The needs of the patient come first.
Take a look at Shabs recent post, How Can We Teach, regarding her QI project standardizing an appropriate informed consent discussion. She says several times that we need to put “patients first.” It warms me from within to hear this; I was already going to put up a little post about that very idea. I had the great fortune to go to medical school at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, and the most important thing I learned there was this philosophy: the needs of the patient come first. When we believe this and act upon it, we have the courage to address problem behaviors among our peers (and even our attendings and consultants!). We find the moment to sit down instead of hovering near the exam room door and we don’t accept the status quo. Consider it as a mantra for yourself and something you teach others!
Marseille Day 3
We have been tasked with creating quality improvement projects to implement upon our return back to the real world in our home hospitals and clinics. Part of me is full of ideas: making OB M&M actually about analysis of cases from which we need to learn more, having all chiefs incorporate teaching about communication/transparency/harm into daily hospital life, getting a checklist for preventive medical care back into our EMR, encouraging shared decision making between providers and patients/families regarding end of life decisions, and more. I vacillate between being excited about so many great possibilities and the negative attitude that ‘it’s all just a drop in the bucket, so what does it matter?’ I know that many small things add up to great change (for more info, read about ‘The Prevention Paradox” by G. Rose), and I try to let my optimistic side win the battle in my head. For the… Continue reading
Marseille Day 2 by Lauren Sontag
We are just back to our condo after a wonderful family dinner of resident scholars and faculty. Like family, at any one time along the big tables we were giving each other a hard time, laughing, problem solving, enjoying the moment and deciding how we want to act when we are “grown up” by the example of our elders. Today we came together as a group. It was also the first day I have thought that I wouldn’t be alone in my undertakings after Marseille. In conversation, I heard friends express the same sentiment: It’s going to be easier going forward knowing that everyone else is out there doing this work, too. It is easy to feel like you’re on an island when you’re in the thick of a project nobody else seems to prioritize. Keeping in touch after this week to both stay motivated and to not lose… Continue reading