S2E12: Leading with Energy: A Conversation with Dr. Tracy Van Oss DHSc, MPH, OTR/L

Rahul 

Welcome to Learning to Lead, a podcast about leadership, teamwork, and reimagining healthcare. This podcast is for learners, educators, and healthcare professionals interested in building leadership skills in a supportive community.

We are your hosts Rahul Anand, Maya Doyle, Peter Longley, Amber Vargas, and Brooklynn Weber.

Together we bring you conversations with emerging and established leaders, deep dives and hacks to help you become the best leader you can be.

Pete

Hello everyone. Welcome back to Learning to Lead. I am Peter Longley and I am here today with Tracy Van Oss and also Rahul Anand.

Rahul

Hello.

Pete

So, Dr. Tracy Van Oss is a Professor and a Doctoral Capstone Coordinator in the Occupational Therapy Department. Tracy has earned a Doctor of Health Science degree, a Master’s in Public Health degree, a Bachelor of Science degree in Corporate Communication, and a degree in Occupational Therapy from Quinnipiac University. So we know who is one of our funders also. So please welcome Dr. Tracy Van Oss.

Tracy

Thank you so much, Peter, for that introduction. I'm glad to be here.

Pete

So Tracy, I'd like to start off where our friendship actually began many moons ago. So we were running around the hallways in Yale New Haven Hospital.

Tracy

Yes, we were.

Pete

Me as a nurse and you as an occupational therapist, and the one thing that continues to stand out throughout decades of knowing each other is you are always positive. I just want to know how do you stay positive all the time.

Tracy

Well, thanks Pete. It was a pleasure working alongside you at Yale in the SICU, our trauma patients, phenomenal recoveries that we have seen right in the acute care phase. We unfortunately didn't get to see the end phase of the rehab, but we know that during that critical time, the work that we did, and I praise you for that because you're one of the best ones out there. So

That was a great time down at Yale and I was thrilled to see you as a colleague at Quinnipiac and I'm thrilled to be here with you today. My energy, I believe I inherited much of it from my dad. My dad was full of energy, he was always positive. My brother and I, he just continued to do things with us and keep us active and I just felt like our days were just filled with going and doing things. However, my mom, who is now currently, she'll be 87 next week, has just as much energy and positivity. She is out every day and I think does almost a laundry list of more things than I do in a day. Going to the pool in the community center and hanging out with her boyfriend at dinners and dances and she just really is a great role model for me to share that. My excitement for life then and now will continue when I'm in my late eighties.

Pete

Wow, that's awesome. That's some great genetics and role models that you have there. Knowing that you get your energy from role modeling really in your genetics. How would you describe your leadership style or philosophy?

Tracy

Well, as you can see, I like to do things. So the bio that you read, I do love to learn, but I also love to coach others. So I guess it's a coaching style where I'm hoping to motivate others to want to do something that might bring them joy or something that might be challenging for them or anything that they can get out into the world and explore and do I collaborating with others who have a similar drive to me, I like to get things done. So you can imagine the circle of people that I work alongside. I have that all day, right? I've I got those great colleagues who I have something I'm working on with one and something I'm working on with another. And again, pulling in their strengths. I think the biggest thing is for students is I want to teach them to lean in.

I want them to lean into their strengths and there's lots of group projects in college and as well as when you're working in the ICU, we're working as a team. So I tell them to lean into their strengths and continue to improve those areas that need improvement. So we're not always all going to be great at everything. And of course nobody knows everything. Although with AI now, I think we all can, but realistically even this team right here, as we get a little bit further into the discussion of lifestyle medicine, I know this piece of it and the two of these other pieces of it, but together we can make a powerful impact.

Pete

Wow, that's great. How do you approach conflict differences of opinion professionally or even personally if you can't find a professional conflict since you're always out there smiling?

Tracy

Well, and I think professionally when I'm at my job, I bring the mentality of this is a job. This is a portion of my life that matters. It matters a whole lot, but it is in the end, it is my daily work. It's not my life. In my life and in my job. I do respect and appreciate that people have various perspectives. Nobody has this linear, this is the way we think, which is a beautiful thing. Sometimes I listen and just keep quiet, although that is one of my vices. I do need to practice listening more. So I do go to the listening labs and I'm learning how to listen. I might not always agree with what everybody is saying with different individuals. People have different backgrounds and different upbringings that kind of fuel what they know and believe. But I also know that there's different personalities.

So not everyone can be upbeat all of the time. Some people approach situations differently and I think it's important that I respect, again, people's personalities are different than mine. So I'm always thinking about conflict in a way that if someone's angry or looking at a situation and really getting fueled about it, it's like I take a step back and they might just had a bad day. I see lots of people in home care who are just really having a bad day and they might be sharing something that's personal or bothering them, but it has nothing to do with me or my situation. It's just what's happening. So it's a good time just to be a soundboard. So my tactic really is to listen, share my perspective, but if I do have something to say that I'm really adamant about, I want to back it up with evidence as much as I can to make a point and not just say something off the cuff and hope people believe me.

Pete

Was that a dig at me? I do that all the time.

Tracy

No, not at all. No, but I think it's important. People love to talk and people like to talk about themselves and I want to allow people to do that. But then if they start going down a rabbit hole of something that they personally believe in that I may not, I might say, oh, that's interesting. My perspective on that might be this. And it's not to cause conflict, it's just to share that it's my perspective and that's all it is. It's not right or wrong.

Pete

When was your last conflict?

Tracy

I don't know. A conflict; I know there's certainly things at work, if people are trying, we're making decisions, I don't consider those conflicts. I consider it's a problem and we problem solve it. So I view a conflict as we all have problems. Every single one of us has a problem, if not more. And how are you going to attack it? How are you going to go and solve the problem? That's really all.

Rahul

This is Rahul. Let me just follow that thread for a little bit because I appreciated what you said about the different aspects of conflict. One is the very cognitive aspect and we need to get all perspectives in. And the second is the emotional aspect of conflict where you seem to be having a lot of empathy for somebody having a hard day. So I would differentiate problem from conflict as a problem or difference may not have that level of emotions attached to it, but then a conflict not only has differences, but also some heavy emotions attached with the differences. So maybe just going back to Peter's question of looking at a story which is far back enough that you feel comfortable sharing where there was conflict in seeing how you did respond to that with your energy and attitude?

Tracy

I honestly get in trouble for seeming I don't care when there's a conflict because I really am like, whatever, it's not going to bring my day down. It's not going to hamper my mood. It's not going to, and again, Pete in the ICU, we've seen people on the worst day of their life.

They're in the ICU and all of our patients, even in home care, I'm seeing people on having really in really bad situations. And I just know that I am so thankful for the life that I have and the health that I have. And I mean, all good things are around me all of the time. I just don't see what the negative energy I'd have to pull up from somewhere to share disgrace that something so wrong that I'd start a conflict. So if somebody starts a conflict, I'm more or less kind of like, okay, get over it. I'll talk to you again tomorrow or let, let's take a break, let it simmer. Because there's really nothing that I'm, I'm not adding fuel to the fire. I really have no reason to throw more fuel down because I, again, go back to it's a problem. How do we solve it? There's always options. What are the options? Should we go option A, option B, option C, and let's just solve the problem and move on to the next thing.

Pete

Right. That's great. And that's great for our listeners to understand. Don't get wrapped up in someone else's emotions to spoil your day. Because once everyone's emotions get energized, things get very heated and out of control very quickly.

Tracy

And from what I've learned over the years is people's emotions get brought to the table not because of that specific problem. It's usually something else is going on in their life. Something happened that morning, something's going on with their health, something else is going on to cause them to bring all that fuel to the fire. And it's usually not, the schedule is off, right?

Pete

Yep. Yeah, the timing is all upside down. You went from corporate communications and then stepped into healthcare. So what was the driver? What drives you? What was like, Hmm, this isn't working. I'm going to go be an occupational therapist.

Tracy

So that's a great story. My first degree was corporate communications, and I finished school early. I finished a semester early, so I actually went and worked at Disney World. That might be your answer. That might be, I have this, I'm pixie dusted, if you will. So when I worked at Disney World, I came home to work in the world of corporate communications, went down to Manhattan, was offered a job in advertising on Madison Avenue for such a low amount of money. I couldn't possibly live there or commute there. I said, something else has to be in the mix. Quinnipiac was down the street from me. My mother always listened to, your mother told me from high school, please go to Quinnipiac for physical therapy. I was like, no way. I'm not interested in that. Well, a friend of mine who also lived in North Haven was working at a hospital, the other hospital down the street, and I volunteered to watch her for the day doing occupational therapy. And I fell in love instantly. I was like, wow, you're working with a team of people to help somebody reach their goal. I want to do that. So I shadowed a couple other places to ensure that was the profession I wanted. Got on their wait list that summer and was accepted into the program at Quinnipiac and I never looked back.

And I love, I just love that I get to go to work every day. I'm in a profession that is just something that really gives me so much I'm able to give all day. But as I tell my students every day, you have to take care of yourself. It's so important to do self-care because you're giving, you're giving and you're seeing a lot of bad things. So you've got to be able to take care of yourself.

Pete

Yeah. Wow, great. I do great.

Tracy

What other things that drive me are my family hanging out with my family. I have a 14-year-old Labradoodle, which you might hear in a little bit, but I also love to learn, as you can see in the bio that you read. I love to continue to learn love traveling, just doing things that make me happy. I ensure those things are included in my day every day.

Pete

That might be the secret sauce right there. What are your hopes and dreams about the future of healthcare?

Tracy

Tough question, right? Tough question. So here we go. We all know there's lots of challenges with healthcare today. Having a public health degree and being an occupational therapist, one of our areas of occupation in our role is working on health management. So I love that I'm talking to the both of you because lifestyle is critical to getting people to take care of themselves, but it's very difficult for many reasons. One being long work hours. I just don't have the time to eat better or be physically active and do the things I should. I took this for the past five years and been working on a program of incorporating lifestyle redesign into first year college students, and it's around the themes of sleep, physical activity, nutrition and stress management. Right now, I started in their living learning community. I moved it to an FYS, which is a first year seminar course. Now it's finally found a home in my occupational therapy 101 course. It's the first year we've rolled it out and it is working. We're having the students write goals, reflect on them, incorporate them into their routines, and hopefully develop some habits for first year students now that they're living in a dorm and they're eating out of a cafeteria, they've got a beautiful sleeping giant across the street. So what are some things that you can do to include in each and every one of your days to be well?

Pete

Wow. And that's great because you're giving them the tools to be successful.

Tracy

And I think it's so important because they, they're giving tools to patients to future patients. So they're telling someone who is pre-diabetic, oh, you need to exercise, eat this, don't eat that, do this, don't do that. But they're learning for themselves how hard those changes really are. We say drink eight glasses of water, be active is 30 minutes a day, but to actually do it is so much harder than it is to just give them a prescription and say, here, this is going to be really important. We all know what to do. How do you actually incorporate it into your daily routines is what I'm teaching them.

Pete

Yeah, the consistency is key. Even if you have, you don't do great with your diet today, you have tomorrow, you can reset. Yep. That is excellent. Yes. Lifestyle medicine is something I prioritized once I hit 50 and all my labs started going sideways.

Tracy

And it's important. And if we can teach younger people now that this is a way of life, it's not a remedy. It's not something where you're like, okay, when I get diabetes, I'm going to try doing A, B and C. But how do you, each vegetable you have now is going to count later. Each cupcake you have now will count later, which you can certainly have one, but what's going to be your consistent,

Rahul

Yeah. I think that that's an area that's of great importance for students, for leaders, for patients. Definitely. When I talk to people in the healthcare industry, whether it's students or practicing professionals, two things are always true. One is, we came into this profession both to make our own lives better and those of people around us and our patients better. And while it's a cliche, but it is so true, and when we do one at the expense of the other, it just isn't working out. And the second, which I appreciated your point about teaching goal setting and habit design, is that there is a huge gap between what we want to do and what we actually do. So closing that gap using the tools of behavior therapy and habit design, I think is a skill both healthcare professionals and leaders need to develop. Because same with leadership, there's a huge gap between what we want to do and what we actually do. And there's just so much opportunity there. I'm curious to know how you're teaching that.

Tracy

Sure. So it's in person. So of course with AI at our doorstep, teaching in the classroom now has to be more engaging. So the modules are each two weeks. We had them do a time diary at the beginning of the semester to really 24 hours a day, three days in a row, what are you doing? You're a brand new student and I love times of transition. So that high school took, college is a huge transition, so it's a great time for them to really change their behavior, really incorporate new wellness routines. So we talk about each of the programs, but one of them, so for the first one, physical activity, we talked about it, the benefits of it, linked it back to our OT practice framework, which is our language. How is this even OT that we're talking about physical activity. But then the second time we brought them out to Sleeping Giant and they had to do what one of the assignments is called an occupational profile.

Basically it's a patient history, but it's taking inventory on who are you, what are some of your likes and dislikes, and communicating that to their peer while they're walking around the circle at Sleeping Giant and choices, giving these kids choices. The whole class is all about giving them choices and making sure that it's not prescriptive of you must do this physical activity for one person might be getting on a treadmill for 30 minutes, but for someone else it might just be walking one more time at night down the path. So we want to make sure that we're not saying you have to do physical activity or exercise, but we do introduce them to Rockwell. All of the activities that are going on over there. Wellness on Wednesdays, they have all of the different machines and classes, and I'm happy to report that many of them now are actively involved with the yoga, the Pilates, the wall climbing. They're doing that as part of their, they're enjoying their campus and they're meeting new people and it's getting them active in a different way.

Rahul

I love that it kind of aligns with what OT is all about in a way from the outside. For our listeners, do you want to just tell them what the differences between OT and PT for the listeners who do not know?

Tracy

Sure. Occupational therapy, we do, some of my best friends are physical therapists, so we do align ourselves with working to holistically rehab somebody after they've had an illness, an injury, but also we're wound to tomb. So it's actually right from the very beginning, someone who may have a developmental disability or were burned prematurely. Physical therapy is going to be working a lot more on the motor, the gait, the walking, the mechanics of mobility, occupational therapy. What we do is we work on ability, the quality of performing daily tasks, we call them ADLs or activities of daily living, ensuring that somebody after they've had a serious illness or injury such as a stroke, can now get themselves dressed and get themselves into the shower and get themselves toileted and get themselves feeding themselves. So doing all of those daily activities that are important to them, which you can see why when I'm working at this low level of the basic needs, Maslow's basic needs of just taking care of yourself, why I have such gratitude for my own life because my life is good.

I want to share another example in the class for OT101 for nutrition. So we're going through and as you're on a new college campus and you're trying to find out what am I going to eat? We hear freshmen 15 is a real thing, but understanding how you're fueling your body matters of how you're going to perform academically. So bringing in the research articles that they can, there's proof. It's not just Tracy saying this, this is what you should be doing, but I also send them in pairs down and do a field trip around the different stations and areas on campus to go find all the different places that food is so that they're not just running to one station every single time, getting the chicken and fries thinking that's all there is to offer. So it was a nice time for them to get to know more people in the class and to explore our campus and to find some of the different areas there are to eat.

Pete

Wow. I think I want to be a student In your class now, what lessons do you prioritize for your students looking into the future? Where are you pushing them or guiding them?

Tracy

One of the things I just mentioned, bringing them outside of the classroom. So we all know learning happens inside the classroom, but I believe most of the learning happens outside of the classroom. So asking students to explore and apply for opportunities so that they can grow as individuals. We've got so many opportunities at Criti Piac to do the QUA and the QU in Washington DC and faculty study abroad come with us to Bahamas, to Barbados, learning to be with groups of people. So again, healthcare, you're working in teams, you're always going to have to know what's in the books for academia and pass your boards, but we need you to be able to work with others and enjoy others' company and do things outside of the classroom, whether it's a club or it's an experience or it's going down and getting pizza in New Haven. It's doing things together and learning how to socialize and each other and respect differences and understand different people's perspectives that really will help these students grow and flourish.

Pete

No, I totally agree because the context, right? You can be very academic and book smart, but putting it all together out in the real world, that's where the nuance you trip up on and all of a sudden things kind of fall apart and then the stress level comes up and you default actually to your lowest behaviors. Really, you regress very quickly where you feel safe. So no, that's awesome.

Tracy

And think about nurses and doctors. Most therapists we're with our patients for long periods of time. We're usually in treatment sessions 30, 45 minutes at a clip. So we really get to have those conversations and build those rapports. Sometimes a doctor might have, I don't know how many minutes you're down to, but a short amount of time to engage with your clients. It matters that you have great personalities when you're coming through the door and are able to build that rapport in three seconds so that your patients want to come back to see you and trust you. And so I think if they're able to do that with their peers, they're going to be more likable in that short amount of time that they get to see patients.

Pete

Yeah, you're making it very relevant. Excellent. How do you stay fresh? How do you stay on your game and consistently improve the way Tracy teaches or engages your students?

Tracy

This is my favorite. I do practice gratitude every day, and my dad, when he passed, we actually sprinkled his ashes in Aspen down the Colorado River where my parents met, and I brought home this rock. It's a very symbolic rock. It's just a little rock. It would mean nothing to anybody but me. And every morning when I put my rings on, I have this rock, and I just wish everyone a great day. I have got different pictures in my house and everyone's including myself. I want to make sure everyone's just going to have a really great day. And that's just part of my morning ritual, and it just kind of grounds me for the day to say it's going to be a good day and it works. It really works for me. Now, if it's pouring rain, it was this week when it was coming sideways, that first blast of rain in my face doesn't always don't make my day go.

But again, I'm thinking, guess what? The birds are happy today. The birds are a little extra happy. And I also, as I mentioned before, seeing my healthcare families every day I can tell a story of this patient, this family, this caregiver lacking in the systems. The systems aren't working, they're not talking the communication. They need a ride. They don't have food, they don't have the right food. It's like there's so many issues that need solving, and I'm only there for a short snippet, but I call my team when I'm working in home health. So I call my team and we problem solve and really get these patients to a better place before we leave them. But I'm just grateful of how fortunate I am, and that really keeps me happy.

Pete

Yeah, no, you bring up a great point about systems. People usually react and end up blaming the person, but the systems are not set up for everyone to be successful, and that's where the rub is, right? And I've been trying to work on systems for the past 30 years, but hey, I'll continue.

Tracy

I think a lot of it, the automation, my mom doesn't have a cell phone where she can press the buttons or answer her MyChart to say, yes, press one if you're going to be showing up. So I took on the responsibility of ensuring that she gets to her appointments, but she's still keeping track of all of 'em. I'll just call to confirm, mom, you have something tomorrow morning at three 40? Yes. Good. I'll hit the one. But I think about those patients who don't have a Tracy, who don't have a daughter, who don't have a family member down the street who don't have the ability to work with the remote and robotics of the pharmacy, so they're standing in line a little longer, but their legs are heavy and tired. They can't stand that long in line. There's just so many, there's ways to be more efficient and effective in healthcare that there seems like there will be lots of open jobs in that area. We should be

Rahul

Very true. Yeah, I completely agree with what you're saying. What you're saying reminds me of a book I read called Broken by Paul LeBlanc, the ex-president of the Southern New Hampshire University. And he makes a great point that we've built these quote systems to scale organizations for the benefit of organizations, but then as they scale with all the processes and rules, it makes people who are the end users who may not be as savvy, fall through the cracks. And the job of the designer of the system or the humans in the system is really to help ensure that that doesn't happen or when it's happened, it's addressed. And I agree with you as we look back at the era of electronic medical records and how that promise did not deliver, at least in terms of better processes for both the healthcare workers and at the patient side, AI is an opportunity where we can look at where it will need designers, design thinking experts so that the system can be better for the people who work in it and the end users, not just for the organizations or the insurance company, for example.

Tracy

I think the billing gets done, it gets taken care of, which is important. Of course, healthcare is a business, but right for the user, it gets clunky and for the actual patient, it's just sometimes an uphill battle to figure out how to get an appointment and then how to get there.

Pete

It is those little things that people assume, oh, everyone's got a car, everyone can get there, no big deal.

Tracy

And family, I mean we've got FMLA on the board that people can use, so they're trying to build systems to allow patients to be taken care of, but as our population is aging, I'm just seeing more and more and more snags and problems arising for families that are stuck like, okay, now what do we do with mom? I am just going to keep her home because I don't even know how to navigate getting her out of her house to another system. I don't even know how to navigate people getting into the house to help out. It seems second nature to us because what we do, which is great that they have us there to kind of guide, but there's so many people that just don't even have a clue.

Rahul

And if you look at it from a systems perspective, even from the business standpoint, it's clear then listening to you, there's an opportunity because there are people who are not accessing care because they find it so hard to access or complicated. And even on the prevention side, there's people wanting prevention and we see them channel that desire into various things that may not work necessarily based on the evidence, but they're really desiring to be healthier, to prevent disease, to live happier, to live longer. And the system is not designed for it, it's just designed for taking care of end stage diseases in a way.

Tracy

Correct. And you brought up business. One of the things I'm planning as the doctoral capstone coordinator, so our OT students go out and do field work, traditional field work, they work in the ICU, they work birth to three, they work in school systems and rehab centers. But for the 14 week capstone experience for our students, they get to work in outside agencies, if you will, that don't have an OT yet. And where would an OT infused in there for 14 weeks be able to make a difference, build a program? Where are some needs that are lacking that you just can't get to? And I'm going to be talking to the business school next week about how we can kind of synergize some of their capstones with our capstones because again, it's a business and sometimes the business end of it doesn't understand. The patient needs the human aspect of how do we improve the quality of life while you're building the systems. And then I want the OTs to understand that healthcare is a business. So you can't leave out the fact that you might have this wonderful program, but you've got to follow the money. Where's the payment?

Pete

Very true. No margin, no mission. So as we start coming towards the end, is there any message that you want the listeners to take away here?

Tracy

For anyone who's new in healthcare or a student, I want you to keep learning. It never ends. So I mean, you might have your diploma in hand or you might have your transcript completed, but you want to always keep growing. I'm in an AI course right now for the next six months, right? Just absorbing as much as I can, learning about the pros and cons and usage of ai. I also want you to think about exploring opportunities. So figuring out, especially in your college years when you actually have the gift of time, believe it or not, this is the most time you'll ever have in your life that you want to explore as many opportunities as possible. So put yourself out there, join a club. If you're new in a hospital, join a new committee. Figure out what it is that you're good at, what you like, what you are not so good at, and what you could improve.

Or maybe you're never going to be good at that. We're not always all good at everything, so don't beat yourself up. If you get to something you're like, wow, I'm really not a business analytics person. I don't do Excel sheets, that's okay. Somebody else will. When you're doing research, it's the same thing, right? You may be there excellent at doing the lit review and you'll be asked to be part of the team to do that portion of it. You might be the person who wants to run the focus groups. So always be thinking about your teammates, be thinking about who they are, get to know them. People are fascinating. We all have a story. We all came from somewhere. We all have unique perspectives. Get to know people. I think one of the greatest gifts is learning who different people are and their strengths and their attributes, so that way you can call on them and hang out with them. So I'm fortunate that Pete called me because we hung out in former years, but he wouldn't have known that had we not connected then. So connect with people. That's what this life is about.

Pete

Great message. How would people be able to get in touch with you if they wanted?

Tracy

I love LinkedIn, so if you are on LinkedIn, Tracy Van Oss, LinkedIn.

Pete

Alright, we want to thank everyone again, especially Tracy Van Oss. She has provided us with a lot of good content and information to help us continue to learn to lead. And as a moderator for this episode, I want to thank everybody all, especially all of our listeners, for continuing to follow us on Learning to Lead. Thank you very much.

Brooke

Thank you for listening to our show. Learning to Lead is a production of the Quinnipiac University podcast studio, in partnership with the Schools of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences. 

Creators of this show are Rahul Anand, Maya Doyle, Peter Longley, Amber Vargas and Brooklynn Weber.

The student producer is Brooklynn Weber, and the executive producer is David DesRoches.

Connect with us on social media @LearningToLeadPod or email us at LearningToLeadPod@quinnipiac.edu.