Running a hospital

This comment is meant with complete respect, but I thought it noteworthy to read Paul Levy’s blog recently.  It can be found here.

Running a hospital

If you don’t know him, Paul is the CEO of Beth Israel Deaconness Medical Center (I don’t know if he is Mr. Levy or Dr. Levy, so I’ll call him Paul here).  He has been a pioneering blogger that has focused on transparency in the healthcare industry, using his blog to address issues that other healthcare professionals might find uncomfortable to discuss in public.  I admire Dr. Levy’s leadership and boldness in using Web 2.0 tools for this purpose, and many others share this admiration.

Nevertheless, I find it odd that Paul has not responded at all on his blog about a recent event that happened at BIDMC.  For the first time in 10 years, a woman died during a c-section procedure there.  This event garnered the attention of me and my wife, because we had the same procedure there with our son a year ago (and had a very good experience all around, BIDMC is a great hospital).

My question is this, however, when someone takes to the blogosphere advocating information transparency, what are the implications of failing to address such a high-profile issue?  I think people expect high profile-bloggers to be straightforward and forthcoming, particularly ones who are using the blog platform to advocate greater information transparency and safety.

I am certain there are alot of reasons Paul chooses not to discuss the issue in his blog – patient confidentiality, liability, lack of information – all of which are legitimate.  The silence unnerves me, though.  I think a wiser approach would be to acknowledge the event (it’s all over the local news), explain what is being done internally, or simply be straightforward on why he chooses not to address it in his blog.  That’s what Dell did when the laptop batteries caught fire.  They simply said, “we don’t know why this happened, but we are going to do everything we can to find out why.”

I think that a better approach would be for Paul to be forthcoming in his blog, in whatever way is most appropriate.  Acknolwedge the issue, express sympathy for all concerned, and address what is being done or why he can’t talk about it now.  I think people would understand if the response was limited and didn’t provide any details beyond what was found in the news.  Silence in the face of a high-profile tragedy simply doesn’t seem right from a genuine leader who is stepping forward to champion a very important cause of greater information transparency…but I guess it’s times like these that true leadership is tested.  Speak, Paul, speak!

The Incredible Inedible – Google « Scottamcgavin’s Weblog

The Incredible Inedible – Google « Scottamcgavin’s Weblog

Scott’s post reminds me of a forward-thinking doctor I have had a chance to work with.  The doctor said that the culture of the medical field is that if the doctor doesn’t know the answer to a particular question, the doctor will make up some excuse to step out of the exam room to go look it up in his office.  Now, with computers in many exam rooms, the doctor will sit down with the patient and Google the answer online.  The doctor finds the answer while also serving as a role model for how to search for infomration. 

I had a statistics question when I was writing my Ph.D. dissertation, so I went to an expert.  He did the same thing, sat down on Google and tracked down the answer.  I believe it was Einstien who said, “why would I memorize [the periodic table] when I can look it up.”  Google takes that sentiment to a whole new level.  Nowadays expertise isn’t about knowing the right answer but knowing where to look…and knowing its the right answer when you find it.