Questioning Protocols

Last week, the System Management group met to discuss a variety of issues facing WMHS over the next five years.  For that meeting, the group had been asked by me to read the book, Questioning Protocols, by Randi Redmond Oster.  Randi is a mother of a teenage son with Crohn's Disease.  The book describes how the mother and son navigated the health care system while dealing with such a challenging illness.  

The book discussion on Friday was exceptional.  Part of the group loved the book and the other part of the group didn't like the book or the author.  At the end of the day, everyone agreed as to the overall value of the book as we attempt to do our jobs better, especially as it relates to keeping the patient and his family in the center of all that we do.  

Some of the common threads throughout the book were as follows: the importance of advocacy on behalf of the family for their loved one and that we need to understand and embrace such advocacy; the importance of communication and that we, as health care providers, can fail at that from time to time; that we need to involve the family in the plan of care to a much greater extent; and lastly, that we need to meet the needs and expectations of the family as well as the patient.  

Through the discussion, we now have a host of initiatives under each of the above threads that we will be putting into place as we deliver value-based, patient-centered care.