April 16, 2004

What's Happening

Schwartz Center speaker series
The Kenneth B. Schwartz Center Speaker series will sponsor "Literature and Medicine: Bridging the Divide" May 3, from 6 to 7 pm at Harvard Pilgrim HealthCare, 93 Worcester St. (Rte. 9), Wellesley. Rita Charon, MD, director of the Program in Narrative Medicine at Columbia University Medical Center, will speak about how reflective writing can increase the empathy caregivers feel for their patients, and how patients and families can benefit from caregivers who focus on humanizing medicine. Registration is required by April 28. To register or for more information, send e-mail to SchwartzCenter@partners.org or call (617) 724-4746.

EAP offerings
The MGH Employee Assistance Program (EAP) will offer a Work/Life seminar "Kids and Drugs — Current Trends" April 22, from noon to 1 pm in the Wellman Conference Room. Leslie P. Strachan, LICSW, and Marc Bolduc, MSW, both of the EAP, and Martha Kane, PhD, clinical director of MGH Addiction Services, will discuss the type of drugs kids are faced with today, signs and symptoms of use and abuse and how to communicate with kids about drugs. The EAP also will offer a training course for managers and supervisors about using the EAP as a resource to assist with behavioral health, mental health and substance abuse concerns May 4, from 3:30 to 5 pm in the Burr 5 Conference Room. The following session will be held July 22. For more information, call the EAP at (617) 726-6976 or visit http://www.eap.partners.org.

PIE Awards nominations
The Partners in Excellence (PIE) Awards web nomination period has been expanded to allow nominations to be submitted throughout the year. Effective April 16, nominations for individuals and teams can be submitted online. Online nominations submitted during the spring and summer will be reviewed during October when the selection committee meets. Only individuals employed by the institution during the time of selection will be considered for an award. For more information or to submit a nomination, visit the PIE Awards website at http://intranet.partners.org/pie/.

CRP seminar
The Partners Human Research Committee and the MGH Clinical Research Program are sponsoring "How to Write Research Consent Forms that Subjects Understand — A Plain Language Workshop," May 6, from 8:30 am to 12:30 pm in the Charles River Plaza Training Dept. Room 210. Sue Stableford, MPH, MSB, will discuss the
principles of plain language and how to determine readability. There is a $50 fee for this course, and enrollment is limited to 30. Registration is required. A continental breakfast will be served. To register, visit http://crnet.mgh.harvard.edu or call (617) 726-1669. Nurses will be awarded 4.5 contact hours.

Pain Relief Champions course
The MGH Cares About Pain Relief Initiative is sponsoring the annual Pain Relief Champions course, April 26 in the Wellman Conference Room and May 18 in the Walcott Conference Room, both from 7:30 am to 4:30 pm. This course will cover a wide range of pain-related topics, and participants will be prepared to be agents for improved care of patients in pain in their own work settings. For more information or to register, contact Tom Quinn at (617) 726-0746 or visit www2.massgeneral.org/painrelief.

Menopause and your health
The MGH Women's Health Coordinating Council will host "Menopause and Your Health" April 27, from 6 to 8:30 pm at Mass General West in Waltham. Susan Oliverio, MD, of the MGH Department of Medicine and president of Health in Partnership, Inc., developed this program to help women better understand the facts about menopause and current treatment options. For more information, call Mary Ellen Heike, RN, at (617) 724-8044 or send e-mail to mheike@partners.org.