Chapter 15: Integrating Cancer Educators into a Healthcare Environment: Theory and Practice
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Description
Ms. Villejo first explains the challenges of working collaborative with care providers at MD Anderson. On one hand, educators can be intimidated by content experts. On the other, content experts can be suspicious that educators want to “tell us what to do.” She explains the importance of establishing fields of operation when working with experts and continually clarifying the services that educators provide.
Next, Ms. Villejo talks about a chapter she and others are contributing to a book on how to develop health promotion programs.She notes how important multi-disciplinary teams are to this and how MD Anderson was a forerunner in creating this approach.
Identifier
VillejoL_03_20150605_C15
Publication Date
6-5-2015
City
Houston, Texas
Interview Session
Louise Villejo, MPH, MCHES, Oral History Interview, June 05, 2015
Topics Covered
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center - An Institutional Unit; The Administrator; . The Educator; Multi-disciplinary Approaches; Institutional Processes; MD Anderson Culture; Education; Collaborations; Professional Practice; Obstacles, Challenges
Transcript
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
When I was at your retirement party and there were all these individuals standing up and commenting on working with you since the ’80s, there was a woman from Nursing who stood up. And I hadn’t even really thought about well, what would be the perspective of Nursing on the Education Office. And she articulated that nurses were pretty hostile, because they thought of themselves as patient educators. So tell me about that relationship at MD Anderson. What were some of the challenges you confronted in the ’80s? And how did that change over the years?
Louise Villejo, MPH, MCHES:
That was Betty Cody. She was the director of Nursing Education. And to tell you the truth, I was surprised about that. She told me that right before the program started. And she had never told me that before. But there was probably some pushback. But I guess my perspective is always to look at the collaborative part of it. So there were people that didn’t want to work with us or said, “Oh, you’re going to take all the credit for this,” or that kind of thing. And I think over time like Betty said they realized that we would be helpful. We could do a lot of background work. We were the education specialists. They were the content specialists. Back when Betty was there I mean we worked hand in glove with Nursing Education, because if we had a patient education program that we were going to roll out, we worked with them to plan that rollout and really provide the education to staff as far as the teaching programs. And we still work closely with Nursing Education. There was something else you said that I wanted to comment on. But there were some pushback. Oh. I think one of the things that is important, and I think the group that I worked with is very strong, and they have an excellent background and experience in health education and patient education. But one thing that is important for a health educator first coming into a clinical setting is that they might be intimidated by working with doctors and nurses. I mean we have the best of the best working here. So that can be intimidating for new people. And you just have to realize just like everything else in life, you have a certain expertise and other people have a certain expertise. But really overall I’ve found everyone that I’ve worked with to be very collaborative. I think I mentioned one area that I was starting a patient education program in and the doctor said—the medical director sat in on the discussion of our first meeting, and he said, “Now are you going to come in here and tell us what to do?” And I said, “No, you’re going to tell me how it’s working now. And then we’ll structure it the best way that you all think is what the patients need.” What information do the patients need and how are we going to give it to them, and are there any gaps? Do you need any educational reinforcement? So as important as the print materials and videotapes and all that, it’s critical that it is seen as a component and reinforcement and not the patient education. Because I have heard that. As a matter of fact I was on a funding committee one time and we were asking for funding for the development of a videotape. And there were a number of patients and community members on that committee. And they were very resistant. They said, “Now how do we know that you’re not going to just stick people in a room and show them the video and not have any interaction with them?” So they were very concerned about that. They had obviously experienced something. So critical that it is a part of the program and not the program.
Recommended Citation
Villejo, Louise and Rosolowski, Tacey A. PhD, "Chapter 15: Integrating Cancer Educators into a Healthcare Environment: Theory and Practice" (2015). Interview Chapters. 1530.
https://openworks.mdanderson.org/mchv_interviewchapters/1530
Conditions Governing Access
Open
