Event Phone: 608-775-4747

Presenter: Betty Davies, MSN, PhD

Betty Davies, MSN, PhD, is adjunct professor at the School of Nursing, University of Victoria, Victoria, Canada and professor emerita at Family Health Care Nursing, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA. Her long career has focused on palliative/hospice care for adults and children and their families, the impact of palliative care on healthcare providers, and palliative care education. Her extensive research is reported in nearly 200 articles and book chapters, as well as two books: Fading Away: The Experience of Transition in Families Facing Terminal Illness and Shadows in the Sun: Experiences of Sibling Bereavement in Childhood. A third book is in press: Pediatric Palliative Care: Exemplary Interactions. Dr. Davies is co-founder of Canuck Place, North America’s first free-standing children’s hospice. She serves on the editorial board of several significant journals and is the recipient of numerous awards for her contributions as a clinician, researcher, and teacher, most notably the University of Alberta Alumni Honor Award and the Pediatric Award of Excellence from the Pediatric Network of Palliative Care for Children and the Canadian Hospice and Palliative Care Association.

Topic: Pediatric Palliative Care: A Model for Exemplary Practice

When assessing the care they receive, parents of seriously ill children focus often on the nature of pediatric health care providers’ (PHCPs) interactions with them. PHCPs sincerely want to be exemplary in all interactions with these parents. Firmly grounded in clinical practice and qualitative study of positive rather than problematic encounters between PHCPs and parents of seriously ill children, an evidence-based model of the complexities of exemplary interaction will be presented using an image of a windmill. This model provides a new way of rendering visible the qualities and behaviors that lead to PHCPs’ authentic interactions with parents, as well as with colleagues. The windmill illustrates that meaningful connections are not just a matter of personality or temperament as is often claimed but can be and must be learned; the windmill connects the science with the heart of best clinical practice. Lessons from pediatric palliative care are a valuable source of inspiration for educators, supervisors, and healthcare administrators who want to know how to create optimal, supportive environments for both families and providers.