A Doctor's Touch (Or a lack of...)
As we move forward in a world that is becoming more dependent on technology each day, we have to stop and think about what this means for the future. For one, healthcare is definitely a world where this technological revolution is being adopted and carried out through all departments. For us as managers, this means learning the new technology, understanding how it works, making sure our staff knows how it works etc.
A worry many have though is that with this technology boom, we are losing that face to face value people get from doing things by hand/in person. A big concern described by Abraham Verghese in his TED Talks, “A Doctor’s Touch,” is that with this increase in technology, we are no longer actually laying our hands on the patient to examine them since we have far more technologically advanced machines to conduct exams with. Why use your hands? He explains how not only do things get missed when simply relying on a machine or just ignoring the exam all together, but patients feel a lack of care being provided by the doctor. It’s simply one of those things, that even if the person is hours away from passing, having the doctors examine, touch, and devote their attention to them just for a simple exam, gives them a sense of safety.
Now as a manager, our job is to not only make sure that doctors are involved with their patients, doing those extremely important physical exams by hand (and then going to a machine if needed), satisfying patient needs, but to also make sure we too don’t lose this face to face/in person experience. It’s so easy to just sit in your office and catch up on emails, hear at meetings how the departments within the healthcare organization are doing, without ever having to step foot in the department. But to truly get a feel for the staff, the patients, and understand what really goes on within each department, like the doctors who work there, it’s important to physically examine each department as much and as thoroughly as possible. While the technology piece is cutting edge and can help provide better health outcomes, we can’t sit behind a computer or phone all day and expect to get the job done well. At the end of the day, it's all about meeting the patient's needs and the only way to do that is to start by going out on the floor, interacting, and leading by example.
A Doctor's Touch
A worry many have though is that with this technology boom, we are losing that face to face value people get from doing things by hand/in person. A big concern described by Abraham Verghese in his TED Talks, “A Doctor’s Touch,” is that with this increase in technology, we are no longer actually laying our hands on the patient to examine them since we have far more technologically advanced machines to conduct exams with. Why use your hands? He explains how not only do things get missed when simply relying on a machine or just ignoring the exam all together, but patients feel a lack of care being provided by the doctor. It’s simply one of those things, that even if the person is hours away from passing, having the doctors examine, touch, and devote their attention to them just for a simple exam, gives them a sense of safety.
Now as a manager, our job is to not only make sure that doctors are involved with their patients, doing those extremely important physical exams by hand (and then going to a machine if needed), satisfying patient needs, but to also make sure we too don’t lose this face to face/in person experience. It’s so easy to just sit in your office and catch up on emails, hear at meetings how the departments within the healthcare organization are doing, without ever having to step foot in the department. But to truly get a feel for the staff, the patients, and understand what really goes on within each department, like the doctors who work there, it’s important to physically examine each department as much and as thoroughly as possible. While the technology piece is cutting edge and can help provide better health outcomes, we can’t sit behind a computer or phone all day and expect to get the job done well. At the end of the day, it's all about meeting the patient's needs and the only way to do that is to start by going out on the floor, interacting, and leading by example.
A Doctor's Touch
nice blending of the importance of face to face from the clinical and managerial perspectives. Don't be a carpet administrator!
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