End of the Year Message from Bill Dennis
To the Members of the
Metro Collaborative Community:
I hope this message finds you all with some relief from the rigors of the last eleven months as we transition into 2018. Recharging and finding balance is uniquely crucial for those who support others. I am especially grateful for the clinicians who commit the time, money, as well as the intellectual and emotional risks involved in sharing one's work with local peers, in our interdisciplinary collaborative dinner groups and open houses. You dedicate the energy to dynamically presenting your vision and techniques to a diverse discerning community, throughout the year.
Metro Collaborative originated with several clinicians, in both Bethesda and Manhattan, wanting to get to know each other and have meaningful exchanges. After a few dinners, they began inviting friends and colleagues to join the conversation. Those relationships, beginning almost seven years ago, have supported hundreds of patients in collaborative treatment
Your mini 'TED-style' talks allow others to learn more about your practice; generate interest in your methods; and define the applicable nuances of the work you do. Through our conversations and the support our collaboration provides, we have further developed our ability to communicate in a way that is more empathetic and compassionate.
Often, members hesitate to be the first to speak at our dinners. In the spirit of supporting one another, each wants to listen to other presentations before speaking, as to be clear in perspective and perceptions. Then, piercing questions are used to deepen the conversation further. To me, this nuanced practice of skillful communication is at the core of what it means to deliver a more functional and powerful level of patient care.
I am reminded of The Patient Will See You Now, in which author Eric Topol, MD, tells of the smartphone’s potential for being the 'Gutenberg Press' of medicine. He believes it can do wonders for the future and highlights how patient empowerment will fundamentally change the way wellness and disease are communicated - emphasizing how patient empowerment will radically change how we speak about health and illness. This rapid technological growth raises the bar of interpersonal communication: increasing the call for high-level empathy, questioning, listening, and collaborative skills.
Our Metro Collaborative members have led a shift in the way we work together, and how patients receive the highest quality of care. I want to take a moment to thank and acknowledge each and every one of you. Spanning Virginia, DC, Maryland, Manhattan, and Westchester, N.Y, you are what makes the work we do possible.
Metro Collaborative Members
I would also like to take a moment to acknowledge our Metro Collaborative team. Each has expanded his or her work over the past year and has contributed to the creation of a stronger and more productive community:
Francis Ramirez
Cecilia Maier
Ramsey Dennis
Lakshman Nirmalwad
Sara Simon
Sachin Sharma
Your collaboration ensures patients have choices and options that would be otherwise unavailable - options more individualized, efficient, and often reducing unnecessary treatments. Collaboration empowers everyone. This concept may sound simple, but it is not easy. Interdisciplinary collaboration is more effective when combined with the ease of sharing information technology has allowed us. This functional patient care, with a full spectrum of treatment, means less treatment. Our Metro Collaborative members are experts in this combined mode of care, acting as catalysts in the evolution of each other's practice. As the standard of care evolves, the members of our community are leading the way.
Thank you all for an inspiring and prosperous 2017. I look forward to the future and what successes this upcoming year will bring, as we continue to evolve and thrive.
