Hi!
I wanted to share this with you and hope you like it. Avedis Donabedian, MD, MPH, (1919 – 2000), was considered by many as the father of quality assurance in medicine. He preferred to call it “the process of ongoing improvement” in healthcare (much like our 3 Goals seminars discuss and the points Dr. Peter makes during his talks). A medical doctor and early graduate of the School of Public Health at Harvard, his work has defined quality of care issues versus the commercialization of health care. I hope you enjoy the attached quote from him. It applies as much to us as to all hospitals.
“I have never been convinced that competition by itself will improve the efficiency or the effectiveness of care or even that it will reduce the cost of care … Health care is a sacred mission. It is a moral enterprise and a scientific enterprise, but not fundamentally a commercial one… Doctors and nurses are stewards of something precious. Their work is a kind of vocation rather than simply a job; commercial values don’t really capture what they do for patients and for society as a whole.”
“Systems awareness and systems design are important for health professionals, but they are not enough. They are enabling mechanisms only. It is the ethical dimensions of individuals that are essential to a system’s success. Ultimately, the secret of quality is love. You have to love your patient, you have to love your profession, you have to love your God. If you have love, you can then work backward to monitor and improve the system.” – Avedis Denabedian