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The respondents to this question have all previously been guests on the Health Design podcast.
Do something in your power to make a difference
Lean Medicine May 22, 2019
It’s a small detail. If you are accompanying someone down a corridor as a healthcare professional- don’t stride ahead. Ideally walk alongside the person or let them lead the way if they know where you are headed. If they are wheeling a buggy and carrying a bag offer to help by wheeling the buggy. Just try it. You might like how they respond. Apart from that you can learn so much about the person even before the consultation begins:
So instead of a doctor assessing a patient’s blood pressure, body mass index, chronic conditions, hospitalization and smoking history and use of mobility aids to estimate survival, a lab assistant could simply time the patient walking a few meters and predict just as accurately the person’s likelihood of living five or 10 more years—as well as a median life expectancy. Scientific American
Do you perform any rituals when you consult?
Lean Medicine March 13, 2019
Before a surgeon gets anywhere near a patient in the operating theatre he must wash his hands, put on a gown and gloves. He then drapes the patient and cleans the skin. As he makes his first incision there is no mobile phone on the table, he banishes all distractions and appreciates that the job isn’t over until he has sutured the wound. Whatever you do for a living how do you approach the job? If you adopted rituals would you perform better? Bacteria can destroy a surgeons work. What contaminates your work and how does that manifest in your results?
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What don’t people tell their doctor?
Lean Medicine March 12, 2019
Do you know why your customer, client or patient chose you today? If you are his doctor John made an appointment this morning because he thinks he may have an inherited illness. His uncle recently died from this condition and it all started with weakness in his arm. John has noticed that he has pain and weakness in his right arm when he lifts heavy things at work. This morning he nearly dropped the kettle when making a cup of tea. He isn’t going to tell you what he is worried about but he expects you will tell him he doesn’t have that condition after all the tests you will perform right? His uncle had lots of blood tests and scans.
In quite a number of contacts with a new reason for an encounter (22%), the ideas, concerns, or expectations of the patient remain undisclosed. A second main finding is that the expression of concerns and/or expectations is correlated with fewer prescriptions (univariate, logistic regression analysis, and also after exclusion of patients without an ‘a priori need for medication’). Although the causal relationship remains uncertain, the observations may indicate that systematically disclosing the patients’ real expectations and concerns could lead to less medication use. Matthys et al
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What does your face say?
Lean Medicine December 10, 2018
Are you aware what your facial muscles are doing when you are engaged in conversation? What about your neck and your shoulders? What do they leak about your mood? Your attitude? Your perspective? Is it possible they are sending entirely the wrong message?
Even though, there was no evidence found that displaying positive facial expression will increase the level of follower trust in their leader (both, affectively and cognitively) and their perceptions of leadership effectiveness, still the opposite was found to be true, which is a negative relationship between negative facial expressions and leadership effectiveness. This means, that the more the leader expresses negative facial cues such as lowered eyebrows and lip corners down, the less effective he or she is.
Who taught you how to complain?
Lean Medicine December 9, 2018
When during your training or your induction did anyone teach you how and when to express yourself when something did not meet with your expectations? Your parent might have said:
I know you’re angry darling but we don’t scratch and bite
How do your customers, clients, patients know how to complain? How did you learn to respond? Who models that behaviour for you? What is the approach to giving or receiving negative feedback where you work?
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