Gas Hose part 2
I had a startling incident at the local gas station less than a mile away from home that illustrated many of the things we talked about. As I was bringing the gas nozzle over to my car, it suddenly spewed gasoline like a fountain at high pressure and some of it splashed on a person who was filling up her car on the opposite side. I never had any idea this kind of thing could happen as I tried to replace the gas nozzle as quickly as I could without slipping on the large puddle of fuel on the ground.
After that I was in a state of shock for a long time. The first thing I did was to go inform the station attendant, who came outside and determined the cause was due to the previous person keeping the latch lifted. But ultimately he blamed it on the previous… Continue reading
Communication: not a script, but a process
Today I appreciated reviewing and learning more about communication. I have always believed in the power of sensitive word choice, and it is here for the first time in my medical education that there has been emphasis on that. It is a big deal to learn about how patient and family voices can become heard through patient safety advisory councils. Seeing members of this advisory council here shows me that patients and families do want to be involved, and we should support and welcome that in healthcare. The presence of such councils exemplifies putting the ideal of patient centeredness into action through a changes in infrastructure that officially give voice to patients and families once kept largely in the dark about their loved ones cases. I really appreciate that the learning experiences today reflect patient/family-centered attitudes by hearing directly from people who can… Continue reading
Human limitations/structural concerns
I’m thankful for Carole Hemmelgarn bringing her story and background in communication to Marseille, and demonstrating to us the ways our human minds are perfectly capable of interpreting the same images and words we hear, see, and read in different ways. In order to become a healthcare professional, we have all had to demonstrate the high level of skills in abilities like memorization of vast quantities of materials. We focus a lot on the skills we have or will acquire with little direct thought regarding our human limitations. I am thankful to have had this exposure to learning about the things I inherently cannot help but get wrong, or otherwise have an inability to see the same way as all people in a room. While optical illusions are a great example, there are similar things that can happen in clinics or hospitals.
I came away today with a lot of… Continue reading
On Gas Hoses: “We cannot change the human condition/We will make errors”
As someone who thinks in analogies, I found it helpful to conceptualize patient safety through the analogy of how people do not rise in the morning planning to say, drive away from the gas pump with the hose still attached, but nonetheless it is still common enough that there is a website full of pictures of cars with gas hoses flopping out of their sides. Thankfully, I also learned that I can be assured that if it ever happens to me, the industry already anticipates that people will do this and have set up a safety valve system to prevent dangerous gas spillage and are prepared to replace with a new gas hose so that business can go on as usual.
It is mind opening to be introduced to a whole new way of thinking about mistakes that anticipates them head on instead of wishing for them to disappear on… Continue reading