A New Day At USF Health
In the first of eight weekly USF Health Briefs, Charles Lockwood, MD, MHCM, senior vice president of USF Health and dean of the Morsani College of Medicine, talks about how the COVID-19 pandemic has changed our way of life and access to health care, the lessons the virus is teaching the medical community, and how long it may take before we can safely mingle in large groups again.
Video by Allison Long
Avoiding Burnout
December, 02, 2019
Being a lifelong learner in order to keep up with the acceleration in medical technology and knowledge can lead to burnout. Burnout has been defined as a long-term, unresolvable job stress that leads to exhaustion and feeling overwhelmed, cynical, detached from the job, and lacking a sense of personal accomplishment. According to Medscape’s 2019 survey of more than 15,000 physicians in over 29 specialties, 44% of physicians reported feeling burned out; 11% were colloquially depressed and 4% were clinically depressed. Among the most burned out specialties were critical care (48%) and neurology (48%), closely followed by family medicine (47%), ob/gyn (46%), and internal medicine (46%). One way to avoid burnout is to be a part of a community of other lifelong learners who can share the load, but that’s not always enough. At USF Health, Charles J. Lockwood, MD, MHCM, senior vice president of USF Health and dean of USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, strives to “create a gritty environment that is both supportive and demanding” as well as “streamline the workload as much as possible.” Learn more about what USF Health is doing to prevent burnout in the video below.
A Community of Lifelong Learners
September 05, 2019
Charles J. Lockwood, MD, MHCM, senior vice president of USF Health and dean of USF Health Morsani College of Medicine is known for saying that by 2020, medical knowledge will double every 73 days, compared with every 20 years when he was a student. The only way to keep up with this acceleration in medical technology and knowledge is to be a lifelong learner. Lifelong learning, while necessary to stay current and be successful in this era of accelerating change, is also stressful and is very difficult for one person to do alone. That’s why it’s important to have a whole community of lifelong learners who can teach each other along the way. In a world changing so fast that we are challenged to keep pace, we can keep “Making Life Better” for others by committing ourselves and others to lifelong learning, and partnering with each other and our communities to ensure that USF Health and Tampa Bay stay gritty. Being gritty is one of the core values in the ‘Be USF Health’ culture initiative. Culture champions who exemplify the values of USF Health and are dedicated to our mission of Making Life Better through education, research and patient care, are rewarded with a culture coin. Learn more about the USF Health culture coin and join the initiative.
Grit with Dr. Charles Lockwood
July 01, 2019
Dr. Angela Duckworth is a Professor of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania and a 2013 Mac-Arthur “Genius” awardee. Dr. Duckworth’s book, Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, describes various people, from Navy Seals and Olympic swimmers to Spelling Bee champions and kids who survived impoverished neighborhoods and broken families to excel scholastically. They all share one characteristic: grit. Grit can be defined as passion and perseverance to achieve long-term goals. It requires certain building blocks, the first of which is curiosity to explore a variety of interests before settling on the one most compelling. Next comes a desire to master that interest completely. Initial novelty is soon replaced by deep appreciation of the nuances of a given field or discipline but mastery requires deliberate practice. The latter consists of pushing oneself to continuously improve, to overcome weaknesses through intense concentration and honest feedback, and to meet progressive stretch goals. Long periods of effortful, deliberate practice lead to exhilarating moments of effortless flow and peak performance which drive an ever more intense desire for mastery. But gritty exemplars exhibit more than interest and practice, they have purpose. It is that higher purpose that builds resilience in the face of adversity and exhaustion. We live in an era of accelerating change, and of astonishingly rapid expansion of medical knowledge. To keep pace we must all be lifelong learners. But while this relentless pace of change is generating extra-ordinary advances in health care it also breeds burnout. To continue to thrive, we need to stay gritty by maintaining a keen interest in our field, and constantly strive to be better clinicians through deliberate practice (i.e., lifelong learning). Read more about grit from Dr. Charles Lockwood, inside the Contemporary OB/GYN journal.
Lifelong Learning with Dr. Charles Lockwood
May 20, 2019
Charles J. Lockwood, MD, MHCM, senior vice president of USF Health and dean of USF Health Morsani College of Medicine is known for saying that by 2020, medical knowledge will double every 73 days, compared with every 20 years when he was a student. The only way to keep up with this acceleration in medical technology and knowledge is to be a lifelong learner. This phenomenon is not unique to health care providers. In fact, Tom Friedman in his book, Thank You for Being Late: An Optimist’s Guide to Thriving in the Age of Accelerations, argues that the acceleration in technological change resulting from Moore’s law and globalization now exceeds the individual’s ability to adapt. He proposes as one of his “solutions” – becoming a lifelong learner. Fortunately, at USF Health we pride ourselves on presenting a myriad of opportunities to support lifelong learning from grand rounds and special seminars, to an outstanding collection of journals and e-textbooks in our library. We offer a wide range of CME programs at CAMLS, and our academic medical center partners, Tampa General Hospital, Moffitt Cancer Center and the James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital also offer a rich variety of learning opportunities. Of course, lifelong learning for our faculty is also supported by our own discipline-specific professional societies and maintenance of certification processes. Lifelong learning, while necessary to stay current and be successful in this era of accelerating change, is also stressful. Thus, we all need passion, perseverance, and purpose – in other words, grit – to maintain our commitment. In a world changing so fast that we are challenged to keep pace, we can keep “Making Life Better” for others by having grit, committing ourselves to lifelong learning, and partnering with each other and our communities to ensure that USF Health and Tampa Bay stay gritty.
Medical Engineering
January 10, 2019
New technology adds value to an industry by improving quality and reducing cost. When it comes to health care, “technology has added cost,” Charles J. Lockwood, MD, MHCM, senior vice president of USF Health and dean of USF Health Morsani College of Medicine said. Inside USF Health’s Department of Medical Engineering, a unique interprofessional collaboration between physicians and engineers is underway with a, “focus on this concept of value [to] develop technologies that improve outcomes and actually reduce costs.” Graduate students will spend time at Tampa General Hospital meeting with surgeons and going into the operating room as observers and will be encouraged to obtain a patent and publish an article in a peer-reviewed journal. The faculty of engineers specialize in chemical and mechanical engineering, biomedicine and nanotechnology with initial concentrations in a broad range of biomedical engineering areas such as nanotechnology for drug delivery, orthopedics, and cardiology, neurology and cancer.
The Obstacles to Interprofessional Education
November 27, 2018
The road to high quality and cost-efficient health care is paved with multidisciplinary research and team-based care. USF Health leads the way in this change by prioritizing teaching students how to work better as a team. Adjusting a curriculum to fit the changing world of health care is not without obstacles.
USF in Water Street Tampa
July 13, 2018
The USF Health Morsani College of Medicine and Health Heart Institute is relocating to the heart of Water Street Tampa – the world’s first WELL-certified community under the WELL Community Standard. “This is really the dream of every dean of a medical school,” says Charles Lockwood, MD, MHCM, senior vice president for USF Health and dean of the Morsani College of Medicine. This state-of-the-art medical facility will not only prepare tomorrow’s physicians, but also unite bench scientists and clinical researchers working to find treatments and cures for heart patients. “Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States and yet, research has kind of plateaued over the last 10 years,” Dr. Lockwood says. This modern centerpiece of scientific innovation, world-class clinical care and life-changing discoveries opens downtown in late 2019.
The USF Health Practice Plan with Dr. Charles J. Lockwood
May 18, 2018
The USF Health Morsani College of Medicine is home to the largest multispecialty physicians group in West Central Florida. “If you want high quality and cutting-edge care, then we are the providers for you,” says Charles Lockwood, MD, MHCM, senior vice president for USF Health and dean of the Morsani College of Medicine. An integral part of USF”s academic health center, the practice plan has nearly 900 health care professionals in locations across the Tampa Bay region.
Teamwork is the Future of Health Care with Dr. Charles J. Lockwood
March 13, 2018
The road to high quality and cost-efficient health care is paved with multidisciplinary research and team-based care. USF Health leads the way in this change by prioritizing teaching students how to work better as a team. “If you can combine physicians with nurse practitioners, PharmDs, physical therapists, occupational therapists, physician assistants, you’re going to be a much more efficient provider of care than if it’s a solo physician trying to do all that work,” says Charles Lockwood, MD, MHCM, senior vice president for USF Health and dean of the Morsani College of Medicine.
Unique and Innovative with Dr. Charles J. Lockwood
November 17, 2017
USF Health is recognized as a unique and innovative health care system with strong partnerships throughout the Tampa Bay region. With outstanding resources such as the Center for Advanced Medical Learning and Simulation (CAMLS) and the planned downtown expansion, USF Health has an interprofessional training platform with cutting-edge technology for its health students, residents, attending staff and community physicians. Dr. Lockwood says “it’s the team of the future for providing the highest value of care that can be provided.”
Providing the Best Patient Care with Dr. Charles J. Lockwood
August 7, 2017
USF Health is committed to taking optimal care of patients. To do this, Dr. Lockwood says the goal is to thoroughly address patients’ concerns in a positive and consistent manner. It’s important to treat patients with evidence-based medicine that improves outcomes while lowering costs.
Electronic Health Records System Helps Improve Patient Care with Dr. Charles J. Lockwood
July 17, 2017
Electronic Health Record systems help health care providers communicate and share important patient information. Dr. Lockwood says USF Health has integrated EPIC EHR, which is shared with USF Health’s primary teaching hospital. The system not only allows USF Health to keep accurate information about patients, but it also helps us considerably improve patient safety.
Challenges of Health Care with Dr. Charles J. Lockwood
June 30, 2017
Everyday lifestyle habits impact health care. Dr. Lockwood says modest lifestyle changes could have an incredible influence on the health of patients and overall health care costs. However, it’s up to everyone in health care to engage the community including local and state governments, churches and schools to reinforce a positive healthy living.
Changes in Health Care with Dr. Charles J. Lockwood
June 15, 2017
USF Health embraces a patient-centered model of care. We have interdisciplinary teams of physicians, nurses, pharmacists and physical therapists who coordinate treatment using electronic records to ensure the best outcomes. Charles J. Lockwood, MD, senior vice president for USF Health and dean of the Morsani College of Medicine, says focusing on prevention rather than treatment helps us achieve better outcomes at a lower cost.