Comments on: Monday Morning Update 10/13/08

By: FL IT Nurse

FL IT Nurse — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 20:47:24 +0000

RE: Esther –
You stated “we should never get stuck in a “culture” where you work 9 – 5, instead of “until the job is done”.” Having worked in healthcare for over 25 years, here’s what I know:
The job is NEVER done. There is always more work to do.
Does this mean that I’m not about quality? Absolutely not. But I also know (from personal experience) working like a maniac 12-14 hours a day 6 days a week does NOT create a better outcome in terms of quality or getting the job done.
Managers like Neal (and at the end of the day that’s all he is…) haven’t a clue about what it takes to motivate a workforce. It isn’t threats and shouting. It’s about being human. I, for one, would never work for someone like him or a company that held that expecation that I must sign my life away for the company good. Because in the end, they do not care about quality – either that of their product or their employees lives; they care only about their bottom line profit.
Quality doesn’t come from time spent sitting at your desk. Develop a real metric to measure your productivity, like on time deliverables, customer satisfaction, and well thought out product strategies.

By: The Alchemist

The Alchemist — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 15:05:19 +0000

RE: Wompa1. Thank you for caring and responding to my blog. Your explanation of the metrics is credible and plausible and every healthcare provider should have an opinion.

The impetus for my blog came from a lightly heated debate on the application of statistics. My comprehensive attitude for the use and embrace of statistics (numbers) is best demonstrated by Mark Twain in his autobiography commenting on the use of figures to support one’s position: “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics.”

Personally, not politically motivated, I just don’t like seeing my U.S. healthcare ranked number 37th for one reason or another. The word “fix” was deliberately inserted to incite some type of response and appears to have been successful. Thank you, Wompa1 for caring!
!

By: Esther

Esther — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 22:23:49 +0000

RE: Neal Patterson & Cerner.
I’m an ex-Cerner employee and ex-client and one of my best friends is still there. What she heard at Town Hall was a little different than DeEmailWontGoAway. She heard “we have less than we had at the beginning of the year” and that “we should never get stuck in a “culture” where you work 9 – 5, instead of “until the job is done”.” I personally agree with that philosophy. I’m tired of working with people who are only interested in doing what it takes to get by and not committed to quality. I’m not saying that Neal is right about everything but I think he’s right about this.

By: Wompa1

Wompa1 — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 21:42:40 +0000

Alchemist – The factor you are looking for is quality vs. “access.” Access is now the preferred term (in lieu of affordable) for socialist-leaning politicos. The quality of US care is very high (arguably the highest). We score low on the scale because in the US, care is not a “right.” The WHO measures several criteria, most of which are skewed to favor a socialist system. They are: overall level of population health; health inequalities (or disparities) within the population; overall level of health system responsiveness (a combination of patient satisfaction and how well the system acts); distribution of responsiveness within the population (how well people of varying economic status find that they are served by the health system); and the distribution of the health system’s financial burden within the population (who pays the costs). Don’t take my word for it; here is the link: http://www.photius.com/rankings/who_world_health_ranks.html
As I have said before, comparing the US and socialized systems does not give a clear picture. US quality and responsiveness are very high. European countries have more “access,” and they spread the costs across the population by taxation. Mr. H. has reported on the numbers of Canadians who are treated in the US. We get the best (quality of) care, because we pay the most (~84% of the US population does, in fact, have insurance) With socialism, it always comes down to this: we are all poor and miserable equally. Sacrifice superior so that all can have average (or mediocre). What can “fix” it? That depends upon what you mean. If you mean cost, you must do one of two things: increase supply (of care) through competition, or you must decrease demand. Healthcare is not a traditional business, but it is still subject to market forces.

By: kiddoc

kiddoc — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 12:42:48 +0000

Re: DNS 10
Nuance added a nasty little surprise in this version. DNS 10 preferred version is set up to not work with most EMRs on the market, requiring the purchase of the medical version (at about $1500).