YEREVAN, Armenia – On October 29, 2018, the Turpanjian School of Public Health (SPH) of the American University of Armenia (AUA) organized a public health seminar titled “Patient Experience: Theory and Practice.” The seminar was led by Dr. Sharon Anoush Chekijian, Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine and a faculty member in the Sections of Administration and Global Health and International Emergency Medicine in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Yale University. She is also the Medical Director of Patient Experience in Emergency Medicine at Yale and serves as the Medical Director of the Physician Assistant and Nurse Practitioner group in the Department of Emergency Medicine. Her public health interests lie in emergency care systems’ development, unintentional injury prevention, cardiac care in low- and middle-income countries and the global development of organ transplantation programs.
Dr. Chekijian’s presentation reviewed the current theory behind the patient experience movement as well as current data collection efforts related to patient experience. She emphasized the importance of methods of operationally structured efforts towards patient centered care. She also discussed professional development in the areas of communication and empathy at all levels of training from medical students to senior, practicing physicians and allied professionals.
The seminar was well attended by students, public health experts, physicians and lawyers from various entities, including the Ministry of Health, the AUA SPH, Yerevan State Medical University, the Fund for Armenian Relief, Haybusak University, and from many hospital centers.
The AUA Gerald and Patricia Turpanjian School of Public Health works actively to improve population health and health services in Armenia and the region through interdisciplinary education and development of public health professionals to be leaders in public health, health services research and evaluation, and health care delivery and management.
