Simple is hard.
Maybe that's why our education system teaches people to make things more complicated. 🙄
It rewards it.
Health care is also notorious for this.
Not because it isn't well-intended. But, let's face it, university health care programs teach people to "show-off" their intelligence--with exclusionary jargon, complicated sentence structure, and "elevated" passive language. It's a badge of a "good education" and really hard to unlearn--especially in a room where you're trying to look like you know what you're doing.
But does it help medical staff and health bureaucrats connect with patients and families in a meaningful way?
Nope.
Does it inspire people to break out of silos and venture out into new territory?
Nah.
Of course there are people out there--physicians, nurses, other health professionals and even "system folks"--who get it. Who fight the power and do their best every day to cut through the noise, bureaucracy and ivory towers that still very much play a role in health care. And to those that do--THANK YOU!
Is getting health care right challenging, nuanced and complex?
You bet.
The answer lies in untangling what I like to call the "cold spaghetti" mess-of-stuck-noodles health care system we have and building in less convoluted, structures.
It begins by engaging patients, families, and front-line staff from the start, simplifying processes, removing duplication, testing out new ideas and scaling those ones that work.
Health care transformation is hard. Getting to simple even harder. But ultimately it's worth doing.
Because sooner or later, we're all patients, and we all--patients, families and health care staff--deserve a simpler system that works for all.