Thursday, April 17, 2014

Two lovely articles crossed my desk, and I'd like to share them with you.

The first is by Peter Pronovost, called "The ripple effect." Excerpts:

Cornell University sociologists Milena Tsvetkova and Michael Macy explained how we are much more likely to perform a kind act when we experience or witness one. Experiencing a small kindness is more potent than observing on.

There is a large segment of health care workers who want to do the right thing, to do things differently, but are held back for a variety of reasons. Sometimes they just want to know that there are others who are willing to move forward with them. Someone needs to takes that first step, to set off the chain reaction. Others want to know that if they lead, others will follow.

Take, as a great example, Janet Wall, a support associate on the Weinberg ICU at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. Wall has worked on the unit for 14 years and often jokes that she is “protecting her house” when she sees a behavior that is not consistent with the values that the unit is built around. If she sees anyone neglect to perform hand hygiene before entering a patient room—be it a world-renowned surgeon or a clerical worker—she will immediately remind them to do so. She’s on the unit to save lives, she proudly announces.

Anyone who has worked in health care or been a patient knows how uncomfortable it can be to ask someone else to wash their hands. But Wall took the risk to do something different and hold others accountable. And once she did, other support associates and staff began to follow. Many staff who had never before taken those kinds of risks began to speak up. This social movement has spread around the unit, and even nurses who before did not feel empowered to speak up are doing just that.

Acts of leadership and courage can be powerful forces for social change when they are aligned towards a goal. And as Wall demonstrates, you don’t need a C-suite title to set these in motion. So start a social movement in your unit or clinic. Take that first step—an uncommon act of kindness, generosity or courage. Witness or experience these acts, and then pay it forward, and watch as the world around you begins to change.

And then the next is from Tracy Granzyk at MedStar Health, called "Teamwork and Thinking Differently: Can Healthcare Leaders Do This?" Viewing a terrific instrumental quartet, she observes:

A piano has 88 keys, yet new music is created every day. How can we take what we have to work with in healthcare and see what has yet to be discovered or apply what has yet to be tried — especially when it comes to teamwork.

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