MED3OOO Clinical Newsletter - May 2010
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By Paul McLeod, M.D., MED3OOO Chief Medical Executive
In his book "The Checklist Manifesto," surgeon Atul Gawande describes the complexity of many aspects of modern life. Examples range from healthcare, to the ariline industry, to the construction of massive skyscrapers. Endeavors like these require many people with many talents, working as a team to accomplish sophisticated feats correctly time after time. If not, the consequences could be deadly. The author used several examples of each. The most interesting actually involved the rock band Van Halen. For the band's performance to go perfectly, the hosting venue had to accomplish multiple tasks as requested by the production team. Some of those tasks may have seemed trivial. At first glance, this looks like the unrealistic demands of egomaniacal music stars. Nothing could be further from the truth. The band's production manager realized how many steps were required for a seamless show, and one or two omissions could be catastrophic. The venue team had to understand this as well. The request was simple and clear in the contract. It it were not done (no M & M's), or done incorrectly (without removing the brown ones), then a number of other "minor" requests may have been overlooked as well. "Don't sweat the small stuff" is good advice for our personal lives, but not for healthcare. The small stuff can lead to catastrophic consequences. The media will provide coverage of the rare preventable catastrophic gross mistakes (wrong site surgery) that harm patients. The more important problem for healthcare involves less dramatic flaws. These are not a reflection of provider incompetence, or ambivalence toward the patient's outcome. Most of the time, these mistakes signal an inadequate delivery system - one that does not ensure that every step in the process is done, and done correctly time after time. The system is to blame when patients have been without chronic medications for days while waiting for a refill prescription. The system is to blame when labs, radiology reports, or consultation notes are lost. The stytem is to blame when patients have not been advised to have their age- and gender-specific cancer screening done. The list can obviously go on. A solution can only result from both technology and operational systems that work together to manage workflows and the ability to monitor care until the loop is cosed on every encounter. MED3OOO has the expertise, experience, and technology offerings to ensure that our clients understand how to manage the complexity of healthcare and avoid errors or omissions. We look forward to having you has clients. We won't forget to bring the M & M's.
Is your patient volume down? Are your patients neglecting their routine and preventive care? Do you need to reconnect with patients that have not been seen in over a year? Do you need to identify those patients in your practice who should be recalled for needed services? If so, consider using our patient outreach MED3OOO/Connect technology powered by Phytel. MED3OOO/Connect can automate the process of identifying those patients in your practice who should be recalled for needed services. If you would like to proactively reach out to your patients with an automated patient recall process, please contact your account manager or Scott Madden at Scott_Madden@MED3000.com.
For a printable version of this newsletter click here: Clinical May2010 |
