I entered medical school thinking I am entering a highly ethical and moral profession. That idea changed very quickly as I progressed through my first year and learned about the dirty side of medicine. I learned about the vast prevalence of medical errors and continuous breaking of the Hippocratic oath, mainly due to arrogance, greed and deceitfulness. We have created such a mess that it seemed impossible to fix at this point. Impossible until I learned about the progress MedStar health has been able to accomplish under the principles of a High Reliability Organization (HRO). It is unbelievable how the simple things such as building a relationship with your healthcare team and having respect for one another and the patient can drastically improve care and safety. Ultimately, having a cultural change such as adopting a safety first attitude and getting people to see its benefits will be the driving force of the healthcare revolution.

We are usually told it is silly to make assumptions. But it can actually be deadly in healthcare. The importance of pushing assumptions out of the way for effective communication was a big talking point here in day 2 of the summer camp. Murphy’s law states anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. Same thing goes for medicine and the imperfect human beings that man the ship. Hence assumptions only place our patients in greater danger for medical errors. John Nance’s story about the 18 year old novice airman was an amazing anecdote to drive home the point. Nance never assumed he was a pilot incapable of errors and empowered the young man through effective communication. The young airman never assumed his superiors were correct and voiced his ideas in time to save hundreds of lives. Just goes to show how far certain cultural changes such as avoiding assumptions,… Continue reading →

I never ventured out of the Florida and Georgia area, so getting a chance to see Colorado has been an amazing and inspiring experience. There are few things I enjoy more than driving so I decided to take on the 7 hour trek to Marseille after flying into Denver from Tampa, Florida. It was easily one of the most memorable experiences in my life. The natural beauty that I witnessed in Colorado and Marseille left me breathless and nearly in tears. I never imagined that something can be so perfectly created. Coincidentally I am at this summer camp discussing patient safety, where learning how to perfect our healthcare system comes naturally. Thanks to a wonderful faculty and the serenity of Marseille I had the fortune of seeing some incredible minds being inspired today. It is truly amazing to see so many of my future colleagues care so much about their… Continue reading →