TIMS 2026 | Johns Hopkins Medicine

Why It Matters

TIMS demonstrates that a simple, structured conversation can dramatically improve patient engagement and clinical decision‑making, offering a scalable model for restoring humanity in high‑tech healthcare environments.

Key Takeaways

• TIMS uses four-question interview to humanize ICU care
• Developed by chaplain Elizabeth Tracy during COVID ICU isolation
• Tool improves morale, decision‑making, and patient‑family trust significantly
• Validated across ICU, neuroscience, and outpatient pilot programs
• Advocates call for universal adoption in all hospitals

Summary

The video introduces TIMS – a Technology‑Enabled Interview Management System pioneered at Johns Hopkins Medicine by ICU chaplain Elizabeth Tracy during the COVID‑19 surge. Faced with patients isolated behind ventilators, Tracy designed a brief, four‑question interview to capture each person’s story, values, and family context, restoring a human connection that had been lost.

TIMS takes no more than ten minutes and yields recordings that clinicians across intensive‑care, neuroscience, and surge‑floor units use to align treatment decisions with patients’ expressed wishes. Early adopters report heightened morale, clearer communication, and more nuanced clinical judgments. Ongoing studies and published data confirm its utility, and the program is now being piloted in outpatient settings.

Staff reactions underscore its impact: a resident broke down in tears after hearing a patient’s narrative, and clinicians repeatedly emphasized that “we’re caring for the patient, not for a disease.” The tool is praised for rebuilding trust between families and multidisciplinary teams, from nurses to physical therapists.

If broadly adopted, TIMS could reshape patient‑centered care, improve outcomes, and mitigate provider burnout by re‑infusing humanity into modern medicine. Its proponents argue that every hospital should implement the system to ensure that clinical excellence is paired with genuine human connection.

Original Description

TIMS continues to provide physicians with audio snapshots of their patients that help humanize them for the medical treatment team and reminds them of their own human connection to medical practice.