Episode Details

The guest for this podcast was Cynda Hylton Rushton, PhD, RN, FAAN, the Anne and George L. Bunting Professor of Clinical Ethics at the Berman Institute of Bioethics/School of Nursing and Professor of Nursing and Pediatrics, at the Johns Hopkins University. A clinician, educator, researcher and advocate for compassionate health care with decades of nursing experience, Dr. Rushton’s work focuses on clinical ethics, palliative and end-of-life care, particularly for children, as well as integrated organizational change and ethical leadership. She has led numerous initiatives to cultivate contemplative practices that foster awareness, inquiry and resilience in complex health care settings and to address the detrimental effects of moral distress on clinicians, patients and families. She designed, implemented and evaluated the Mindful Ethical Practice & Resilience Academy (MEPRA) for nurses and has published hundreds of articles and book chapters on related topics. Since 2001, she has served as a teacher and collaborator in Upaya’s Being With Dying Professional Training program and as core faculty in G.R.A.C.E.

Along with Roshi Joan Halifax and Al Kaszniak, she has collaborated in the development of a framework and strategies for addressing moral distress and understanding the process of moral discernment. She has received fellowships from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (Executive Nurse Fellow), Mind and Life Institute and Kornfeld Foundation. Currently her research focuses on the cultivation of moral resilience in response to adversity created by ethical conflicts and designing a culture that fosters ethical practice. Her book, “Moral Resilience: Transforming Moral Suffering in Healthcare” is published by Oxford University Press.

Guest:

Cynda Hylton Rushton, PhD, MSN, BSN, RN, FAAN

Faculty Page, Johns Hopkins University:

https://nursing.jhu.edu/faculty-research/faculty/directory/cynda-rushton/

About the MEPRA Program at Johns Hopkins:

https://giving.jhu.edu/story/cynda-rushton-moral-distress/

Other mentions or references during the podcast:

Upaya Zen Center Being with Dying Program:

https://www.upaya.org/social-action/being-with-dying/

Research on the MEPRA Program:

Rushton, CH, et al. Mindful Ethical Practice and Resilience Academy: Equipping Nurses to Address Ethical Challenges. Am J Crit Care (2021) 30 (1): e1–e11., https://doi.org/10.4037/ajcc2021359

Moral Resilience Book:

Rushton, CH, ed. Moral Resilience: Transforming Moral Suffering in Healthcare. Oxford University Press; 2018, doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/med/9780190619268.003.0011

Warren Reich:

Reich, WT. Speaking of suffering: a moral account of compassion. Soundings 1989 Spring;72(1):83-108.

Monica Sharma’s Conscious Full Spectrum Approach: Radical Transformational Leadership

Strategic Action for Change Agents. North Atlantic Books; 2017.