Learning to Change

How do you feel about learning? 

Do you remember your school years as an exciting time, or do you just recall exam anxiety? 

Whatever the answer, it is OK. 

A recent presentation on adult learning on #rebeljam15 started with "Have an open mind". As adult learners, we might be conditioned by past behaviours but we can also approach learning in a novel, productive way (if we choose to). That is because the learning science also followed an incredible evolution and has become accessible, fun and rewarding, and more than ever- necessary.

There is no question about why we need to be life long learners (LLL). Here are some of the many benefits of LLL:

Questions on Quality: Sail or Sink?

Quality in healthcare: we talk about it, debate about definitions, wonder if we can and if we do measure it. For some of us, it’s an intricate concept that feels like it could make your head explode. For others, it’s common sense: to give the best care, to the right patient, at the right time. 

If it is true that all good things (i.e. Danish-sounding ice-cream) come in small packages…can we at least hope that quality in healthcare comes in cargo loads? Or are we bound to provide healthcare on islands of excellence in a sea of mediocrity?

I will not use this space to expand on the "quality" etymology or on matters of semantics. Instead, I would like to focus on 3 areas related to quality that I came across in discussions and readings this week:

Healthcare Worker's Search for Meaning

"The last of human freedoms- the ability to choose one's attitude in a given set of circumstances" 
Viktor Frankl

When you are a healthcare worker there is one thing you never want to hear: a fatal error leads to patient death. Sadly, today was one of those days. This terrible event is mentally and physically painful to grasp and reminds us all of our inherent and human ability to fail. The pain of the family is extremely raw and the society’s response is intensely broadcasted, and for good reason. Today though, just for once, I will talk about the pain of the provider, the one entrusted with your safety.

On Revolutions, Rebels and Reshaping Healthcare

In a world of constant change, transforming healthcare is a topic that receives considerable attention. We talk about how we can improve, what solutions to adopt and how to implement change. Then we find ourselves trying to sustain the changes and we go back again to the drawing board: a continuous PDSA cycle within an infinity Enso circle.  This is the fight: against the status quo, to protect our ethical principles as healthcare providers. Our passion guides us like a flag into a war. But is a revolution necessary? Who are the rebels and what do they do?

Leveraging Social Media for Quality (and Self) Improvement

 

TIL (Today I learned)* something new from my nephew. He studies software engineering and is one of those young people really plugged into the digital world, always clicking away on his electronic devices. While I was digressing about my twitter activity, he suggests me to try reddit, a popular social media platform. I heard about it, but never tried it, so am now feeling a bit overwhelmed...just another “internet thing” I have to try now, when I am barely a "joiner" on the social media ladder! Still, what do I have to lose? Perhaps I could use this new tool on my QI journey?

So here I am on reddit. I find out that "This is a place friendly to thought, relationships, arguments, and to those that wish to challenge those genres." The stats are impressing:

Take me to the forest: Changing hospital culture

We recently had a staff meeting where a guest speaker prepared a presentation about communication. At one point in the presentation, the speaker encouraged the audience to play the telephone game, in an attempt to illustrate how messages are distorted while they are passed from one person to another. This innocent game, where one person whispers the message to the next person and then through a line of people until the last person loudly announces the message to everyone, took an odd turn. And rather than making me think about communication, it brought back a difficult question on hospital culture: How can we change the insidious culture of “name, shame and blame” that still exists? Why can we not see the forest, and focus solely on the trees?

The Challenges of Change Agents

 

I don’t know about others, but when I think of my own improvement attempts on my unit, I usually recall challenges, resistance, hitting walls. Yes, I was told it will be difficult, and once you realize that you are not alone in your passion, it is even harder to get back to the daily whirlwind. It is discouraging, and some days are worse than others. And then I am thinking: for sure others have the same challenges, but does it make a difference if you would be in a formal position of authority rather than front-line staff? Would you be able to influence and leverage more for your ideas?