The gown card reads “So long people/nurses have done hard things the hard way because that’s the way it’s always been done.”
In the OR this is known as a sacred cow.
This means that this is the way things are done, not sure why, but it is important that we still do everything the same. Forever and ever and ever and ever.
And ever!
Um.
Simple question-why?
Think about that. Why do anything the same way because that is the way it has always been done? Do we not have brains to think of perhaps a better way?
Or is doing things the hard way a comfort moment? You know how to do a specific thing a certain way and you KNOW how to do it this way. Nothing anyone can say will change your mind. This is the way and this is the way it has to be.
Forever.
That’s circular thinking. And it is a trap.
I’ve been thinking about my parent’s generation. If they didn’t adapt to changing technology as it happened, they got left behind. And, boy howdy, has technology changed a lot! And the changes are coming faster and faster. In just my lifetime we’ve gone from tapes to CDs to streaming. Not to mention how the computers have changed; from large room-sized computers to palm-sized ones that we routinely carry in our pocket.
Imagine if any of the creators of technology had decided not to push out and dream about what is possible, instead focusing only on how it has been done forever.
What is next for medicine and healthcare? I know people would say artificial intelligence. Well, that is here and already disrupting the pond. And some people don’t like it. Let’s be real, some people are using it to cheat. I’ll be writing about that on School Me Saturday soon.
How are you going to disrupt the pond? How will you challenge those who say it can only be done one way? Granted, they might have a point and other ways have been tried and tried and put aside. They might know the things that have been tried. Maybe listen to them too.
Both things can be true at the same time.
But doing things the same way because that is the way it has always been done is not a good answer.
When you are doing rote tasks at work, ask yourself why are these tasks done this way? That might be the question you need to disrupt the pond.
Dispatches from the Evening Shift 