Schwartz Center Rounds

Beverly Hospital hosts Schwartz Center Rounds for their professional staff.  The Rounds are unique, multi-disciplinary sessions in which hospital staff explore the emotional side of caregiving. A national program with sites across the country, Schwartz Center Rounds are funded by the Kenneth B. Schwartz Center, a Boston-based nonprofit dedicated to advancing compassionate healthcare. 

The purpose of the Rounds is to provide a forum where caregivers from diverse disciplines discuss important emotional and social issues that arise in caring for patients.  The participants to the Rounds can be a broad range of professionals - physicians, nurses, social workers, psychologists, physical therapists and clergy. 

In a typical Rounds session, a panel of caregivers presents a patient case that brought up interesting and important psychosocial issues.  Patient and caregiver confidentiality is maintained.  Topics for Schwartz Center Rounds have included: delivering bad news; when religious or spiritual beliefs conflict with medical advice; taking care of a colleague; and losing a patient. Hospital staff then shares their own thoughts and feelings related to the day's topic. Unlike grand rounds, these sessions are not about clinical problem-solving, but rather about exploring and processing the emotions that come up in the daily work of hospital staff. A comprehensive study of Schwartz Center Rounds has shown them to help caregivers connect better with patients emotionally; enhance their understanding of the effects of illness on patients and their families; improve communication among caregivers and decrease feelings of caregiver isolation and stress.