DailyKaizen

Meanwhile…in another part of our delivery system…we began such an RPIW, with doctors, nurses, and for the first time in a real way….a patient/member of our care system.

I will admit here that I know this is the right thing to do, and it makes me nervous at the same time. I am not worried at all about a member seeing what we do for them. More is better. I am nervous (as a physician is about things out of their control) that I want this to be a standard piece of work in everything we do.

So far so good. I have asked our member to compose her thoughts on her time with us and I will post them here, when she is ready.

In terms of my participation in this event, I asked the event leads to kick me out of the work room, and to hesitate to let me back in, so that I could spend my time shadowing care providers. They graciously agreed.

I began by shadowing a Licensed Practical Nurse managing incoming phone calls and messages. At one point, I think I presented as a curiosity to the staff - a physician shadowing a nurse (such curiosities should run rampant in health care). I think I learned 10 things every 10 minutes as I hoped to.

I then shadowed a family practitioner in the medical center, who really represented the amazing breadth of family medicine in terms of the people he cared for. In each case, the patient graciously welcomed me in to observe, and I thanked each one for the gift of their time, which is much more precious than mine.

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