Heather Wilson's P2 Weblog

Moving at the speed of light

Thu, 11 Sep 2003 17:56:10 GMT

Moving at the speed of light brings to mind a vision of a blurred activity moving so quickly it is hard to really see what it is that is being done. Our Pursuing Perfection Project is truley moving at the speed of light. The very concept of transforming our healthcare system across a community and then to spread our learning further and further into the community and across the nation is an amazing feat all in itself, additionally, we are doing all of this in the blinding speed of two years.

In my work as Project Coordinator, I have spent the last year watching the work racing forward, moving so quickly that anyroadblocks we encounter are quickly forgotten as forward momentum takes hold again. In the month of October alone and only looking at the "Big Picture" items, I have an example of how rapidly our project is are moving innovatively ahead of our current healthcare system.

October starts with another visit from the documentary film producers, Remaking American Medicine, www.remakingamericanmedicine.org. We are presenting a Physician CME and presenting the project to physician in the community in partnership with Healthwise www.healthwise.org. On Ocotber 8th Rebecca Bryson, Patient Family Representative and John Hayward, CEO of Peacehealth are making a joint presentation to the Washington State Hospital Association regarding our work towards patient-centered care. www.wsha.org/download/AnnualBrochure.pdf The Robert Wood Johnson Evaluation Team will be making a return visit to our project on October 15th and 16th to do assessment of how effecitively we are moving at the speed of light. We are the featured speakers at the Whatcom Medical Managers Group on the 18th, our project's Leadership Board will be at a planning retreat on October 20th. on October 28th we are sending a contintgent of Project staff members to the Washinton State Health Leadership Summit in Seattle and on the same day we will be hosting the Intstiute of Healthcare Improvement for a technical assistance visit here in Bellingham.

The list above is only the Big Picture items. It doesn't include any of the changes that all of our pilot sites are making or the work of the Shared Care Plan and website. It doesn't include the dedicated effort of our Clinical Care Specialist who are working directly with chronically ill patients using our patient-centered model of care or the accomplishments of the guidance teams and the patient/family representatives who assist us in making design changes to the healthcare system.

If you caluculate the additional momentum of the on the ground work to the velocity of the big picture work that it takes to make this large of a transformation in two years or less, perhaps we are moving faster than the speed of light.

Is it wonderfully possible that through limited resources, limited time and limited capacity that we can make this change become a new reality while still living among the broken healthcare system that we currently calling reality? How do we make this type of transformation sustainable? How can we support the people who are pushing and driving this enourmous and daunting effort? These are a few of the questions I hope we can answer by the time April 2004 arrives.

Article featured in The Seattle Times on Sunday, August 11, 2002, Managing Chronic Illness

Mon, 12 Aug 2002 17:36:51 GMT

"The most difficult change, Cordova says, was adopting a collaborative approach with patients. Before, doctors simply delivered a dose of knowledge and expected patients to gulp it down. "

http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=chronic11m&;date=20020811&query=Managing+Chronic+Illnes

Team = Vision = Progress and Progressiveness

Wed, 31 Jul 2002 18:27:06 GMT

While participating in the P2 Project Team huddle yesterday something struck me as an "A-HA". That it was how our team have been interacting with each other, cross connecting across roles and responsibilities and supporting each other IS what we are trying to model in the community as a whole. The idea of collaboration. Each member of the team is coming from a place of their own, struggling and striving to become one with the goal and vision we want to achieve. Each person taking what they know and what they have experienced and putting into use in a both an abstract and very real culture, one that seems at times pitted against each other. Our current healthcare system and the very different culture where patient's come first.

I believe it was in listening to our team members talk, those who are still grasping what it is they need to accomplish and those team members who had just visited the Greenfield Clinic in Beaverton, Oregon, a surreal experience of the complete opposite of what our healthcare provides our patients now, that brought this to light for me.

The struggle to accomplish what at times seems the impossible and then knowing that out there somewhere the impossible is possible. Tthe goal to meld this into a reality for our community, our patients, our stakeholders and our team has for me re-ingnited the flame of hope. As I was struggling in my personal transition I felt I was losing some of the focus on where we were going. This conversation stimulated my personal endeavor to obtain the impossible whatever that may be.

Wed, 17 Jul 2002 00:22:15 GMT

In our stand-up meeting this morning Connie Golas, Clinical Care Specialist shared that National Public Radio had aired information about Don Burwick. I have included the link, however it is an audio clip so you will need a sound card on your computer.

http://news.npr.org/healthandscience.html

Our team welcomed Dawn Gauthier as our Web Analyst today. We have only one more person left to get on board and our team will be complete. We interview for that position on Thursday this week.

The Depth of Chaos

Fri, 12 Jul 2002 00:18:11 GMT

What a week and it's not over yet. It has been an exhausting challenge to absorb as much information as possible about who all the "players" are, what teams they are on and at what meetings/events they need to be at and when. It has been an amazing race given the time frame we had to work in and that it feels like everyone is on vacation right now. I think its finally starting to sink in. I have to keep reminding myself that I have only been here for the past three weeks.

Our schedule for the Systems Dynamic consultants should be out by tomorrow.