WELCOME

Dr. Dominic Vachon and the faculty of the Hillebrand Center for Compassionate Care in Medicine at the University of Notre Dame have developed methods for integrating the science of compassion into clinical practice, organizational culture, and training programs for practicing health professionals. Advances in the neuroscience of compassion have provided an evidence-based scientific understanding of how compassionate caring in healthcare is essential for both excellent patient care as well as clinician well-being and buffering burnout.

In this 2.5-day workshop, participants will learn the compassion science paradigm approach as a practical means to ground clinicians and staff in a time when business practices and societal conditions appear to be deprioritizing compassionate caring and unclear about how to effectively support healthcare clinicians. The workshop will provide the essentials for immediately using the compassion science paradigm in your practice, your organization, or your training program.

This activity has been approved for AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™ and ANCC Contact Hours by Indiana University School of Medicine.

Organizer:
Dr. Dominic O. Vachon, M.Div., Ph.D.
Contact: dvachon@nd.edu

Dominic O. Vachon, M.Div., Ph.D., is the John G. Sheedy M.D. Director of the Ruth M. Hillebrand Center for Compassionate Care in Medicine in the College of Science at the University of Notre Dame. He is also a professor of practice in the Preprofessional Studies Department, where he teaches courses in compassionate care in medicine, medical counseling skills, and spiritualties of caring in the helping professions. Dr. Vachon does research on the internal mental and emotional process of the clinician compassion mental state in patient care, clinician communication skills, mental performance in high stress clinical specialties, and innovations in medical training applying the science of compassion. For over 10 years, he was on the faculty of the St. Joseph Family Medicine Residency Program as the Director of Behavioral Medicine and Caring Science Training.  He graduated from Notre Dame in 1980 with bachelor degrees in Psychology and Philosophy.  He received an M.Div. from Notre Dame in 1985.  In 1993, he received a Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from Loyola University of Chicago.  He has been a practicing psychologist and has been involved with training physicians, nurses, psychologists, and other helping professions throughout his career.  He is author of the book, How Doctors Care:  The Science of Compassionate and Balanced Caring in Medicine recently published by Cognella Press and a co-author of The Power & Pain of Nursing:  Self-Care Practices to Protect & Replenish Compassion (2021).  Last year he was invited to do the foreword to the book, Visionary Leadership in Healthcare: Excellence in Practice, Policy, and Ethics (2022). Dr. Vachon is a Certified Compassion Cultivation Training (CCT) Teacher with the Compassion Institute.  He is also an Adjunct Clinical Assistant Professor of Family Medicine at the Indiana University School of Medicine-South Bend.  Dr. Vachon has devoted the last 30 years of his professional career to supporting and training physicians, nurses, residents, medical students, premedical students, and other clinicians in patient communication skills as well as dealing with burnout and the recovery of compassionate care in the inner lives of clinicians.  He provides continuing education and organizational consulting on integrating the science of compassion into healthcare practice.