Cleveland Clinic Expert Draws Conclusion at Virtual Conference: Heart Transplant/Donor Program Success

A 90-minute conference session demonstrated the agility of the world-renowned Heart, Vascular & Thoracic Institute leaders at Cleveland Clinic to respond to the need of those who care for critically ill patients. The session was presented virtually to Chinese heart and vascular executives during a one-day live conference in China.

Cleveland Clinic physicians were able to share world-class clinical best practices thanks to technology that facilitated a knowledge exchange half-way across the world. One of the key takeaways underscores the valuable knowledge share gained from an exchange between world healthcare leaders attending the executive education session.

A heart team approach is key

Edward Soltesz, MD, MPH, Surgical Director, Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, and Michael Tong, MD, Director Heart Transplantation, Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Heart, Vascular & Thoracic Institute, facilitated a live presentation of the heart transplantation and ventricular device program at Cleveland Clinic to inform hospital presidents and top physician experts.

“The key with forecasting is to understand who on the waiting list is most at risk of mortality,” said Dr. Soltesz. “Heart failure is clearly a syndrome that has many stages, and it can present in many different ways. The key is understanding what stage of heart failure patients are in, referring them appropriately for advanced therapies, understanding their mortality and understanding what their wishes are. A heart team approach is key to managing these patients, both from a surgical and medical perspective. While heart transplantation is still the ideal option for patients with heart failure, we, unfortunately, don’t have enough organs. Even if we did have enough organs, we still have hundreds of thousands of patients with advanced heart failure who potentially need some form of support.”

Priceless distance-learning experience

Aura Lopez, Senior Director, Global Executive Education, expressed appreciation to all of the physicians and healthcare administrators who came together to share knowledge, “With exemplary leadership and the power of technology, we made the pivot from an ‘on campus’ executive education program to a ‘virtual meeting room’ in order to support our colleagues from across the world. A hybrid approach brought our Cleveland Clinic executives—in real-time—to hospital leaders who were gathered for a private, in-person conference session in China.”

Lopez drew a parallel conclusion about the program’s success when saying, “The technology enabled us to have a priceless distance-learning experience with the world’s number one heart and vascular program, requiring no travel and accommodations. Our learning partners quickly adapted as we addressed their desire to pivot from an in-person venue at Cleveland Clinic to virtual presentations between the two countries. We are excited about the promise of meeting healthcare leaders wherever they may be, and we are thrilled that we can now offer virtualized solutions customized to their needs.”

Virtual sessions to gain access to Cleveland Clinic experts can be arranged by contacting executiveeducation@ccf.org.

Leadership programs developed by Cleveland Clinic encourage innovation and create projects that have positive institutional impact. For more information on Cleveland Clinic Global Executive Education contact the team online at clevelandclinic.org/execed.