Education Shines at Shriners Children's Boston

Education is a pillar of the Shriners Children’s mission. Staff members throughout the healthcare system are encouraged to take advantage of ongoing learning opportunities, and many locations offer educational lectures to medical professionals in the community. The educational offerings from Shriners Children’s Boston teach physicians, emergency medical services personnel and other medical staff about best practices associated with burn care, plastic surgery, laser surgery, reconstructive surgery, and cleft lip and cleft palate care. Shriners Children’s is committed to providing quality educational opportunities for participants to discover new knowledge that improves the care and quality of life for children and families.

Each fall, Shriners Children’s Boston welcomes healthcare professionals from across the globe to the Abraham Thall & Sadye Stone Thall Educational Symposium. The symposium was established by the Thalls’ daughter, Mrs. Diane Rothstein, as a living legacy of her parents’ passion for furthering education, specifically around burn care. The Thall Symposium is the result of a year-round planning process involving multiple departments. “We look for topic recommendations about what the audience would like to see, focusing on interesting or important subjects in burn care,” explained Melissa Gorman, MSN, RN, CPNP-PC, NPD-BC, CCRN. As a nursing professional development specialist, Melissa started her career in nursing before moving into an educational role at Shriners Children’s Boston. “We try to change up the topics and speakers year to year, so we offer varied content to attract new and different audiences.”

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the Thall Symposium has switched from an in-person model to virtual, a format Melissa has seen improve both attendance and outcomes. The virtual event gives healthcare professionals from hospitals, urgent care clinics, pediatric practices and even fire stations from across the country access to the Thall Symposium. “As an educator, I love being able to share what we do with a wider audience,” Melissa said. “We try to pick topics that won’t just attract nurses or physical therapists. We try to pick topics that speak to many different levels in healthcare.”

Kerri Staffier, BSN, RN, works as a physician liaison for Shriners Children’s Boston, and promotes the Thall Symposium to various healthcare facilities and physician practices across Boston and New England. “The Thall Symposium helps us spread the word about a wonderful educational opportunity aligned with the Shriners Children’s mission,” Kerri noted.

Kerri plans lectures and community outreach to regional hospitals, healthcare offices and emergency departments. “Doctors I meet with don’t see a lot of cleft, craniofacial or even burn patients, so Shriners Children’s Boston is a great resource for them in receiving education from our medical staff,” explained Kerri. “When we get a physician in the community who expresses interest, I’ll have a Shriners Children’s Boston physician give an educational lecture.”

Kerri often partners with Melissa to offer lectures to healthcare providers who may interact with burn survivors in their practice. “These lectures are all a little bit different depending on the audience, but the theme throughout is consistent,” Melissa explained. “I start with a basic understanding of burn care. It can be overwhelming when a patient comes in with a severe burn, so just giving staff a good approach to assessing and managing those patients is so important.”

Like the Thall Symposium’s virtual model change since the COVID-19 pandemic, many of the presentations Kerri helps organize have moved online. “Going virtual has helped improve the breadth and depth of who we are sharing our specialty care and expertise with,” Kerri explained. “We’re spreading the word not only about the care we provide but about the Shriners Children’s mission to more organizations.”

Robert Sheridan, M.D., is the chief of staff and director of the burn service at Shriners Children’s Boston, and has been part of helping educate the public, even participating in grand rounds in Massachusetts. “Shriners Children’s staff members have expertise in burn care, and we feel this comes with an obligation to provide ongoing education to the healthcare community and general public,” he said.

Melissa also educates the community at large about the burn services Shriners Children’s Boston provides, since care can be specialized for patients. “Shriners Children’s Boston is well known to provide acute burn care. But people don’t understand the ongoing care of patients with burns and what Shriners Children’s Boston can offer from rehabilitation therapy to a plastic and reconstructive surgery standpoint,” Melissa said.

With a nursing background herself, Melissa thrives on providing education to nurses and all medical staff at Shriners Children’s Boston. She also coordinates all the facility’s basic life support and pediatric advanced life support courses for nurses, nurse practitioners, physicians and pharmacists, along with mock code blue and emergency response drills. “Ongoing education helps the Shriners Children’s Boston team stay abreast of emerging information and developing techniques that help us stay at the forefront in our field,” Dr. Sheridan noted.

If you are interested in attending an educational session or organizing one for your group, you can contact Kerri Staffier, BSN, RN, physician liaison at Shriners Children’s at 617-371-4720 or Kerri.Staffier@shrinenet.org.