Dr. Heather Abernethy is an Assistant Professor at the University of Wisconsin, and has been practicing anesthesiology for 20 years. She is very well trained in keeping people safe, but her expertise is helping people feel safe. As humans, we are wired for safety and connection. As healthcare providers, it’s imperative that we understand how creating a safe space is necessary for health and vitality – for both patients and providers.
Her guiding principle is creating a safe space is good medicine and she believes this applies to both providers and patients.
This requires us to be aware of our own nervous system and how our various autonomic states -calm and connected, fight or flight, or shut down and overwhelmed - impact how we feel and behave. Our nervous system impacts our patient’s nervous system. When we are calm and connected, we attune to our patients and help them feel calm and connected. This forms a trusting relationship where healing happens. The healthcare environment can be unrelenting, unforgiving, and often inhumane. Providers spend most of our time in a sympathetic – fight or flight - state constantly on the go, hypervigilant, overworking and overdoing. When unreasonable demands exceed our capacity, we can easily move into a state of shut down and collapse feeling hopeless or numb inside, no longer connected to our patients, our values, or ourselves. We get stuck in these survival states and experience anxiety, depression, and burnout.
Dr. Abernethy provides training in attunement and nervous system regulation. She teaches how to recognize when you’re in a threat state and build skills to find your way back to a calm, connected state. Nervous system regulation decreases provider stress, anxiety and burnout and increases connection and trust with our patients creating safety and healing for all.
I am passionate about teaching healthcare providers the skills to help patients feel safe.
To provide this for our patients, we first need to give this to ourselves.
Tune into your nervous system to better attune to your patients
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To attune, you need to be aware of your own autonomic state. Are you in a fight/freeze, or in a shutdown/withdrawn type state? If so, it’s going to be harder to connnect because no matter what words you say, you’ll have a defensive energy. So, step one is building an awareness of what your states feel like in your body.
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Accessibility is how well you come alongside another person. Can you meet your patient/self where they/you are without any agenda? Can you leave your ego at the door?
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You are accountable for your energy and behaviors. Can you regulate your state/responses? Do you need to do repair work? Can you apologize and try again?
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Be who you are and be true to your purpose and values.
Speaking
“One of the best Grand Rounds I have attended! The presentation was delivered so well, and I will use the information with my patients.”
PRAISE FOR DR. ABERNETHY
“Truly outstanding presentation and so very germane to the work my team does on a daily basis! Thank you!”
“Fantastic presentation. A true rock star in this arena who should take her work to larger venues.”
“I learned how to emotionally interact with patients and team members from a neuroscientific angle and will be better able to interact with the team fluidly which will benefit my patients.”
APPEARANCES
2023 Polyvagal Institute Summit
Keynote speaker
Wisconsin Society of Anesthesiologists
Featured Presenter, September 2023
Medical College of Wisconsin Anesthesiology Intern Retreat
Experiential Workshop, February 2024
Grand Rounds:
University of Wisconsin
University of Minnesota
University of Nebraska
Baptist Children’s Hospital
The Moth, NPR