“MINDLESSNESS IS THE APPLICATION OF YESTERDAY’S BUSINESS SOLUTIONS TO TODAY’S PROBLEMS. AND MINDFULNESS IS ATTUNEMENT TO TODAY’S DEMANDS TO AVOID TOMORROW’S DIFFICULTIES.”

~DR. ELLEN LANGER, HARVARD UNIVERSITY

WHAT ARE THE CURRENT DEMANDS IN HEALTHCARE TODAY?

COMPLEXITY AND CHANGE ARE THE CONSTRAINTS OF OUR ERA.

The history of healthcare involved a rather stable system. There were always advances in medical therapies. There was always growth and change, but the pace was slower.

We are living through a transition: In healthcare we are dealing with a constant wave of regulatory, technology, and insurance changes. There are practice changes and mergers and acquisitions. This is all in the context of medical treatment changes.

This change is not linear. These changes are complex. There are wicked problems to solve.

A social structure of hierarchy works well in a stable system. There is predictability in stable systems and taking direction from the top of the hierarchy is a reasonable and useful way to manage steady, slow change.

A social structure of hierarchy is incompatible with managing rapid change and complexity. Decision making needs to be close to the work in order to maintain the agility to solve complex, wicked problems.

Complex change is the gravity of our era.

It is necessary to support a social structure that supports the navigation of these constants.

WHAT CAN WE DO TO DEAL WITH TODAY’S CURRENT DEMANDS?

LEARN TO DANCe

I believe that we need to shift our social structure to one that embraces a team model. Our teams should subsist of diverse members functioning at their highest capacity. Our organizations should encourage engagement, not only in word, but with alignment of action and the culture of our organizations should cultivate learning, growth and knowledge-sharing. When possible, we should look beyond the reflex to blame and consider what leads to error, in order to do or be better next time. We should be able to trust those that work with us and also be trust worthy, as this is the basis for relationship and connection. It is important that we move through this together.

I attended a meeting for my daughter’s high school. An analogy was given for the balance they aimed to strike in the school. It was described as a balance between muscle and music.

Muscle as the structure. This would include protocols, procedures, rules and regulations. It includes physical needs of a school: desks, supplies, computers, or if you relate this to a hospital: beds, rooms, and medical equipment. It also includes the finances, the metrics and measures.

Music as the culture; the emotion. This includes our rituals, and the meaning behind our work . It includes the culture and community that we work within.

We are not simply thinking beings. We are emotional, believing beings that also think. We need everyone’s best in order to get through these transitional times. It is important to engage individuals and groups. It is important to aligning values in order to clarify our purpose.

The music is so often not considered in the decisions that are made, yet, without the music, the muscles move, but they don’t dance. We must learn to integrate the human aspect with the structural aspect of healthcare.

We must learn to dance.

“So find your team. Get to work. Whatever that work is that you find worth doing. Do it, and find some people to love who’ll do it with you. ”

— LESLIE KNOPE