Difficult Conversations Podcast

Lessons I Learned as an ICU Physician

Episode 165 | February 14, 2022

Moral Injury

Wendy Dean, MD

President, Co-founder at Moral Injury of Healthcare

Wendy Dean

Welcome to Difficult Conversations with Dr. Anthony Orsini. On this episode, we have another amazing guest! Joining us today is Dr. Wendy Dean. Dr. Dean is a writer, speaker, podcast host, and the President and Co-Founder of Moral Injury of Healthcare, which is a nonprofit organization that provides training and consultation to organizations focusing on alleviating distress in their workforce. Dr. Dean has been a practicing clinician, trained in psychiatry. She also worked for the Department of Defense and was an executive for a large international non-profit, supporting military medical research. As always, Dr. Orsini keeps his promise about two things, that you will feel inspired, and you will have learned valuable lessons to be a better and more compassionate communicator.

Dr. Dean shares her background with us and her journey to becoming a doctor. She tells us why she decided to leave surgery and go into psychiatry? Find out why Moral Injury is a better term than burnout when describing what healthcare professionals are feeling right now. She goes in depth about the state of psychiatry and mental health care being in a tough place right now. We hear the story of how Dr. Dean met Dr. Simon Talbot, and what prompted them to start Moral Injury of Healthcare. Dr. Dean shares ways resiliency programs can help people, such as nurses, but they do not fix the problems that causes moral injury. Dr. Orsini and Dr. Dean share their thoughts on hospitals being run now by people who are not in the healthcare industry, and how there is a lack of quality communication. We hear some great advice from Dr. Dean about the future for Moral Injury of Healthcare and what she would like to see happen in facilitating the relationship between the patient and the clinician. After having this enlightening conversation today, Dr. Orsini concludes that physician burnout should be replaced with the term moral injury. If you enjoyed this podcast, please go ahead and hit subscribe on your favorite podcast platform. Go ahead and download this episode now!

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