Focusing on the Quality of Life and Care

A Conversation with Dr. Shoshana Ungerleider

Dr. Shoshana Ungerleider, Founder & President, End Well
Twitter: @ShoshUMD

Shoshana Ungerleider, MD is a practicing internal medicine physician, host of the TED Health Podcast, founder of End Well, science advocate and a leading voice in healthcare.

Dr. Shoshana Ungerleider, founder and president of End Well, shares how the practice of medicine is changing to better serve end-of-life needs. Without the proper training and education, it can be challenging for healthcare professionals to know where palliative care fits in their patients’ treatment.

5 Major Takeaways:

1. We should focus on the quality of life of patients, together with curative treatment. The majority of people who have a major illness aren’t actively dying or in the hospital, but are out in the community. So, care needs to be available in all settings, including in the long term and in our homes.
2. Palliative care is proven to provide better care and reduce costs over time. Branching out with different methods of healthcare can lead to options like palliative care that truly help everyone live healthier lives.
3. Communication skills training should be treated like a surgical procedure, in which clinicians are trained on breaking bad news to people. It’s not quite as challenging as a surgery but still takes time to do well. Approaching difficult topics should be done with nuance, patience, and curiosity.
4. Focus on the quality of care instead of the volume. Help people live their lives as fully as possible. Figure out what individuals want to accomplish with their life, and recognize that it usually does not involve sitting in an intensive care unit.
5. When care is in alignment with the goals and values of different people and their families, doctors, nurses, and other healthcare leaders are happy too.

Jeff Gourdji, Partner, Prophet
Twitter: @JeffGourdji

With over 20 years of leading high-impact marketing and strategy projects, Jeff brings a breadth of experience that comes from working across many industries, as marketing practitioner, management consultant and political strategist. Jeff has worked in extensively in the healthcare industry, including payers, providers, pharmaceuticals and health care service provider organizations. Additionally, Jeff has worked in food, beverage, agriculture, pet care, for-profit education, energy and in several industrial settings.

Paul Schrimpf, Partner, Prophet
Twitter: @PaulSchrimpf

Paul is a partner in Prophet’s Chicago office, developing and implementing marketing, brand and customer experience strategies that are rooted in deep consumer insights and analytics. He is also a leader in Prophet’s healthcare practice, working with providers, payers and pharmaceutical companies. His healthcare expertise includes work for clients like Abbott, the American Medical Association, Anthem, Becton Dickinson and IBM Watson Health.

Priya Aneja, Associate Partner, Prophet

Priya is a co-leader of Prophet’s Healthcare Vertical and has over 10 years of professional services experience across investment banking and strategy consulting, with an exclusive focus on healthcare. Priya’s expertise spans healthcare sectors, including pharma, providers, and payers. Her work is multi-disciplinary, including brand-driven growth strategy, content & communications strategy, segmentation & opportunity assessment, business case development, culture transformation, and customer experience.

This show is where healthcare leaders who are driving change in their organizations, as well as today’s healthcare experience, share their stories. On this podcast, you’ll hear from industry-leading healthcare professionals about their personal transformation journeys and what organizations can do to create the next wave of growth today and in the future.