Final Thoughts #TPSE8

Its been a incredible experience – whether it was bonding while taking our 3 mile hike or bonding during the picnic or in casual get togethers amongst friends at picnics and barbecues;  we exchanged thoughts and imagined a system committed to bold, new ways of thinking of health care and the relationships between doctors and other care providers. Today we heard a touching story about a child that experienced an adverse outcome that highlighted the value of strong communication and truly understanding the environment/mood before making inappropriate diagnosis of patients especially kids who may try to naively consolidate multiple emotions and be more scared based on what they read/watched on TV. As I leave this round table – I think about what I can take back to my home institution and implement. Some of my thoughts include creating a difficult patient encounter in Clinical Skills where an individual has to break news of an unfortunate outcome to the family of a patient or creating a day long course exploring/discussing in small group and didactically quality improvement. This discussion would entail exploring the process from the initial thoughts to final products and more. It is valuable to walk through the entire process in as much detail as possible to allow students understand the process as well as possible. Often times in class, we talk about memorizing details or  attempting to understand concepts from a conceptual level; I believe through my knowledge at this camp we can talk about quality improvement and patient safety from a more specific level. Finally, it would be very valuable to discuss the roles of nurses and how they can be considered a strategic asset to doctors, especially young doctors or residents.

Overall, it has been an incredible experience and I look forward to coming back and staying in contact with many of my new friends and colleagues.

Day 1

What an incredible first 24 hours in Telluride, not only did I meet some incredible people, but I also began to look at healthcare beyond 1 person and 1 family to one community and one city. Hospitals have incredible abilities to transform communities and touch the lives of many. We have a commitment as physicians to provide high quality care although there are many opportunities to make mistakes all the time. Amid all the distractions that surround us, we must try to stay focused for the subtle signs and rely closely on the physical exam to provide high quality care for patients. At the same time, we must do more to ensure mistakes aren’t repeated at different hospitals across the country. It seems that knowledge in hospitals is highly institutionalized and we must try to take the knowledge and apply it across institutions and state lines. I think this is the next steps we as a family of physicians must take to take our profession to the next level.