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As COO of the UK-based Point of Care Foundation, Deborah Sandford (MBA 1990) runs an organization that addresses the needs of health care professionals who spend their careers answering the needs of others. “Hospital staff members exist on a daily diet of trauma, death, dying, and persistent ill health,” says Sandford, who joined Point of Care in 2014. “Their burn-out rates are high and getting higher.” Recent breakthroughs in life-saving medical interventions mean that “more patients are living longer with chronic conditions,” Sandford notes. “The quality of the patient-staff relationship has never been more important.”
Central to Point of Care’s mission is the belief that patient care improves when health care providers are well supported. In addition to her finance, HR, and strategy responsibilities, Sandford also directs the foundation’s Schwartz Rounds Program. Originally developed by the Schwartz Center for Compassionate Health Care in Boston, Schwartz Rounds provide an opportunity for health caregivers to gather and reflect on the emotional aspects of their work. Point of Care provides organizational assistance and training for approximately 100 health facilities that currently run Schwarz Rounds in the UK.
Point of Care offers Sandford the chance to use her business experience to maximize the impact of a small nonprofit with a large mission. “We're engaged in a space where we have a chance to influence the national debate on the quality of health care,” she shares. “It’s challenging work, but tremendously life-affirming.”
(Published August 2015)
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