Physician is Recipient of 2 National Awards for Advancing More Effective Physician Communication

DETROIT – Rana Awdish, M.D., a critical care medicine physician and director of the Pulmonary Hypertension Program at Henry Ford Hospital, was the recipient of two national honors for her leadership advancing more effective physician communication with patients:

• The National Compassionate Caregiver of the Year recognized Dr. Awdish for embodying the “attributes of compassionate care, such as effective communication, emotional support, mutual trust and respect, the involvement of families in healthcare decisions, and treating patients as people, not just illnesses.” It was awarded Nov. 16 by the Schwartz Center for Compassionate Healthcare, a national leader in the movement to make compassion a vital element in every patient-caregiver interaction.

• The Physician of the Year Award honored Dr. Awdish for “her unwavering focus on improving empathy through connection and communication.”  It was awarded Nov. 1 by Press Ganey, the leading national provider of patient experience measurement and performance improvement for health care organizations. 

Dr. Awdish’s near-death patient experience inspired an organizational campaign to help health professionals communicate more effectively with patients at Henry Ford Hospital and throughout its parent organization, the Detroit-based Henry Ford Health System. That transformative experience – witnessing highly-skilled, expert medical care that saved her life and delivered at times with cool indifference and lack of empathy – changed her vision of what medicine could be both for her personally and at her organization.

Under her leadership, the Henry Ford’s Physician Communication and Peer Support curriculum was launched in 2013. Facilitators provide tools to ensure that each conversation is guided by empathy and compassion, beginning with an understanding of what matters most to patients and aligning with their values.  

Dr. Awdish is board certified in critical care medicine, pulmonary disease and internal medicine. She earned her medical degree from the Wayne State University School of Medicine, and completed a residency in internal medicine at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York and a fellowship in pulmonary medicine at Henry Ford Hospital. 

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EDITOR’S NOTE: Dr. Awdish is a resident of Northville. 

MEDIA CONTACT: David Olejarz
                            David.Olejarz@hfhs.org
                            (313) 874-4094