my team. So it was informative, but it was also fun.

BRT: That's great. That's awesome. Well, looking back, do you have any advice you could give to somebody who's aspiring to be a great manager? And how can they consistently demonstrate to their team that they're genuinely valued?

KR: Sure, so this is one thing I've talked about with some of my friends before, is that nobody really teaches you to be how to be a manager, how to be an effective manager, you just kind of get thrown into it. And the first time I ever managed somebody I was in graduate school. I had this one student who was phenomenal and she followed directions and she had her own ideas. And then three months later, I had another student who was the complete opposite and that's when I learned that you cannot manage any two people in the same way. So it really comes back to knowing the person that you're managing, knowing what they need in terms of a management style and really accommodating their needs. Another thing that I learned about being a good manager I learned by being managed and I had one job where I had a manager who canceled our one-on-one every other time we were supposed to meet. And that just wasn't a very good feeling. It made me not feel like a very valued employee. So I really make it a priority to not have to reschedule one-on-one with the people on my team that I manage, just out of respect for them. And, you know, I had to cancel one this week because I was here and I wasn't going to be able to do it but we rescheduled it for Thursday this week. So we're not skipping it. It's just a different day of the week.

BRT: That's great. I really love those responses. Thank you. I might just have to quote you on those, Katie, and I'm excited to share what others have revealed in that forthcoming Almanac article.

KR: Thank you so much for tuning in to today's discussion. It's been nice to connect with our community at the Alliance Annual Conference.

BRT: Stay connected with us all year round by visiting the Almanac at almanac.acehp.org and subscribing to our twice monthly newsletter. We always welcome article submissions and pitches from new and returning authors.

KR: We hope to see our listeners in Philadelphia for the Alliance Industry Summit, September 16 through 18. Thank you.

BRT: Thanks.