Dear Colleagues:

How often do we hear of the need to reinforce the compassionate care and treatment of our patients? How do we define the proverbial good bedside manner of physicians? And, once defined, how do we translate that behavior throughout a vast, highly competitive, fast-paced environment and infiltrate our culture with compassion? Defining the essence of compassion can perhaps be more easily achieved than its consistent practice.

Using feedback we receive from surveys such as Press Ganey, we must recognize that patient satisfaction has the potential to help drive our future success. As a defining characteristic of our organization, it can distinguish us when compared to other similar academic medical centers so that we support our superb technology and innovate care with equally superb humanism.

We have an opportunity to create the ideal patient experience and we have been working diligently at the BWPO to develop and support this notion. We understand that exceptional care and cutting edge technology must go hand-in-hand with empathy and support.

The coming year will provide us with new challenges and opportunities to impact the lives of thousands of people who will rely upon us to make them well. There is no better place for the treatment of disease than BW/F. Let us strive to ensure we become equally adept at providing emotionally supportive care.

Sincerely,

Lawrence H. Cohn, MD
Chairman, BWPO