“The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another.” – William James
Most employees are asked to self-manage to a significant degree, to use their intelligence and experience to direct their work to accomplish important organizational purposes. This is how many of today’s workers give value to what they are doing by improvising, problem solving and innovating under stressful conditions to meet customers’ and business needs. [1]
You’ve probably heard it said before that failure is inevitable, and of course that is true. No one of us is immune to failure. But, as much as failure is a normal part of everyday life, it’s important to know that you don’t have to stay there. Failure is normal, but being stuck in failure shouldn’t be. The following are culprits I’ve found to be shared among people or institutions who feel stuck in a pattern of failure.
We live in a world of constant stimulation, of more is more, and, as a result, of multitasking. Most of us think we’re pretty good at multitasking, and greatly overestimate our proficiency at doing two or more tasks at once. I think I’m better at multitasking than most, but I guarantee that if my wife reads this she will bust a gut laughing … I can’t even listen to her with the TV on. I’m not alone here, am I?
Which is more important?
What you do.
How you do it.
OR ...
Why you do it?
In medicine, what we do makes a difference. The world of evidence-based medicine dictates our practice. When we have certain outcomes we’re not happy with, those outcomes prompt changes in protocol. Those protocol changes are implemented, and we then measure the difference.
Somewhere, sometime, a consultant met with your hospital leadership team and began the process of strategic planning. From there, you developed a vision, mission, purpose, core values and all that jazz. Unfortunately, for most hospitals, this is just rhetoric and jargon. I’m sure that at some level the leaders within the hospital make decisions based off of these “values,” but it seldom permeates in a meaningful way to the people who are providing care for patients.
"A nurse should have fewer patients in order to provide the best possible care, and that care should not [include] caring for the EHR ... we need better technolgy to bind us together."
Editor's Note: The Figure 1 app contains medical images, some of which may be unsettling to certain viewers. Discretion is advised.
Pulsara is postioned at the intersection of healthcare and technology, and as such we love learning about other apps, products and services that also find themselves in this space. One such app is Figure 1, which can be thought of as an Instagram for medical providers, available for both iOS and Android.
On the platform, doctors, nurses and medical students are able to post images of cases they are working on to get feedback and insights from peers - or just to share photos of their most bizarre, interesting, or puzzling symptoms.
2015 has been an amazing year for Pulsara. We grew our incredible team, gained some amazing clients, helped several facilities finally acheive their desired D2N and D2B times, and pushed out some truly revolutionary features on our platform - all in the name of improving patient outcomes for time sensitive emergencies.
To celebrate a successful year, we thought we'd reflect on Pulsara's 5 most popular blog posts from 2015. Some were funny, others serious, but all were educational. Take a look for yourself!
EDITOR'S NOTE: Special thanks to Kathy Walsh for writing today's blog post. You can connect with her on LinkedIn.
So you think multitasking makes you more efficient at home and at work? Not so much...
My husband was the one who pointed it out the other morning ... I was on the verge of becoming “that guy.” You know, the person who keeps glancing at their smartphone or emails during the team meeting and later doesn’t follow through, provide support, or remember the group decision and next steps because they weren’t really mentally engaged?
Or that friend you meet for lunch who has their smartphone on the table and alternates between instant messaging the kids, posting pictures of your meal to Facebook, and looking at the restaurant reviews on Yelp while you are “chatting?"
Or the person driving ahead of you who is swerving, changing speeds, and running red lights while talking (or, **GASP** texting) on her cell phone?
Oh sure, my multitasking seemed innocent enough. I was simply checking my cell phone for work emails and responding WHILE reading the morning paper, WHILE watching the 6:00 am news, WHILE eating breakfast, WHILE my husband was asking about the day’s plans.
When I was thirteen years old, I was in a severe car accident and became a Traumatic Brain Injury patient.
Soon after the accident, I found that I had trouble remembering things that I did during the day or people I had met. When I returned to school, I started to have trouble learning and my grades suffered (I had always done well in school before that).
Recent studies show that music has a directly beneficial impact on brain function and possibly overall health. I can personally attest to this finding better than most.
A recent survey conducted by Infinite Convergence Solutions shows that the majority of healthcare institutions in the United States are using messaging apps and services that do not meet enterprise-grade standards for HIPAA and security regulations.
According to FierceMobileHealthcare, Infinite Convergence's CEO, Anurag Lal, said "CIOs and IT leaders in healthcare institutions need to make available an official ... messaging platform to their employees which also allows them to implement administrative, physical and technical safeguards that HIPAA requires."
On November 19th, residents of 35 major cities across the U.S. were able to pay a small fee for a wellness package and up to 10 flu shots - from transportation mogul Uber!
Within the same app customers already use to request rides, they were also able to request a flu shot. For just $10, Uber made house calls (or office calls) with licensed nurses who administered flu shots for up to 10 people per request. Uber hopes to use these UberHEALTH days to work toward a healthier future for all.
