Bruce Gamage PICNet Manager bgamage@phsa.ca Objective Explore new - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Bruce Gamage PICNet Manager bgamage@phsa.ca

Objective  Explore new ways of approaching Infection Prevention and Control in the ever changing environment that we work in…  How can we apply right-brain thinking in a left-brain system?

Classical Right/Left Brain

Classical Right/Left Brain

BANG HEAD HERE

Six Aptitudes of Right-Brain Thinking -Dan Pink

Designing our Future  Most hospitals are not repositories for design and good taste  Function takes precedence over design  Design should not be an afterthought  Patients in better designed units require less pain medication and are discharged sooner  How could we design hospitals with better infection control in mind?

Telling a Story  Medical systems tend to ignore the patient’s story – they become their “diagnosis”  Anecdotes are considered the lowest form of science  Scientific medicine alone cannot help the patient grapple with their loss of health or find meaning for their suffering  Need to listen to the patient’s narrative to grasp and honour what the illness means to them and act on their behalf  How can we use the patient’s stories to improve infection control practice?

See the Symphony  Seeing the big picture  Allows leaders to pick out meaningful trends from the mass of information and think strategically into the future  How can we apply “big picture” thinking to improve infection control practice

Applying Empathy  Need to pay attention to the feelings that the patient is expressing  Nurse’s empathetic skills contribute to healing – touch, presence and comfort  Sometimes we need detachment – but we also need attunement  How can we apply empathy to improving infection control practice?

Play  The opposite of play isn't work - It's depression.  Laughter is a form of nonverbal communication that conveys empathy and that is even more contagious than a yawn  How can we incorporate some fun into our education and still get our message across?

Finding Meaning  Do Physicians take spiritual histories from patients?  Do we explore what the illness means to the patients?  Do we attach a meaning to the data we collect – or is it just numbers?  A story…

A teenager with C. diff  15 year old girl  Grade 10 at high school  Intermittent super pubic pain X 6 months  Outpatient cystoscopy , 10 day course of antibiotics  2 weeks later developed severe diarrhea  Her mother didn’t find out until she passed out at school  No information was given, no education provided  Nobody explored what this meant to her

Moving Forward…  What can we learn?  How can we apply this to our practice?  Is what we are doing making a difference?  How can we do better?  Keep asking questions!

Suggested Reading  A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers will Rule the Future (Dan Pink)  http://www.danpink.com/whole-new-mind  Change your questions, change your life (Merilee Adams)  http://inquiryinstitute.com/