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Biomedical subjects

D M Berwick

Publications and source records attributed to D M Berwick.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1998

Cooperation: the foundation of improvement.

Cooperation--working together to produce mutual benefit or attain a common purpose--is almost inseparable from the quest for improvement. Although the case for cooperation can be made on ethical grounds, neither the motivation for nor the effects of cooperation need to be interpreted solely in terms of altruism. Cooperation can be a shrewd and pragmatic strategy for accomplishing personal goals in an interdependent system. Earlier papers in this series have explored the conceptual roots of modern approaches to improvement, which lie in systems theory. To improve systems, we must usually attend first and foremost to interactions. Among humans, "better interaction" is almost synonymous with "better cooperation." Physicians have ample opportunities and, indeed, an obligation to cooperate with other physicians in the same or different specialties, with nurses and other clinical workers, with administrators, and with patients and families. Many intellectual disciplines have made cooperation an object of study. These include anthropology; social psychology; genetics; biology; mathematics; game theory; linguistics; operations research; economics; and, of course, moral and rational philosophy. Scientifically grounded methods to enhance cooperation include developing a shared purpose; creating an open, safe environment; including all who share a common purpose and encouraging diverse viewpoints; negotiating agreement; and insisting on fairness and equity in the application of rules. These methods apply at the organizational level and at the level of the individual physician. This paper describes the application of these methods at the organizational level and focuses on one especially successful example of system-level cooperation in a care delivery site where interactions matter a great deal: the modern intensive care unit.

Cooperative Behavior↗
PubMed1998

Physicians as leaders in improving health care: a new series in Annals of Internal Medicine.

Searching for one word to describe the state of mind of the physician in the United States today, we might choose beleaguered. Threats appear from all sides--from payers, would-be managers of care, the growth of technology, and even patients. The rhetoric is one of siege and battle, and the dynamic seems to be a clash of values from which only one winner can emerge. But scientific and health services research suggest otherwise. Science suggests that health care could, indeed, perform a great deal better than it does today and that a shared aim of improving health outcomes for patients at a cost that society can afford is sensible and within reach. However, achievement of these improvements will require of physicians not handwringing and resistance to change but concerted, positive, capable leadership. The goal of this series in Annals is to describe a new knowledge base that will help physicians participate effectively in the redesign of the health care system. The series is intended to raise the curiosity of physicians about the skills they will need to become more active and influential citizens of the health care community in accomplishing improvements. These skills will help physicians better deploy their clinical expertise and professional purpose in a debate that has heretofore been informed primarily by economics.

Humans↗
PubMed1998

Reducing cesarean section rates safely: lessons from a "breakthrough series" collaborative.

BACKGROUND: Almost one million cesarean operations are performed each year in the United States. The objective of this project was to test the hypothesis that a structured collaborative effort can help participating health care organizations to reduce their cesarean delivery rates safely. METHODS: Experts associated with the collaborative helped participant organizations to explore several categories of change concepts and to develop action plans for safely reducing their cesarean delivery rates. Over the course of one year participants attended three two-day learning sessions. In the interval between these sessions, collaborative participants communicated by weekly conference calls and a dedicated Internet site. RESULTS: Of 28 participating organizations, 15 percent achieved cesarean delivery rate reductions of 30 percent or more during the 12-month period of active collaborative work. An additional 50 percent achieved reductions between 10 and 30 percent. CONCLUSIONS: The Healthy People 2000 goal of a cesarean delivery rate below 15 percent by the year 2000 is attainable. Clinical leadership from doctors and nurses toward the achievement of that goal is timely, ethical, and in the best interests of childbearing women in the United States.

Academies and Institutes↗
PubMed1998

Crossing the boundary: changing mental models in the service of improvement.

Assumptions constrain the vision and ability of health care systems throughout the world to achieve unprecedented levels of performance. Leaders who want to accelerate improvement should themselves question these assumptions and provide a context in which others can do so. Six current assumptions are particularly troublesome and particularly worthy of careful reconsideration: (i) that future performance levels will be approximately the same as current levels (rather than believing in the pervasive possibility of breakthrough); (ii) that measurement induces improvement (rather than emphasizing leadership of change as the key to improvement); (iii) that professional and organizational boundaries must be carefully preserved (rather than reducing those boundaries); (iv) that patients are passive and caregivers are active (rather than working from strong notions of equal partnership); (v) that traditional forms of space and equipment are well designed (rather than valuing fundamentally new designs); and (vi) that medical care operates in an environment of scarcity (rather than noticing and employing what it has in abundance).

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1998

Beyond survival: toward continuous improvement in medical care.

Using the scientific method, continuous improvement strives to attain unprecedented levels of performance - improved patient outcomes while maintaining or reducing costs. The needs for, and benefits of, continuous improvement are discussed along with a description of its basic elements. The approaches outlined can serve to greatly increase the pace of improvement in health care.

Critical Care↗
PubMed1997

The total customer relationship in health care: broadening the bandwidth.

BACKGROUND: The health care system is in the midst of a market revolution, driven by cost containment but also fully charged by the idea that competition among providers will lead to reforms that neither the government nor the professions have been able to achieve by themselves. An agenda of "reports to consumers" has been advanced as a bright new hope for improving the health care system. An alternative to this notion of consumerism is far broader--that is the concept of total relationship. THE BANDWIDTH OF TOTAL RELATIONSHIP: In the hands of masters outside the health care domain, the total customer relationship embraces several elements that can be imported into health care and that offer more promise than "report cards," including the following: Customers as assistants in decreasing waste; Mass customization and stratification of need; Shaping demand; Immediate recovery; Delight as the objective; and Customer knowledge and innovation. A CREDO: The next phase of development of total customer relationship might well be guided by a credo including several tenets about the wisdom of those the health care system serves and the nature of its purpose: 1. In a helping profession, the ultimate judge of performance is the person helped. 2. Most people, including sick people, are reasonable most of the time. 3. Different people have different, legitimate needs. 4. Pain and fear produce anxiety in both the victim and the helper. 5. Meeting needs without waste is a strategic and moral imperative.

Community Participation↗
PubMed1996

Quality comes home.

Without a clear focus on the needs and experiences of individual patients, much of the financial and structural reorganization now rampant in health care will be unlikely to yield improvements that matter to the patients we serve. As we change the system of care, five principles can help guide our investment of energy: 1) Focus on integrating experiences, not just structures; 2) learn to use measurement for improvement, not measurement for judgment; 3) develop better ways to learn from each other, not just to discover "best practices"; 4) reduce total costs, not just local costs; and 5) compete against disease, not against each other.

Anecdotes as Topic↗
PubMed1995

Variability in clinical systems: applying modern quality control methods to health care.

BACKGROUND: Quality health care depends on timely completion of sequences of clinical care. This study evaluated the concepts and tools of quality management for measuring system performance in ambulatory care. STUDY DESIGN: Clinical staff in nine centers of a group model health maintenance organization described the procedure for ordering and completing a complete blood count, mammogram, and surgical consultation. Variability was noted among the processes as intended and as actually performed, as well as inconsistencies reported within and among centers. In two centers investigators tracked performance of key sequences of care and the achievement of other key quality characteristics believed desired by physicians and patients. Computerized patient records and departmental files were the only available sources of data for assessing completion and followup of tests and consultations. Even these data were difficult to obtain and, in many instances, incomplete. RESULTS: Although data were often difficult to obtain, the quality management techniques used were helpful in revealing process failures that appeared to be the result of design flaws built into the clinical systems. CONCLUSION: Robust process designs and improved management information systems for monitoring these processes are recommended to reduce variability and improve the quality of clinical care.

Blood Cell Count↗