I recently attended a talk by the owner of the “Life is good” company.  Bert Jacobs was very entertaining and made thoughtful comments, along with tossing Frisbees to the audience when we laughed (multiple times).  He and his brother began the company hawking t-shirts on the streets of Boston.  They now have a multi-million dollar company built by two guys with no business experience.  Look it up on Wikipedia – their story is one of classic American entrepreneurialism….with a couple of twists.

One of his biggest messages had to do with giving back to the community.  It is his opinion that the two entities people expect to “take care” of folks in need are not suited to do so.  The first entity would be government.  While a lot of governmental agencies have the best intentions in mind, example after example point to failure.  Too big, too complicated, too much bureaucracy, poorly aligned incentives – all lead to suboptimal performance.  Need I mention the sub-prime debacle that occurred during “governmental oversight….”  The second entity expected to help out folks in need are the organizations you might think about – American Red Cross, Make a Wish foundation, Trauma Intervention Program, Poverello House, Marjorie Mason Center, etc.  The rub here is that these organizations are great at what they do – but not so great at raising money.  It is in this arena where the private side can help.  With their organizational and entrepreneurial spirit – they can raise money.  Not only can they raise money – the employees enjoy and are motivated to participate in these endeavors.  The older I become the more I understand, the benefits to giving.  Maybe we can pair this with a C-fit activity….

Another message Bert delivered was the concept of tearing down vs. building.   It is easy to “tear down” or to point out the negatives about a person or an organization.  While this might feel good for a moment, the overall negativism generated overshadows this initial feeling.  And who knows, the shoe might be on the other foot in the future.  So….it is much better to refrain from taking shots at others but rather turn our attention to things we can improve.  I’m thinking this is likely to work both on the job and at home.  Granted, this is not easy – try to go a day without saying or writing anything negative about another….

Finally, the concept of Life is good - is to make this statement is a decision.  A decision on how we wish to lead our lives and view the world.  As Bert mentioned, "Jake has it figured out."  He doesn't have the biggest boat, newest bike, coolest dog - but..."He's happy!"

For more information about “Life is good” – go to the internet – or ask Jodi Nilli – she has an autographed book from Bert!

So….I had a couple of options. You guessed it – I played anyway. After nearly toxic amounts of NSAID’s, I completed 18 holes of golf – all the while hearing a little voice, "this is a bad idea." After the final putt, which I could barely bend over to pick up, the voice had become a shout.

There are other terms for my little voice, no psychosis is not one of them – inner self, Freud’s super-ego, etc. I offer that we would be better off if we listened to that voice more often, whether at work or in our personal life. We typically know the "right" thing to do. As I grimace getting in and out of my car, I’ll try and listen better in the future.

I was recently on an airplane sitting next to somebody reading something similar to the above title. There are loads and loads of books written about leading. The interesting thing is how few books are written about "following." And yet following is something that almost all of us have to do.

In healthcare, following is not always easy. We certainly have a chain of command and a physician who makes the final decision about patient care. At the same time, we have an obligation to our patients to speak up if we see something concerning regarding patient safety. The physician expects this which in turn allows him or her to deliver high quality, safe care. Expect to hear more about this concept as LifeWings training is on-going at CRMC in the surgical area. Our goal is to expand this training to all of our facilities in multiple other service areas. One of the mantras of this program is, "See it, say it, fix it." Perhaps this is a good place to start as we think about following.

Who knows – maybe Atilla’s followers had a similar mantra.

Going bare?

Sometimes (in fact a lot of the times) the best solutions to a problem are the most simple. Take for instance the issue of health care associated infections – the simple solution here is hand-washing - for more information about this go to the Hand Hygiene policy and procedure in the Infection Control manual.

Another interesting and simple solution may be coming soon in regards to hospital acquired methcillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus and Clostridium difficile. In the UK, next year they are hoping to decrease the rate of spread of this infection by requiring health care providers to go "bare below the elbow" as well as eliminate white coats, neckties, and jewelry. As you might guess, there has been some pushback, nonetheless, the Brits are moving forward.

We’ll see what happens in further research and wait until the Central Valley warms up again, but who knows – perhaps going bare is in our future.