how to do things better

[miriam_e]

I just listened to an amazing talk by Atul Gawande, professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School. In it he discusses what makes a good doctor and how hospitals can be improved. What made his talk so fascinating for me was thatit really applied to everything. What he was revealing was how we can write better stories, draw better pictures, pass exams better, make better cars, be better parents, teach more effectively... anything at all. His conclusions were in one respect, not really world shattering, but in another they were. You'll have heard others cite every one of the things he mentions as being important. The difference is that he doesn't just ask you to blindly believe; he illustrates his points with real examples and logically shows how they naturally lead to improvement or failure by little steps.

If our species to make it through the next several decades in good shape this is the kind of thing we need to understand. It is very encouraging.

If you are in Australia, Background Briefing is broadcast on Radio National Australia:
Sunday 3rd June at 9:10 am
Tuesday 5th June at 7:10 pm
Wednesday 6th June at 4:00 am

If you are elsewhere then you can download the online mp3 or read the text transcript at
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/backgroundbriefing/
usually after about the Tuesday after the initial broadcast I think.

Comments

Frustrate....

[(Anonymous)]

You tell us there's this cool way to do things better that applies to everything - and then tell us to wait a week for an mp3 or a transcript. Aaargh! As the song in "Grease" goes - "Tell me more! Tell me more!" A frustrated MFG.

Re: Frustrate....

[miriam-e.livejournal.com]

Heheheh :)
No, you will be able to download the transcript tomorrow or the next day. I just checked and the audio is already up there now.

:)

Re: Frustrate....

[miriam-e.livejournal.com]

Actually, it isn't a new way to do things better. It is a carefully researched set of pointers to how to do things better. Most of the points are old things that lots of people have talked about before, but have never really done more than say "I think this works." You know, like the self-improvement fad people do. They never really give any good reasons; they just give hype. Well, Atul Gawande's talk is careful and low-key. It comes out of a genuine desire to understand why some doctors and hospitals get far better results than others, and he tells people about it because he wants medicine to improve and save lives more effectively, not because he wants to be a great life-coach -- his day-job pays very well already.

Sorry I haven't summarised his talk. It is about 50 minutes long and in it he says a lot. It is a bit hard to summarise. I'll listen again and have a shot at pulling the main points out. I'm interested in doing that for my own information anyway... or maybe I'll use the transcript when it gets online in a day or so.