Louisa Ferrara-Gonzalez

Louisa Ferrara-Gonzalez Speaking Topics

• Improving the Way we Honor our Bedside Mistakes in Healthcare (and/or NICU)

  “To err is human” is a popular phrase we hear in healthcare, however, it does not seem to help anyone after an error was made. Admitting that a baby or family was potentially hurt by one of your mistakes is a personally daunting experience, and one that may haunt you for years. In truth, we all have regrets, but how you self-reflect on your mistakes and use them to make conscious improvements to your practice is exactly how we can honor that experience and release any guilt we may feel.

  This lecture will be conversational in nature, as the presenter will share some stories of her least successful infant-parent, and inter-professional interactions. Each story will be followed by audience polling on the most striking error (to improve upon awareness skills), as well as a review of the evidence emphasizing the impact of that mistake. Each story will be accompanied by clear steps to avoid future occurrences, improve success at the bedside and release guilty thoughts, though a review of the Self-Reconciliation Theory. This lecture will have a strong focus on neuro-developmental care, family-centered care, trauma-informed care, inter-professional practices, ethics, self-love and forgiveness. Audience members will have an opportunity to share some of their mistakes and seek support from their peers in order to honor their errors and promote self-growth. This lecture can be altered to discuss any area of healthcare as the bulk of the lecture focuses on evidence based strategies to promote positive progress within a team setting.

  Attendee Results:

  1. Describe the negative effects of errors on occupational stress, emotional wellbeing, and overall quality-of-life for healthcare providers in who work in the NICU
  2. Summarize important foundational theories to incorporate into their practice in attempts to improve upon any mistakes (i.e., neurodevelopmental care, family-centered care, trauma-informed care, inter-professional practices, self-reconciliation).
  3. List clear, evidence-based strategies to increase awareness and to take responsibility of a mistake, as well as how to take action for improvements at bedside, and find forgiveness with themselves and co-workers.

• Building Trustworthiness in Healthcare (and/or NICU)

  This lecture will discuss the concept of trust in all its forms and how it relates to us on a personal and professional level. Review of the literature around trust in healthcare will be emphasized for the audience to understand why working on trust is so important. For example, did you know studies have shown that trust in the workplace has direct, positive impacts on collaboration, conflict resolution, motivation, well-being and job satisfaction, which all have a direct impact on the quality of patient care we provide. Parents place complete confidence, faith, and reliance on the competencies held by the NICU team for the care of their infant. A recently published study using NICU parents' testimony about their involvement in the care of their newborns found that trust was a key theme in their satisfaction or lack thereof. As we see too often, when there is a lack of trust within these relationships the detriments to the infant and family are immeasurable.

  Luckily, research surrounding trust in healthcare and patient-relationships is increasing. Frances Frei, professor at Harvard Business School, has shown that trust is based on three intertwined parts and that each of those is singularly actionable; meaning trust can be built, and re-built when temporarily lost. Those three parts are Authenticity, Logic and Empathy (Frei, 2020), which will be discussed in depth during this lecture. Audience members will be provided moments to self-reflect and journal about these concepts. Most importantly, the audience will leave with clear strategies to improve their trustworthiness in all realms of their life, so they can move forward in a more competent and confident way! Throughout this lecture concepts of NICU neurodevelopmental care, family-centered care, trauma-informed care, inter-professional practices and ethics will be woven into the topic so it strongly relates to the important work we do at bedside each day. This lecture can be altered to discuss any area of healthcare as the bulk of the lecture focuses on evidence based strategies to promote trustworthiness within a team setting.

  Audience Results:

  1. Describe the importance of trust within their personal and professional relationships, responsibilities and expectations.
  2. Summarize the three concepts most important to trust: Authenticity, Logic and Empathy.
  3. List clear, evidence-based strategies to build trust for the benefit of their personal-growth and to improve their competency and confidence while providing care.

Changing with the Times: Strategies to support your team's adoption of new best practices.

For over half a century feeding infants have been considered a routine caretaker task, grounded in cultural norms and trial-and-error. Fortunately, intentional research has de-bunked many myths around feeding infants, both preterm and full term. While the evidence is well-done and non-debatable, the actual change in practice is proving more easily said than done. Looking through this lens, this lecture will explain how best practices come to be, how a change in perspective and culture is accomplished and how teamwork and interprofessional practice can be strengthened. This lecture can be altered to discuss any area of healthcare or professional organization, as the bulk of the lecture focuses on evidence based strategies to promote positive change within a team setting.