- drnicoladepaul
Becoming a Voice for Change
I’ve been reading Linchpin by Seth Godin, which explores the mechanization of work and the re-humanization of the workforce. It’s gotten me thinking about how this applies to healthcare.
So many parts of our system, including our reimbursement models, push healthcare into a factory model, where we focus on producing widgets we can easily measure, such as the number of procedures or our score on a patient satisfaction scale.
But manufacturing strategies lead us to overfocus on productivity and cost-efficiency at the cost of healing. Or to count things like the frequency of talking about stress while missing the quality of the conversation. We cross our fingers and hope that what we’re measuring will help us deliver higher-quality care at a more efficient cost. But it usually doesn’t.
Measuring the financial impacts of human outcomes, such as healing, a smile, or the patient-clinician relationship, is challenging. It’s easier to ignore what we struggle to measure.
So how do we help our healthcare systems step out of the mechanization framework and into a rehumanized framework that values the humanity of every person in the system?
It starts by shifting our mindset.
Could you let go of how you have trained yourself to consider the interchangeability of healthcare workers, patients, and yourself?
Shift your perspective and allow yourself to be in awe of the professional effort and artistic skill required in every position – even the ones you consider the most menial. And watch how your perspective shift begins to empower the people around you.
I know that you’re just one person. And so am I. But together, we can begin to rebalance productivity and humanity. And we can rebuild our systems on a lasting foundation of dignity and respect.
So, in that spirit, here’s how I can help you with your mindset and the well-being of your healthcare system right now:
FREE resources: How to create organizational transformation (Menders season 2, episodes 1-12), Master the Art of Leadership Rounds Without Intimidating Your People workbook.
Get 27 action ideas from the Organizational Well-Being Assessment video course. Identify what's missing and quickly move into focused action to maximize leadership engagement, improve organizational communication, and respond to distress.
Commit to a Well-Being Incubation Experience for your senior or executive leadership team. Go all in to learn and implement the strategies that will help you overcome burnout in the burnout hot spots sucking up 80% of your time and attention and tainting the rest of your system with dissatisfaction.
And don’t miss my conversation with Amanda Forrester, where we explore the hidden talents and value that administrative professionals bring to our healthcare teams.
Highly trained administrative leaders are becoming more challenging to find. But suppose you're lucky enough to hire someone like Amanda Forrester. In that case, you'll be able to transform your healthcare system by learning to prioritize the well-being of administrative professionals within your healthcare system.
It is easy to forget that clinicians and healthcare leaders are supported by administrative professionals who manage all of the details, from our patients' arrival at our clinics to the behind-the-scenes management of access to care challenges.
Having good administrative support reduces clinician burnout. But administrative staff are often shuffled to the end of the priority list when healthcare systems strategize how to better care for their people. If your admin team is not at the top of your list of people to care for, they should be.
Empower your administrative team to work at the highest level of their ability, and your clinicians will be freed up to work at the highest level of their license. We are all in this together!
Bio: Amanda Forrester is trained in health informatics and healthcare administration. She manages administrative operations for an extensive healthcare system.