Department of Pediatrics Annual Report – 2021

Michelle Bombacie leads Columbia team members in a Zumba class.

POWER

Wellness, engagement, and resilience are our guiding principles

Mission and Vision Statement

POWER’s mission is to support individuals and groups in our department as we navigate the stressors in our system through programs and initiatives that will reach and support everyone in Pediatrics. The POWER vision is to create a departmental culture of well-being, engagement, and resilience with the following values:

Empowering every individual to take an active role in building a community-oriented and supportive environment
A multi-level, multidisciplinary effort to prevent burnout and moral injury
Unifying well-being efforts across the department, including paying attention to what has worked at other institutions
Engaging the science of well-being including the principles of CBT, DBT, and trauma-informed care for our community at large
An evidence-based approach to measure the impact of programs and initiatives

Department leadership launched the POWER (Promoting Overall Well-being, Engagement, and Resilience) in Pediatrics initiative in January 2020, to support our health care providers and learners through the challenges and stressors anticipated in our system as we transitioned to a new electronic record, EPIC.

In 2021 we continued to support staff through a weekly POWER email and Wednesday Wellness Series. The Wednesday Wellness Series introduced a range of self-care activities, stress reduction techniques, nutrition tips, and movement-based activities to increase energy during the workday.

In an effort to expand the outreach of the POWER initiative, we established alliances with local partners in the community. The team was able to secure outdoor space at Haven Plaza and brought in a guest Zumba instructor, and local community and staff participated in an end-of-workday class on Fridays. In November, the POWER team delivered 500 Thanksgiving Day meals, donated by the executive chef of the Fort Washington Public House, to members of the NICU and ED staff.

POWER Advisory Board

The most exciting development in 2021 was the establishment of an interdisciplinary POWER Advisory Board, with representation from multiple divisions and disciplines.

The board co-chairs, supported by Marina Catallozzi, MD and Hannah Strauss, MBA, are:

Michelle Bombacie, MS Dipl. Ac. (NCCAOM) Program Manager, Integrative Therapies Program, Division of Pediatric Hematology, Oncology & Stem Cell Transplant
Anoushka Sinha, MD, MS, third-year pediatric resident and one of the residency wellness leads
Art Smerling, MD, faculty in Pediatric Critical Care and Hospital Medicine

Advisory Board Members: Dara Steinberg, PhD; Tina Leone, MD; Julie Khlevner, MD; Sabrina Law, MD; Rose Chapman Rodriguez, NP; Brailin Tapia, Susanne Bifano, Casey Mason, MD; Kanwal Farooqi, MD; Hilary Woodward, MS, CCLS.

The POWER Advisory Board co-chairs have tasked the group with developing both a strategic plan and a range of activities to engage our pediatric clinicians, staff, and learners over the coming months.

Additionally, the board has established a collaboration with the Columbia University Irving Medical Center cross-campus wellness leadership team, led by Lourival Baptista, MD, to increase our capacity and resources in wellness and support.

COVID-19 Support

The POWER team continued to collaborate with Cope Columbia to ensure that department members had access to critical information regarding managing grief and fostering resilience during the pandemic. Specifically, we continued to offer access to 1:1 support with psychiatry. The team returned to offer grand rounds.

Finally, the team met with several leaders in the department to offer guidance and training in leadership during the continued challenges of the pandemic.

ELEVATED POWER Initiative

The POWER team has continued to work closely with the department's vice chairs for education (Marina Catallozzi, MD, MSCE; Linda Aponte Patel, MD; and Hetty Cunningham, MD) and the Pediatric Diversity & Inclusion Council (PDIC) as well as others at Columbia University Irving Medical Center to compile resources to educate faculty, staff, and learners about the impact of privilege and how to dismantle systemic racism and its impact—to move beyond solidarity to action.

ELEVATED POWER in Pediatrics (to Ensure that the Learning Environment, Values, Anti-racism Training, Equity and Diversity in Promoting Overall Well-being, Engagement, and Resilience) continues to work with divisions and teams to better understand the new and emerging needs of the members of our department during these times of continuing challenge.