Forget Disney, what if GOOGLE ran your Hospital

Forget Disney, what if GOOGLE ran your HospitalEver read Fast Company? Recently they had a series of the most innovative companies in the world. (No hospitals, sorry). Who made number 1?

Google! Google. Now by now most of us have heard that they are working with the Cleavland Clinic on an EMR but what about if they ran your hospital? What would be different? What would be better? What would be the barriers?

Employees of Google had a general feeling that their work, no matter how small, would change the world! Imagine if your nurses, and doctors, and staff felt that way.... That coming to work at the hospital was some sort of out of body experience. The daily tasks of medicine felt like they were making an impact! How would your hospital react? Can you imagine the power your staff would have to create something new?!!!!What about if the staff were given one day a week, or month to work on whatever they wanted? Could innovation happen! Could your Hospital change the world!??

If any of you out there read this, I would love to hear feedback!Ill write more on my thoughts after we get a good discussion going!

Disruptive Leaders Wanted to Change World

Well-- today in business week there was another validation that disruptive leadership is needed to change the world.





http://www.businessweek.com/managing/content/mar2008/ca2008034_495745.htm





If you remember my first blog on the Group That Will Change The World, an article such as the above Business Week one gets our fire burning. As my Masters In Health care Innovation Cohort moves through the program it is becoming clear that many of the institutions that once held great prestige are lead by traditional leadership.





I think we need to ask ourselves, who do we want running our companies? The Chronic CEO or the Disruptive Deviant (deviant used in the best sense of the word). I would choose the Disruptive Deviant for two reasons.


1) New and exciting discoveries happen when things are shaken up. Look at the work done by Jose Fonseca.


2) Fresh ideas come from those who are fed up.





In August when the full impact of the new generation of Disruptive Deviants hit the world look for major changes to follow. We liken the class to a scene in "The Matrix" Neo, the main character, is asked to choose between a blue pill and a red pill.

If you take the Blue pill the story ends and you believe whatever you want to believe. Basically you are thrown back into the rut of tasks and status-quo.
OR
If you take the RED pill and you stay in wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes. In short, see the world for what it is, and then strive to change it.

We in the MHI program have taken the RED pill, and the truth is becoming more apparent. Its time to shift the paradigm of the rest of the world, as it is a matter of survival!

Subscribe in a reader

If Disney Ran Your Hospital, with a twist

So, I was watching the discovery HD channel the other day and they had an hour long show dedicated to all things Disney. I know of the book If Disney Ran Your Hospital: 9 1/2 Things You Would Do Differently (Paperback)by Fred Lee (Author), and thought i would do a new take on it.

So lets start at the beginning, we will use Disneyland in California for the visuals in your head! If you have never been there... check this out! DISNEY

We will omit the tram ride from the parking lot, although a magical train shaped security car patrolling the parking lots does seem like a good mood changer. From the moment you buy your ticket and walk through the gates music is playing, visuals cue you to "lands" to explore and visit. Now of course a hospital is not a fun place to be, but what is the feeling we get when we go into the hospital. Signs in multiple languages, cold white walls, a crowded waiting room.

Now lets take a spin at a Disney version of this scene. Imagine you walk into the hospital with warm and inviting colors. Ok, I admit the signs in 3 of the nations most popular languages is a Disney feature, think "Its a Small World", but the crowded waiting room could change. Disney is amazing a crowd control.

Have you ever walked up to Splash Mountain, you can only see a fraction of the actual 200 people in the line, and they have a wait time indicator. For some reasons hospitals are against that.

Now, I am an ED nurse, and I understand the patient acuity scores and the sicker you are the faster you come back, but the majority of today's ED patients are acute care patients. That is, they have colds, aches, minor injuries, or non-critical illness.

Disney creates the illusion that wait is shorter, you go through phases of the line. You start outside, then you get into the inner-sanctum. Here you have visual stimuli that distract you from the actual wait. Then you get a glimpse of where you are supposed to be, the actual ride, and then you are there. ED triage flow could reduce patient anxiety and frustration with waits if the adopted a similar design.

Another thought would be to institute the fast-pass. A non-critical patient could be triaged by an advanced practitioner and given a pass to come back at a pre-determined time for a 20 minute wait or less. Talk about decompressing the lobby quickly.

Disney is also very good at innovation. In the show one of the Imagineers discussed how the monorail was developed. Basically, Walt went to the worlds fair, saw a prototype, came back with a few drawings, said he wanted it, and the group built it.

How can healthcare follow this model, well as most of us aware, innovation in healthcare administration and management is poor at best. Having a team of Imagineers that dedicated to innovating solutions for the hospital problems sounds like a good revenue source. The monorail is the highest visited attraction in the park, think of the possibilities of a team dedicated to creating change in the healthcare environment.

We can call them Master Change Facilitators or Health-o-vationeers. Sorry that was a bit over the top.

So I know this blog is a bit longer then a scanner blog master reader would like, so I will make this an installment blog. BUT, lets do one more.

Sorry, can't help it, but Disney is great at immersing the patrons into the experience of Disney. Guests can imagine to be a princess, an elephant, part of the Seven Dwarfs, or a member of the Pirates crew.

So what does that have to do with healthcare. Well, those that know me know my passion for Human Patient Simulation. Implementing the immersive properties of Disney into a realistic patient simulation aimed at developing practitioner skills would improve patient safety, better inter-staff communication, increase knowledge retention, and allow for prototyping new care models. At least that is what the research is suggesting.

So I will continue this series at another time, but imagine a Disney hospital... Patient centered, clean, innovative, and geared to make the horrible experience of a hospital stay, a little more magical!

New Group Changing Healthcare as we Know it!!!

Most of us have been through the healthcare system at one point or another. Whether we stubbed our toe and went to the ER, one of loved ones we sick and we visited, or just routine check-up at the doctors, we have all suffered in the problems of the US healthcare system. Long waits, poor care outcomes, and less then interested staff plague our system as we speak.

Don't worry, this blog is not about the problems with the healthcare system, its about fixing it. There is a group at Arizona State University ready to change the world. Its the NEW Masters In Healthcare Innovation students. The first graduates of this program are set to hit the world with full force in August.

What is a Healthcare Innovator, one might ask!?? Innovation seems to now be a buzz word with little power behind it... A healthcare innovator is a person who dreams up change, takes risks to implement that change, and is set to carry us into the technology age. Was that inspiring enough for you. Really the Masters In Healthcare Innovation was established by Dr Kathy Malloch and Dr Tim Porter-O'grady to give out-of-the-box thinkers the foundations to lead change in healthcare, and in life, and to change the world.

One thing the students learn is that their current jobs (Nurse, administrator, doctor, engineer, etc.) do not allow for much innovation. Many of the students have created their own jobs after starting this program. One student has created the position of Master Change Facilitator, and now leads any project of change in her hospital. She is the person that "sets the table" with the right people to get the job done. She provides brainstorming activities to get ideas flowing, and she takes the risk to get things done.

You will find that is a common theme among the students in the program. Several other students have started their own businesses to change healthcare. MORE on that next time.

So, if you are in healthcare, a patient of healthcare, or just want to change healthcare in the US or the world, i would recommend checking out this program. I am a student in it, and i can tell you first hand....WE WILL CHANGE THE WORLD... we are the future of healthcare innovation.



Below are some links you may find interesting.

http://nursing.asu.edu/programs/graduate/mhi/index.htm

MHI Newsletter
http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs094/1101985890950/archive/1102003174591.html