Healthcare Blogging Summit

I had the pleasure and privilege of speaking at the Healthcare Blogging Summit in Washington DC yesterday. Here is a short summary with some interesting observations.

It was an extremely interesting meeting which will likely have a major impact on the role of blogs in health care and wellness.

I met many fine and memorable peple and was very struck by one in particular:  F. Nicholas Jacobs, who is said to be the first hospital CEO to blog. It was not just what he had to say, but the energy with which he said it.

I wanted to quote something from his blog which is entirely in line with my own thinking about how a place of healing should  function:

If you treat people with respect and dignity, with love and a total commitment to their health, it works. They don't sue you because they know you care about them.  They don't hate you because they know that you respect them.  They recommend you to their friends and relatives because they trust you.

As the brain surgeon says: "This is NOT rocket science." And as the rocket scientist says, "This is NOT brain surgery."  If you put people into a healing environment, they heal.  If they are not living in complete terror about the next unknown that is going to happen to them, they heal.  In fact, their white blood cells may actually be given a chance to work!

You can wash your hands 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and you should. But... people will still get infections if you restrict their loved ones from being with them, if you treat them like a body part, if you don't tell them what's coming next, and don't give them choices in their care.  Instead, one of our senior leaders always says about Windber Medical Center, "We do not make our patients leave their dignity at the door."

Nick had never heard of Integrated Medicine. He is quite evidently just a smart, kind and loving person who sees the big picture.

We need more people like him.

But here is the good news, there are more people like him that are rising through the ranks in medicine. They are realizing that in the same way that patients should not leave their dignity at the door, a successful administrator or departmental chair does not have to leave behind his or her humanity, caring and compassion.

Comments

[F. Nick Jacobs]

Dear Dr. Petty,

Thank you so much for your kind words. I have felt very alone for the past twenty years, and hope that sooner than later, leadership will begin to understand the Golden Rule a little better.