PEOPLE First - Always

I recently saw a job posting at a local hospital for the Executive Director of Product Development. I immediately thought about supply chain, procurement, inventory. The title is a tell in how ‘the system’ views patients – a product. Product, to me, is an item. Then I read the job description which stated:

The Executive Director of Product Development is responsible for leading the product development and implementation teams, refining the process and building and leading the team responsible for developing and implementing integrated, holistic, and seamless solutions to meet expressed consumer needs. This role requires a high degree of leading through change, willingness to consistently challenge conventional healthcare thinking, and collaboration across defined organizational silos to help accelerate the disruption of our industry through innovative, longitudinal health solutions. This role will continue to evolve as we transition out of a centric mind-set, to a consumer-centric mindset and operating model. As such, comfort with ambiguity and a willingness to help lead others- on their team and via peer influence- through the midst of an industry, a ministry and a department in transition is core foundational expectation of the role.

While not looking for a job, I applied. If there is a ‘hospital/business’ anywhere that would like to challenge conventional healthcare thinking, I want to be part of the revolution. (The terms hospital/business are interchangeable. Hospitals are BIG businesses.) I have the job experience. I spent 3,000 plus hours and years in a hospital setting experiencing the maze and malaise of the system. I informally interviewed hundreds of caregivers in waiting rooms experiencing the same disenchantment with the bloated system that I felt. I became friends with doctors and nurses who routinely acknowledge the healthCARE system is broken. And yet, has anything changed?

Healthcare is my passion. It has or will impact all of us. I believe you have to ‘walk a mile in my shoes’ to have an appreciation of the topic I am always willing to discuss. My husband spent years in and out of hospitals with Congestive Heart Failure, an LVAD (left ventricular assist device) implanted, a heart transplant and a stroke. While the science of health is extraordinary, the system is not. People listen from a distance until they experience ‘healthCARE.’

Tim, my Type A personality brother-in-law, experienced chest pains. He was admitted to the hospital overnight and given a heart monitor for observation. The next morning, I talked with my sister who said everything looked good and, accordingly to the nurse, he should be ‘released about 10 am.’ To myself, I laughed inside, to her I said, ‘Let me know how that 10 am release works out for you.’ I talked to my sister again at 3 pm. Still there. Her husband was getting more and more anxious as the day went on. After he was released, we talked about his situation. He said, ‘I never really paid attention to hospitals before. But there has to be a better mousetrap.’

Julie, my dear friend, was married one year ago. A month into her marriage, she found out her husband had Stage 3 Lung Cancer. The past year has been an extraordinary challenge for my happy-go-lucky friend. She recently told me she can feel her personality changing. ‘I am getting so beat down by the system.’ I understand. She told me a story of her husband having chemotherapy. They needed to get to a 9 am doctor’s appointment. Her husband was vomiting. They live almost an hour from the hospital. By the time he felt well enough for the ride, finding parking, and getting to the office, they were three minutes late. The receptionist said they would need to reschedule. Julie said she wanted to burst into tears. ‘We are three minutes late,’ she said. The woman said they were supposed to arrive thirty minutes early to fill out paperwork. So, technically, they were ‘thirty-three minutes late. The doctor is on a strict time schedule.’ I firmly believe a receptionist like that has never personally experienced the healthCARE system. And, by the way, who is that one doctor that is on a strict time schedule?

Medical advances continue to make exceptional progress. HealthCARE systems continue to get BIGGER not better. We have gone from medical professionals touching patients to virtual visits, primary physicians who formerly visited hospitals replaced by hospitalists, and doctors jumping on board as they have Physician’s Assistants and Nurse Practitioners acting in their stead. The core doctor/patient relationship is sadly dwindling.

The underlining core purpose of healthCARE is people – patients and their families, friends, caregivers. The concept is so fundamental.

A wheelchair is a product. Aspirin is a product. Patients are people.

I would like hospitals to invest in the career of Executive Director of the People Experience.