Trevor Gerber is Clinician Experience Project’s Partner Spotlight for July! Trevor is a Physician Assistant in Cardiothoracic surgery at Valley View Hospital.
Trevor’s greatest joy in medicine is helping patients through a challenging part of their lives. To see how the Clinician Experience Project helped him enhance his skills in helping patients and collaborating with teammates, read below!
How long have you been in medicine, and what are your favorite parts about it?
I have been in cardiothoracic surgery for 22 years. My favorite part of practicing medicine is knowing the postive impact I can have on another’s life. I love watching a patient come into the hospital in a physically challenging part of their life, but then after having open heart surgery, he/she walks out of the hospital in much better condition than they arrived in.
Can you tell us one of your favorite patient stories from working in medicine?
I had a 93-year-old patient that had severe tricuspid valve insufficiency causing massive edema and anasarca. He was hoping we would offer him valve repair (we do not routinely operate on patients in their 90s) so he could live long enough to see his 15-year-old son graduate from high school. We performed tricuspid valve repair and the patient had a great outcome with marked symptom improvement. He showed up in my office 2 years later to let me know how well he was doing (and that he was able to see his son graduate from high school).
How has the Clinician Experience Project (CEP) helped you as a clinician?
In my undergraduate and graduate studies I didn’t spend much focus on developing soft skills. CEP gives me the tools I can use every day to improve connecting with my patients and colleagues. To me, CEP is filling the void for skills I should have learned years ago.
Could you tell us about a time that a tip came in handy?
“Partnering with Nurses” is a tip I utilize during my daily rounds. Previously, I hadn’t analyzed rounding from the patient’s perspective. I now realize that setting expectations with the nurse in front of the patient and then the nursing staff executing the care we planned helps all of us be on the same page, which improves patient satisfaction and outcomes.
What new skills are you looking forward to developing?
I am looking forward to developing my leadership skills in the workplace.
What do you look forward to most after each week’s new tip?
I challenge myself to implement one thing I learned from the previous week. I’m not always successful, but that is my goal.
Thank you, Trevor, for sharing your story with us! We are so grateful to have you all as our partners and we look forward to what you accomplish next with the Clinician Experience Project!
Sign Up For Updates
Download the eBook now!
About Us
Our mission is to develop world-class skill-building solutions that enhance the patient experience, fuel team collaboration, and develop leaders who inspire change.
Download the eBook now!
About Us
Our mission is to develop world-class skill-building solutions that enhance the patient experience, fuel team collaboration, and develop leaders who inspire change.
Practicing Excellence builds skills to drive outcomes in well-being, patient experience, and leadership effectiveness. Built for busy clinicians, our micro-learning solution delivers short, evidence-derived, video-based coaching to clinicians, leaders, and teams through our mobile app. We partner with some of the nations’ most prominent health systems and medical groups to deliver coordinated skill-building programs that provide measurable results. Learn more at practicingexcellence.com.
