{"id":4546,"date":"2016-02-07T10:32:50","date_gmt":"2016-02-07T09:32:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.saasoft.com\/blog\/?p=4546"},"modified":"2016-02-07T10:32:50","modified_gmt":"2016-02-07T09:32:50","slug":"fresh-meat-on-old-bones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hcse.blog\/?p=4546","title":{"rendered":"New Meat for Old Bones"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"FreshMeatOldBones\"<\/a>Evolution is an amazing process.<\/p>\n

Using the same building blocks that have been around for a lot time, it cooks up\u00a0innovative permutations and combinations that\u00a0reveal new and ever more useful properties.<\/p>\n

Very often a breakthrough in understanding comes\u00a0from a simplification, not from\u00a0making it more\u00a0complicated.<\/p>\n

Knowledge evolves\u00a0in just the same way.<\/p>\n

Sometimes a well understood\u00a0simplification in one branch of science\u00a0is used to solve an ‘impossible’ problem in another.<\/p>\n

Cross-fertilisation of learning is a healthy part of the evolution process.<\/p>\n

\n

Improvement implies evolution of knowledge and understanding, and then\u00a0application of that insight in\u00a0the process of designing innovative ways\u00a0of doing things better.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

And so it is in healthcare.\u00a0 For many years the emphasis on healthcare improvement has been the Safety-and-Quality dimension, and for\u00a0very good reasons.\u00a0 We need to avoid harm and we want to achieve happiness; for everyone.<\/p>\n

But\u00a0many of the issues that plague healthcare systems are not primarily\u00a0SQ issues … they are flow and productivity issues. FP. The safety and quality problems are secondary – so only focussing on them is treating the symptoms and not the cause.\u00a0 We need to balance the wheel … we need flow science.<\/p>\n

\n

Fortunately the science of flow is well understood … outside healthcare … but apparently not so well understood inside healthcare … given the queues, delays and chaos that seem to\u00a0have become the expected norm.\u00a0\u00a0So there is a big opportunity for cross fertilisation here.\u00a0 If we choose to make it happen.<\/p>\n

\n

For example, from computer science\u00a0we can borrow the knowledge of how to schedule\u00a0tasks to make best use of our\u00a0finite resources and\u00a0at the same time avoid excessive waiting.<\/p>\n

It is a very well understood science. There is comprehensive theory, a host of techniques, and\u00a0fit-for-purpose tools\u00a0that we can pick of the shelf and use. Today if we choose to.<\/p>\n

So what are the reasons we do not?<\/p>\n

Is it because healthcare is quite introspective?<\/p>\n

Is it because we believe that there is something ‘special’ about healthcare?<\/p>\n

Is it because there is no evidence … no hard proof … no controlled trials?<\/p>\n

Is it because we assume that queues are always caused by lack of resources?<\/p>\n

Is it because we do not like change?<\/p>\n

Is it because we do not like to admit that we do not know\u00a0stuff?<\/p>\n

Is it because we fear loss of face?<\/p>\n

\n

Whatever the reasons the evidence and experience shows that most (if not all) the queues, delays and chaos in healthcare systems are iatrogenic<\/em>.<\/p>\n

This means\u00a0that they are self-generated. And that implies we can un-self-generate them … at little or no cost … if only we knew how.<\/p>\n

The only cost is to our egos of having to accept that there is knowledge out there that we could use to move us in the direction of excellence.<\/p>\n

New meat for our old bones?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Evolution is an amazing process. Using the same building blocks that have been around for a lot time, it cooks up\u00a0innovative permutations and combinations that\u00a0reveal new and ever more useful properties. Very often a breakthrough in understanding comes\u00a0from a simplification, not from\u00a0making it more\u00a0complicated. Knowledge evolves\u00a0in just the same way. Sometimes a well understood\u00a0simplification in … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “New Meat for Old Bones”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,22,24,28,32,35,38,40,41,42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4546","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-flow","category-healthcare","category-improvementology","category-metaphors","category-productivity","category-reflections","category-safety","category-sfqp","category-stories","category-how"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hcse.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4546","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hcse.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hcse.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hcse.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hcse.blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4546"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hcse.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4546\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hcse.blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hcse.blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hcse.blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}