As Juthani and Eliaz sipped their lukewarm coffee, an idea began to take shape in their minds. What if they could create an initiative to foster a culture of kindness throughout the hospital?

And so, in the middle of the night, The Kindness Coalition (TKC) was born. Juthani and Eliaz’s vision was clear: to create a hospital culture where kindness was not just an occasional gesture but a fundamental practice, enhancing both patient outcomes and team morale.

“Kindness builds community,” shares Eliaz. “It reduces isolation, decreases burnout, and even cultivates resilience.”  

These monthly events are one of the many core strategies employed by TKC. Another strategy is the “Kindness Recognition Form,” which allows staff to acknowledge and celebrate the kind acts of their peers. Whenever a form is submitted, both the recognized individual and their supervisor receive an email, reinforcing the value of kindness and acknowledging its positive impact.

Additionally, TKC distributes symbolic pins for name tags, designed to remind and encourage staff to engage in kind interactions throughout their day.

Exploring the Science Behind Kindness

Kindness, while seemingly simple, can be difficult to define. It manifests in myriad ways and varies across different perspectives. One study simply characterizes kindness as “an action that benefits another, as perceived by the recipient of the kind action.”

Eliaz and Juthani encourage the event attendees to define kindness themselves. A large bulletin board reads, “What does kindness mean to you?” The attendees write their answers on colorful Post-it notes, with responses ranging from “Smiling and saying hello to each other in the hallways” to “Helping one another without expectations in return.”

At the Kindness Kickback, one healthcare provider has found her way into the break room. She’s totally new to TKC, but she’s heard the rumor of free boba and is drawn in. She asks about TKC’s mission, and her eyes widen in pleasant surprise. “Sometimes all it takes is for me to see a warm smile to turn my entire day around. I am so glad to know this mission exists, and I will be spreading the word wide and far.” 

Echoing this sentiment, Chief Resident Hayley Galitzer, MD, an active participant and leader in TKC, adds, “In the high-pressure world of health care, a simple act of kindness can profoundly impact someone’s day. An act of kindness reminds us that our greatest impact comes from our ability to understand and care for one another.”

Research shows that kind behavior in health care is not just about being nice; it involves deliberate, prosocial acts that benefit both the giver and the receiver, ultimately enhancing the overall workplace atmosphere. However, in high-stress situations, such as night shifts or emergencies, kind communication often diminishes.

TKC is now developing a comprehensive tool kit aimed at guiding kind communication in critical healthcare situations. This tool kit is based on evidence-based principles, providing practical advice and strategies to help healthcare workers communicate more effectively and compassionately.

Expanding Reach and Impact

TKC has rapidly gained momentum, drawing more than 100 attendees from diverse healthcare professions to each event. 

“We see TKC not just as an initiative but as a movement,” says Poonam Hosamani, MD, one of the faculty sponsors. “One that we hope will inspire other institutions to weave kindness into their fabric of operations.”

As TKC plans to expand, the hope is to set a new standard for healthcare environments, not just at Stanford but nationwide. 

In advancing medical excellence and innovation, The Kindness Coalition highlights a crucial frontier: integrating compassion in health care. TKC serves as a model for healthcare systems globally, demonstrating that the future of medicine focuses not only on healing patients but also on strengthening the well-being and camaraderie of the healthcare teams that deliver care. 

“It doesn’t work that way. We had to go through all the right compliances and regulatory pieces – none of which were present,” Go says. “We had to learn and figure out what the process was and then implement it and get the right approval from the medical staff and the hospital.” 

Tri-Valley needed to become a qualified sponsoring institution to provide graduate medical education, and then Go and her team needed to design and build an entire residency curriculum and hire the faculty.

None of that would have been possible without Go’s extensive efforts to shift the culture of Tri-Valley to focus more on the academic mission of education and research, says Jia.

“She was thorough and meticulous, with a vision of the goal but also focused on the details and made sure things were done right from the beginning steps,” Jia says. “This really speaks to her drive, vision, and dedication to building the frontiers of academic education at Tri-Valley.”

The hard work has been worth it.

“What makes everyone so excited and supportive about this initiative is that we are driven by passions and beliefs that family doctors will make a big difference and impact in this community,” Go says.

For example, “For clinician educators (CEs), the majority of our interactions with colleagues in the department are to discuss mutual patients,” says MODEL mentee and Clinical Associate Professor of Endocrinology Marilyn Tan, MD. “But MODEL provides a chance to have exchanges with colleagues across divisions, with a focus on career and work-life balance.”

“There’s something magical about regular group meetings, and MODEL is proof,” concurs Vice Chair for the Theory and Practice of Medicine Abraham Verghese, MD. “To me, the mutual support, the sense of community, and connection is as precious as the mentorship. Why else would its members carve out time they don’t have to be there?”