Leadership, Strategy and Innovation with Australia's First Chief Medical Wellness Officer, Dr Bethan Richards

      In S 5 E 11 I am delighted welcome Dr Bethan Richards to the podcast.   Dr Richards is a Staff Specialist Rheumatologist at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney and Deputy Director of the Institute for Musculoskeletal Health. In 2019, following her return from Stanford, Bethan had the honour of being appointed Chief Medical Wellness Officer in Sydney Local Health District – an Australian first. She is also the District’s inaugural MDOK Centre Director.   
         Throughout her career, Dr Richards has had extensive experience and a passion for designing and implementing mentoring, teaching, leadership and wellbeing programs. Following a successful pilot in junior medical staff, her evidence based BPTOK wellbeing program is now being rolled out to over 14,000 staff in Sydney Local Health District as MyDistrictOK (MDOK). Dr Richards is a national thought leader and researcher in the field of workplace wellbeing and has advised and mentored local, national and international organisational leaders on how to improve healthcare staff burnout and promote professional fulfilment.
        This is a conversation I have wanted to have on the podcast for some time but feel we have reached a fitting and opportune juncture to have now.
       It is hard to go first. This podcast celebrates the trailblazers and change makers in healthcare, business academia, sport and beyond. Many of my guests, like Bethan,  have gone first as innovators, movers and shakers, so that they might make the path easier for those of us who follow and are coming after.
      This is a high level conversation in which Bethan discusses her healthcare organisational wellbeing work and journey to date from pitch to pilot, through iteration and scaling with a strategic and clinical governance framework and lens. She looks ahead at how we can collectively progress the work incorporating into national safety, quality and accreditation standards.  This is a masterclass at the intersection of leadership, strategy and innovation from someone who has been learning whilst doing and whose consistent and persistent efforts have afforded us a blueprint for healthcare organisational workforce wellbeing reform. This is the episode to listen to more than once, share with your colleagues and executive and healthcare leadership teams. Thank you Bethan for all the work that you do. On we sail. 
References/Links/Related Reading:
https://mdok.org.au
Practical Pathways to Workplace Wellbeing Sydney Local Health District  https://vimeo.com/showcase/11091788

https://beamtree.com.au/papers-publications/recommendations-to-sustain-our-humans-in-healthcare/
https://wellmd.stanford.edu/about/model-external.html https://wellmd.stanford.edu/knowledge-hub/courses-conferences/cwo-course.html
https://catalyst.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/CAT.20.0266

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Disclaimer: The content in this podcast is not intended to constitute or be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always seek the advice of your doctor or other qualified health care professional. Moreover views expressed here are our own and do not necessarily reflect those of our employers or other official organisations.