Peer support in adverse events training 

Date: Sunday 8 June, 2025 | Venue: Dunedin Centre
Time: 9.00am - 1.00pm
Cost: $450
For: RANZCOG Fellows and Trainees, and other health practitioners for whom this relevant

Maximum: 25 places

To provide the most effective support, selected clinicians need training to become peer supporters. Training teaches peer supporters how to avoid common pitfalls such as trying to “fix” their colleagues’ pain; minimizing their colleague’s pain; prescribing the supporter’s own solutions instead of helping the colleague find their personal solutions, etc.  

The workshop focuses on:

  • How peer support differs from other support resources such as informal peer support, mental health treatment, employee assistance program, etc.
  • Data and stories supporting the need for peer support
  • Discussion of peer support fundamentals
  • Practice role plays to teach peer support skills and framework
  • Simulation of peer support with the instructor and a volunteer
  • Scripted peer support conversation prompts

To register for this workshop please use the general ASM registration form as linked here and you can either add it to your ASM registration or choose early in the registration process to register solely for a Pre-ASM workshop. 

Here's an overview of the programme:

9.00amWelcome and introductions
9.15am

Where peer support fits into overall wellbeing initiatives

Current culture in medical profession

9.45am

Small group task

Reflection and discussion

  • Systems contributors
  • Emotional harm to physicians after adverse events
  • Fallout from emotional harm
  • Resilience facilitators

10.15am

Peer support: what it is and what it is not

Role play: peer supporting a colleague

Debrief

11.00amMorning tea
11.30amSimulation and debrief
12.00pm

Peer support fundamentals

Addressing concerns: discoverability, suicidality, competence, impairment

Operationalizing: building a peer support programme

Closing discussion

1.00pmWorkshop ends

This workshop will be facilitated/presented by Dr Jo Shapiro:



Associate Professor Jo Shapiro
Associate Professor Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Harvard Medical School
Founder, Centre for Professionalism and Peer Support, Brigham and Women's Hospital

Jo Shapiro, MD, FACS, is an associate professor of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at Harvard Medical School and a consultant for the Department of Surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital. In 2008, she founded the Centre for Professionalism and Peer Support at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, where she served as the director for over 10 years.

Since then, she has worked with healthcare organizations nationally and internationally to develop peer support programs so that healthcare providers can begin to heal after significant stressors such as vicarious trauma from causing inadvertent patient harm.

 In 2018, Harvard Medical School gave her the Shirley Driscoll Dean’s Award for the Advancement of Women’s Careers. She continues to educate and assist organizations in developing specific programmatic and educational approaches to patient safety and clinician wellbeing, such as peer support, disclosure and apology, conflict management, psychological safety and professionalism initiatives. Read more about Jo below...

https://www.joshapiromd.com/about

https://www.joshapiromd.com/peer-support

CPD available for the Peer support in adverse events training

This workshop has been pre-approved for 3.5 hours total CPD: Educational Activities (2 hours) and Performance Review (1.5 hours). RANZCOG Fellows, who have provided their RANZCOG ID as part of their registration process, will have CPD points automatically uploaded to their profile after the event. Other RANZCOG members can claim independently.

Attendance certificates are available on request.