Wednesday, January 27, 2010

iPad Launches: Can it Help Healthcare?

Greetings All,

My colleagues at Medical Software Advice are curious to know if you think a new technology like the iPad, just launched today-A Steve Jobs classic-can assist healthcare providers.

They want to know from you. Please share your thoughts in the survey below:

Which Tablet Computing Device Will Rule the Halls of Healthcare?

There is no obligation and neither Amri Johnson or Diversity HealthWorks were compensated for promoting the survey. We simply would like to get your response. For many years there have been a variety of devices that healthcare has used to collect data. Some have been great, others not so functional. Some say the iPad's functionality can be potentially revolutionary.

Let Medical Software Advice know what you think and of course. . .

Make it a great day!

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Passion and Reason

When we get down to the business of organizational transformation the road to success is difficult at best. If we desire for the principles of inclusion and cultural competence to be central to transformation the difficulty can be exacerbated.

Most people I know have some type of passion in life. This passion is coupled and/or often met with the energy of reason.

In the the classic book, The Prophet by Khalil Gibran, the speaker says about Reason and Passion:

"Your reason and your passion are the rudder and the sails of your seafaring soul. If either your sails or your rudder be broken, you can but toss and drift, or else be held at a standstill in mid-seas. For reason, ruling alone, is a force confining; and passion, unattended, is a flame that burns to its own destruction."

Many of the people I have observed who are committed to this conversation about cultural competency and diversity are very passionate about it. In fact, they have been so passionate, that their reason has been "a flame that burns to its own destruction." Their passion has met with the reason of others and the reason has rationalized away the importance and intrinsic value of the passion.

Historically when a person passionate about diversity, inclusion, and cultural competency has had their ideas or budgets minimized, it has in many instances been the result of not doing the diligence of finding the passion(s) of others in the organization. As a result, when there is an opportunity to validate one idea vs. another, the result is often a cyclical resistance of one passion to protect another or to suppress a passion with reason because of a perceived imbalance.

I think we are at a crossroads in the evolution of business in this country and perhaps globally. The crossroads is one that lies between passion and reason. Often when there is a crossroads it means that we have to make a choice. The choice for most is seemingly dichotomous. But as Gibran reminds us:

"Therefore let your soul exalt your reason to the height of passion, that it may sing; And let it direct your passion with reason, that your passion may live through its own daily resurrection, and like the phoenix rise above its own ashes."

So, as we enter into these discussions where a passion for diversity is met with a question about viability, a business case, ROI, a bottom line rationale for why what we do should be done--get excited! Get excited as we are able to meet the reason of one with the passion of another.

We are also able to discover the passions of others that we were potentially unable to discern because of our resistance to what we thought was their attempt to suppress our passion. The coupling of reason and passion allows us the space to create something that goes beyond the simplistic rift that we have historically created.

When we can understand our passions and use them as impetus for discovering the passions of others, reason when it arises is a gift. It can be seen as a balancing element of a chemical equation; an opportunity to validate something that could be transformational--the beginning of possibility.

Make it a great day!

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Will short-term thinking's results ever jolt us into reality?

When I started this post it was late Tuesday evening January 5th, and I wanted to simply get on-line and finally say Happy New Year to all of you who have been so tremendously supportive of this blog and our network and the mission that Diversity HealthWorks believes is absolutely critical to healthcare being all that it needs to be for this country.

Thank you for your support. I cannot fully express my appreciation in a writing, but know that the conversations generated, and the movement made towards creating what I feel is "REAL and ROBUST" healthcare reform (vs. financially-driven political health insurance reform) is greatly appreciated.

It was hard to get it all out when I started because I have had a heavier than usual sense that we are moving more and more rapidly away from our capacity to empathize. It is being replaced by blame, fear, and a mindset of scarcity. I understand it and I sympathize because I know that folks are struggling to different degrees. My concern is that the struggle is not making us more progressive as a nation. Frederick Douglass said: "If there is not struggle, there is no progress." My worry is that struggle is resented and as a result progress is thwarted.

I expressed in the last post that I am concerned that Americans don't have anything we agree on that connects us. Perhaps my Utopian sensibilities seem unrealistic, but it occurs to me that without any common bond, we are not a United States, we are simply a bunch of individuals focused on, as Janet Jackson stated in her song and Eddie Murphy repeated in a later comedy special, "What have you done for me lately?"

We are so wrapped up in the moment that we have no vision beyond "what I get more of" and/or "what they will take more of" and/or "if I get less of anything, it is wrong". Now, this is not a universal sentiment. Some feel blessed to have or have ample amounts and are willing (at least for now) to contribute a little more of what they have for those who have little to nothing.

Of course, since I talk about and explore facets of healthcare more than anything, I have seen this response to various health insurance reform bills proposed that suggest that those with more will pay a little more in some cases. So, I applaud those who are okay with this. Personally, I cannot say that they are right or wrong for thinking this way, but I think it is honorable and anyone willing to give gets a nod from me. I dare not question their intention, it is not my job.

On the other hand, there are those adamantly opposed to anything that speaks to addressing social issues that seemingly affect a few, but in reality affect us all. There is a belief that "those people" who could be the uninsured in the case of health insurance reform, "don't deserve care if they cannot afford it".

There is no consideration of what happens to a society that thinks like this, no consideration of how they are and will increasingly be directly and indirectly negatively affected, no consideration of the future of a nation that does not care for its people.

So, why this rant from a blogger that has traditionally been very much committed to presenting as balanced a perspective as I try to have in my consciousness?

Well, my conscience is speaking to me. My intuition is clear that where we are going, under the guise of making America strong, has very little to do with preserving the integrity of these not so United States and everything to do with individual preservation and in my opinion, our rapid demise.

I feel compelled to simply express my concern that we stand in the space of exploration about who we are choosing to be, more so than perhaps we ever have in our history. And for the most part we are not going too deep in this exploration. In fact, we are not even truly exploring anything beyond short-term dynamics that historically when focused on, have lead us to another short-term dynamic with less than ideal results.

Now, I am not saying to stop questioning our political system or the possible draw backs of spending taxpayer money to fix social problems, like health insurance reform, or even the dynamics of the economic recovery. By all means, say what you feel.

My issue is that as much as we scream and as much as we disagree because of concerns for self-preservation, is it possible to simultaneously consider a longer-term reality that transcends the individual and speaks to connectivity?

The time we are in speaks to a new reality of connectedness that we have not experienced in the world we are in prior to now. What this connectivity speaks to is a necessity to consider that win-loss dynamics in any capacity will no longer work.

So, there isn't an environmental policy that is good for one and bad for another. There isn't a healthcare solution that benefits one person and harms another. Yes, there are temporary situations that appear beneficial to one vs. another in a situation with apparently dichotomous variables; however, when we go beyond the short-term we will see that they won't work for long and "for long" is a lot shorter than it once was.

The reality of a short-term mindset will jolt us into reality. It is already happening and it will make itself more and more evident moving forward. Will we recognize the effect quickly enough to begin changing the tide?

I trust that some won't; I am confident and aware that many will.

Make it a great day!