Jason and Erin distributed a great article today during class called "Doctors and Nurses vs. Administrators on Patient Satisfaction. Who's right?" By David Howard for KevinMD.com. The article was about the difference in quality perception between medical and administrative staff. Their priorities are obviously vastly different. Quality standards can be considered treating patients as guests in a great hotel, or like their needs are based on health, giving them quality of care, ignoring excessive comfort needs.
So what is right? Which is better?
My mentor Anna believes in more grey areas in life. During our last call, I asked Anna several questions that implied a 2-answer structure. Instead of picking a side, she often gave a middle answer. We spoke about women in the workplace and government regulated health care systems, both of which she sees grey areas.
To me, quality points, or a quality checklist, of a hospital is a grey area. Of course, without good medical attention, getting Splenda sweetener instead of Equal sweetener is not nearly as important. But also, without attention to detail and listening to patients, Splenda sweetener could be a scary omen for someone about to trust hospital staff to open their body. Quality is a give and take in a hospital and administrators and physicians alike should realize that.
I like what you said about grey areas. It really is so true. It's hard to "pick a side" in this particular situation, because it is not black and white. That's why as a physician or an administrator it is so important to give and take.
ReplyDeletereally nice to see you and Anna having this depth of conversation. She's great - I think your match was quite lucky.
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