John Nance certainly left us with many things to reflect upon in the weeks ahead. One of these was the concept of a “human-centric system.” How can we work towards creating a system that prioritizes the needs, preferences, and concerns of the patient, while utilizing the best knowledge our medical system has to offer? Each party (patient, doctor, nurse) is a valuable part of the team that must know they are taken seriously in the journey towards the patient’s goals. The last line I had written down from John’s talk was simply “love them through it: from where we used to be to where each of us need to be.” It will take constant and clear communications, and much grace extended to one another, but we can work towards being a better system day by day.

It is startling.

Hard to believe that there are 400,000 brave individuals buried at Arlington. It was a meaningful time to go see this breathtaking site today with the Marseille Experience group.

And what a shock it was today realizing that this same number- 400,000 is the same number of lives taken by medical error in our country each year. It is haunting. Grave after grave. We could fill a whole Arlington each year.

While we cannot go back to fix our past as a failed healthcare system, we do not have to repeat it. Thank you, Marseille Experience faculty, for equipping future healthcare leaders to make the systems of tomorrow safer for patients and their families.

It is such an encouragement to be here in Maryland with so many passionate future healthcare leaders. Watching the story today of Lewis Blackman was challenging. I kept thinking, “Come on, just one person look at this kid with fresh eyes. Throw away the preconceived notions you have and LOOK at him!” Further reflection made me ask the question of myself if I look at each patient with fresh eyes? Am I able to truly assess each new individual I interview and examine without pushing forward a pattern of diagnosis that I hope everything squeezes into? I’m sure it takes tremendous intentionality and integrity to see each patient with fresh eyes, but if we can adopt this practice we may just end up saving countless individuals in need of our care.