I am struck by the lack of education in our institutions. Today’s lessons were profoundly important and informative, yet, our schools do not have room for things in their education such as human factor engineering and negotiations. They don’t even make time for true team building!
Human factors engineering is an amazingly important field that I didn’t even know existed. The fact that problems are fixed by relabeling items is something I was unconsciously aware of but never knew to verbalize. When discussing it today, I realized just how ridiculous our society is! It is as crazy as putting a band aid over a gaping gash on your arm. It will not fix the system! In fact, it will continue to infect and fester, plaguing any people that cross its path. Pretty soon this behavior eeks out into all avenues of the world and your septic. Of course things don’t really work like that and it is an over-dramatization, but the fact that our community is plagued with these human factor engineering issues is mind boggling. Push/pull doors…really? Of all the things not user friendly shouldn’t that have been one of the first things people fixed when a solution was found? It is even more ridiculous that the healthcare system puts labels on things to fix them! As if reading one more thing is really going to stick? If most people are anything like me, I do not absorb what I read as well as pictures/physically doing things. The fact that there is a label doesn’t mean anything. All it means is that you spent some poor person’s time making these dumb labels that don’t work instead of letting them do something that will further their careers.
Speaking of furthering our careers, how about teaching about negotiations in school?! It is asinine that any kind of business savvy is not passed down to future generations who are to take over for the retiring physicians, nurses and other healthcare professionals. Does this make any sense?! It is like reinventing the wheel! How many times will we need to do that before we realize imparting knowledge at an earlier stage may prove to be beneficial in the short and long term?
I am greatly appreciative of this week. I feel as though I learned a lot and have countless things to bring back to my colleagues. Before I sign off-I would like to especially say thank you to the Skolniks and Helen Haskell. I am truly amazed by everyone in your position that has the strength to relive your tragic experiences to create a safer system for those to come. I am truly sorry that you encountered what you did but I can guarantee you I will be that much more upfront and honest with my patients and make sure I am considering all possibilities for their diagnoses.