Week 5: What do we
need to see to be a great healthcare leader?
Actions for Week 5: What do we need to see to be a great
healthcare leader?
This week we are shifting our perspective from one that is
looking at the big picture of healthcare to one that is looking at the individual
person seeking care.
The Institute of Medicine defines patient-centered care as:
“Providing care that is respectful of and responsive to individual patient
preferences, needs, and values, and ensuring that patient values guide all
clinical decisions.”[1] While this definition clearly emphasizes the importance
of a patient’s perspective in the context of clinical care delivery, it does
not allow managers to focus on the actual “person” inside the institutional
role of the patient.
In the same sense that a person who is incarcerated in a
prison may receive extremely humane treatment, the “person” is still defined
into the role of an “inmate,” and as such cannot, by definition, be granted the
same rights and privileges as a non-institutionalized member of the civil order
enjoys. In other words, I may be placed
in a cell with great empathy and understanding of my preferences, needs, and
values, but I am still being locked-up in jail.
No one is suggesting that being admitted into a jail cell is
the same as being admitted into a hospital bed. There are many obvious
differences between the two, including the basic purpose of the two
institutions.
But while much is different, what is the same is how a
pre-existing set of structured behaviors and processes are used to firmly, and
without asking or negotiating, radically transform a “regular” person into a
defined role of a “patient” that then can be diagnosed, treated, and discharged
back into the world once the patient has finished their “time” in the “system.”
While patient-centered care emphasizes the value of
increased sensitivity to a patient’s preferences, needs, and values, what we
want to focus on is how decisions made by healthcare leaders affect the actual
experience of a person receiving that care.
So with the “real person” in mind, this week’s
question is:
“What can healthcare leaders do in improve the actual
personal experience that “real people” go through as our
“patients?”
(Be sure to develop your answers AFTER you review the
definition and roles of “Leadership” in the readings for this week).
Week 5.1: Health
Information Technology – First Graded Discussion
The goal of the First Graded Discussion is to make sure each
student is able to prepare and post a short PowerPoint presentation of 3-5
slides with accompanying notes about a current health information technology.
The PowerPoint will need to describe and explain what the
selected health information technology does and then analyze how it might
improve quality, increase access, and/or reduce the cost of healthcare services
in the US.
Discussion of each other’s posted PowerPoint presentation is
expected from all.
