Aviation Expert John Nance on Healthcare Culture Change and Educating the Young
Today’s post is by Guest Author, John Nance, Marseille Experience Faculty, Author and ABC Aviation Consultant
Having had the delightful experience of attending and working with all of the sessions of the Marseille Experience this summer, I’ve spent some time since returning from Napa thinking through the scope and the effectiveness of what we all came together to advance: The goal of never again losing a patient to a medical mistake or nosocomial infection.
It may well sound hackneyed, but in fact I think all of us as faculty mean it to the depth of our beings when we say that the medical students and residents and nurses – all of those who joined us – are truly the best hope of changing the course of a noble but tattered non-system that slaughters people at the rate of 50 per hour. That does not mean that existing healthcare professionals cannot… Continue reading
Day 2: Transparency, Negotiation, John Nance
My take-home points and remaining questions from today:
1. Transparency is critical when dealing with medical errors. We are doomed to repeat mistakes if we don’t learn from the past. Barriers exist, but when the focus is re-centered on patients, money and professional integrity fall into the right place.
What the patients and families want to hear after medical errors
- Recognition: investigation
- The truth
- Regret: apology if necessary
- Prevention of similar harm to others
- Remedy (“benevolent gestures”)
2. Strategic negotiation:
- Always remember the best alternative
- Solving their problem is part of your problem.
- Having lived in countries where haggling is a daily, routine occurrence, I felt well-prepared for Hamilton Real Estate case as a buyer. Ultimately I decided to call off the negotiation because the other party had the key information which I assumed was not in their possession. This new information significantly increased the value of… Continue reading
The Way We’ve Always Done It
Most of this post is a summary of what Mr. John Nance presented in our morning session. These are the highlights of his discussion that deeply resonated with me that I believe will stay with me and help fuel my motivation to make change in our medical culture.
John Nance stated “the most dangerous phrase in medicine is ‘this is the way we’ve always done it.'” He went on to say medicine is not solely a profession, but instead, it “is a calling wrapped around a profession with a purpose of service to humanity.” How eloquently and beautifully worded! Instead of cowering away from the charge we’ve all been given to tackle this mountain (pardon the pun) of a problem, we should enter our callings head-on with power and confidence.
For me, this means being a leader as a physician, but not in the way physicians are traditionally thought of… Continue reading