What the NHS has taught me, and what I am now teaching the NHS 22 years later
22 years ago, the NHS took me straight from medical school and gave me my first job and many surgeons (and specialist nurses) taught me how to operate and become a surgeon.
In that time the NHS taught me how to be a safe doctor, not to take any risks, that clinical decision are based on the best outcomes for the patient with clear cut opinions on what is correct, that knowledge is handed down from consultant to trainee, how to do things the correct way and to respect procedure and tradition.
22 years later, as a consultant I am teaching the NHS to take risks based on published evidence where the probability of benefit outweighs harm, that clinical decision making is a balance of probabilities rather than an absolute decision, patient involvement in decision making is paramount as most decision are not “medical” and that technology has the capability to revolutionise the patient pathway.
It’s time to embrace innovation and change.
Attending Thoracic Surgeon; President, 731Consultancy.com
7yYep, that sums it up. We must take calculated risks FOR the benefit of our patients. Nothing ventured nothing gained. Sufferance is subjective and each patient deserves a personalized approach. Protocols are not the only method achieving results. Evidence is limited and decisions have to be made regardless of the strength of recommendations available.
HR Practitioner
7yI like the modernisation this article is promoting. From a non-medic/surgical perspective I think the article would have been perfect if the emphasis in the second paragraph was explicitly on patients. ... probability of [patient] benefit outweighs harm ... The absence of that little word when juxtaposed with the first paragraph could suggest brilliant specialists taking impressive risks based on esoteric publications.
Chefarzt bei Katholisches Klinikum Koblenz-Montabaur
7yVery good statement! Increasing influence of politics, economics and administration on medical care meets decreasing impetus in the younger generation of surgeons to take risks and self responsibly act as a doctor in its true sense as a partner of the patient. We must explain this to decision makers.
President and Co-Founder of Mavis Nye Foundation (MNF)
7yWell done The NHS has a lot to learn