Skill Set: A physician or other clinician who champions the program as an ambassador for compassionate care. This person should be a well-respected member of the provider team. Their presence at Schwartz Rounds brings added credibility and visibility to the program.

Role: The Physician or Clinical Leader will engage with administrative and clinical leadership to encourage their support of and participation in the Schwartz Rounds. They act as the leader and champion representing the program with the organizational leadership team, including the chief executive officer, chief nursing officer, chief medical officer, medical staff, and other senior administrators. Before each session, the Physician or Clinical Leader may actively participate in Planning Committee discussions, aiding in selecting topics or cases and inviting panelists to share their stories about the chosen topic or case. The Physician or Clinical Leader is essential in involving clinicians in Schwartz Rounds and should have contacts throughout the organization to support case, topic, and panel selection.

During each session:

• Host the session, welcoming participants and providing opening remarks
• Assist in focusing the discussion as needed, supporting the Facilitator(s) and sharing insights and reflections
• Co-facilitate the session

After each session:

• Work with the Facilitator to debrief with the panelists
• Review Schwartz Rounds evaluations to inform future sessions

Skill set: The Facilitator should be a person with experience in understanding group dynamics, helping people navigate difficult conversations, and managing the process as well as the content of a conversation. These individuals often come from one of the following departments: social work, mental/behavioral health, pastoral care, palliative medicine, human resources, organizational development, or graduate medical education. Please don’t exclude a candidate with the skills and interest that suit this work if they come from elsewhere in the organization or have different professional credentials. We’ve seen librarians, chief nursing officers, and physical therapists all thrive in the role of Facilitator. We recommend having at least two trained Facilitators as part of your team.

Role in Schwartz Rounds: Facilitators make essential contributions to Schwartz Rounds before, during, and after each session.

Prior to each session:

• Meet with panelists to help them prepare their stories
• Plan the session with the Co-Facilitator
• Collaborate with the Program Coordinator to arrange for logistical or IT support
• Invite participation from Planning Committee members by asking them to arrive at Schwartz Rounds ready to share their own stories as role models and “discussion catalysts”
• Meet with panelists approximately a week prior to the session to help panelists prepare and simultaneously to prepare themselves. This meeting is a time to plan the session introduction, select discussion prompts, and determine the session close in alignment with the Narrative Flow of Schwartz Rounds

During each session:

• Following the Physician or Clinical Leader’s welcoming remarks, explain the purpose of Schwartz Rounds, along with ground rules, before introducing the topic or case and associated panelists
• Invite participants to share their reflections and observations
• Focus the discussion by asking thought-provoking questions
• Make observations to help deepen the conversation
• Manage time and group dynamics while guiding participants through the Narrative Flow of Schwartz Rounds
• At the close of the session, remind participants to complete their evaluation forms
• For tips, please visit the Facilitating Schwartz Rounds page

After each session:

• Conduct the debrief along with the Physician or Clinical Leader and the Planning Committee

Skill Set: The Program Coordinator possesses excellent organization skills and attention to detail, perhaps from their extensive project or program management experience. Some organizations have recruited this role from members of administrative teams or executive support staff.

Role in Schwartz Rounds: Because no program can thrive without robust operational infrastructure, the Program Coordinator is essential to the success of the Schwartz Rounds Program.

Before each session:

• Manage scheduling of Planning Committee meetings and Schwartz Rounds sessions
• Oversee the administrative and logistical aspects of Schwartz Rounds, which includes arranging for a physical space or virtual platform in/on which to host the meeting
• Ensure appropriate audiovisual support and IT support is present — for instance, microphones in a physical space, or working webcams for a Virtual Schwartz Rounds
• Coordinate lunch or other nourishment for each session, if applicable
• Assist with marketing and outreach efforts throughout the organization to help raise awareness of the program

During each session:

• Assist with set up the physical meeting space
• Greet participants and members of the Planning Committee
• Collect evaluations when Schwartz Rounds conclude

After each session:

• Summarize the evaluation data to share with the Planning Committee
• Email a summary of qualitative and tabulated quantitative evaluation data to Rounds@theschwartzcenter.org

In addition to a robust Schwartz Rounds Leadership Team, a well-rounded and engaged Schwartz Rounds Planning Committee is essential to a successful Schwartz Rounds Program.

The Planning Committee is your most powerful resource for outreach; therefore, its membership should reflect the organization you wish to reach. We recommend fielding a team of 8 to 12 members who are multidisciplinary and representative across the organization. Try to recruit people from different areas of your organization and be mindful of the members’ identities, striving to be inclusive not just of professional identity but of gender, race, and ethnicity. Think of all who interact with patients and families in any way: clinicians, non-clinicians, those at the bedside, and those with a bird’s-eye view of the organization.

A Schwartz Rounds Planning Committee may have physicians, nurses, nursing educators, case managers, social workers, patient safety or quality officers, and chaplains. We encourage you to recruit committee members outside of traditional patient-care roles too, from areas such as security, interpreting, marketing/communications, environmental services, and nutrition/food services.

The Planning Committee key responsibilities:

• Generating awareness of Schwartz Rounds throughout the organization
• Keeping “ears on the ground” and report back to the Leadership Team about what colleagues want and need to talk about
• Brainstorming topics or cases
• Recruiting panelists to present
• Convening to debrief each Schwartz Rounds session and plan for future sessions

Additional responsibilities may include:

• Tracking attendance
• Supporting the distribution and collection of evaluation forms
• Modeling productive participation as “discussion catalysts”
• Staffing a welcome table at Schwartz Rounds with materials related to wellness and resilience
• Helping with serving food at sessions
• Assisting as microphone runners at in-person Schwartz Rounds or as chat moderators at Virtual Schwartz Rounds

• Recruit a Planning Committee member from your marketing or communications team. They’ll help make sure you’re doing all you can to inform and educate staff about Schwartz Rounds.
• Consider recruiting a Planning Committee member who is part of risk and quality management to help your Leadership Team address any areas of risk to patients, providers, or the organization in the selection of topics and cases.
• Members of the Graduate Medical Education team may be able to help you to seek accreditation of your Schwartz Rounds for CMEs and CEUs. Getting them on your Planning Committee can expedite that effort. Share the CME Toolkit
• Members of IT or tech support (or other tech-savvy colleagues) can help with any technology or online platform challenges
• Recruitment from various job functions across the organization will help gain participation from many areas of the organization. If you’re having trouble getting a specific group to participate, reach out to your Member Experience Advisor for recruitment tips and support.
• Inviting new members to join the Planning Committee regularly will help the group and the program thrive. New members introduce fresh energy, different perspectives, and new ideas. We urge our member sites to keep this in mind even as you are embarking on your Schwartz Rounds journey.

To add to or update your Schwartz Rounds Leadership Team, please complete this form.