Tag Archives: health

Liebster Award Nomination!

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My most humble and sincere thanks to Nicola Auckland and Kat Myrman for nominating me for the Liebster Award!  What better way to end Week 2 of Blogging 101 than to exchange this kind of acknowledgement and encouragement?  Thank you, thank you!

I feel like I’ve just moved into a wonderful new town, with throngs of welcoming neighbors, all who own unique and beautiful shops filling the diverse downtown square.  I have to work, but my mind wanders to downtown, trying to remember which stores I want to visit afterward.  I can’t wait for the weekend, to explore all I want!  Thank you, my fellow bloggers, for your warm welcome!  I will set up my own shop here, and continue getting to know the neighbors, day by day.

I hereby nominate some of you, as per nomination rules (see below).  I know some of you have been mentioned already, but I want to add my acknowledgement of your excellent work!  Here’s to our amazing little (not so little?) town, and may we have a collective positive impact on our world!

  1. Nicola Auckland writes fiction.  I normally don’t read fiction, but her ‘attempts’ at creative writing grabbed me instantly and made me follow!
  2. Kat Myrman writes everything with wonder and wisdom.  You can get poems or recipes, check out her blog!
  3. Sandy Sue shares her experiences living with bipolar disorder, in the most articulate and insightful ways I have ever encountered.  I intend to learn much from her.
  4. Nancy Faerber was one of the first blogging neighbors to extend a welcome when I moved onto the block.  Her thoughtful writing helps me reflect and connect.
  5. Pam Kirst, a fellow pen and paper enthusiast, has much wisdom to share–a teacher, mother, writer, and thinker.
  6. Audrey D Cunningham writes about her faith, its origins and evolution, and keeps it simple, like PB&J.
  7. Donna Cameron may be my sister from another life.  She writes with deep conviction that her mission in life is to make the world a better place.  I think it’s working.
  8. Michelle, another student of the Inner Work, challenges me to learn and apply everyday lessons.  She validates the struggle to live authentically, to Walk the Talk, with compassion and kindness.
  9. Anand is my new friend on WordPress!  A prolific blogger driven by love and wonder, whose apt blog title “Vibrant” only begins to describe his blogging presence.
  10. James provides comic relief from the daily grind, especially when I imagine his words in a British accent.
  11. Rachel Griffin, a young woman, shares her complex life with humor, poetry, and art.  And she uses emoticons, a woman after my own heart.

My Answers to Questions from Kat:

  1. If you could interview one person from history, who would that be? …Nelson Mandela, Maya Angelou, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Jr., Elizabeth Blackwell, Margaret Thatcher, Madeline Albright, Richard Feynman, can’t decide.
  2. What makes you happy?  …To see my kids happy, being in nature, communing with my tribe(s).
  3. Pick a number from 1 to 10. Now tell me why. …8.  It’s round and smooth, and looks like the symbol for infinity–no beginning, no end, all connected, forever.
  4. If you could live anywhere, where would it be?  …Summit County, Colorado.
  5. What inspires you to write?  …Life and all its complexities.
  6. What is your favorite color?  …All shades of blue.
  7. What types of books to you most often choose to read?  …Psychology, emotional intelligence, memoirs and writings of people I admire.
  8. What is your astrological sign?  …Leo.  Some would say Virgo, but I’m a Leo, trust me.
  9. Dogs or Cats?  …Dogs.
  10. What is your favorite song?  …”Ticks,” by Brad Paisley.
  11. When you are not writing, how do you spend your days?  …Thinking about writing, seeing patients, thinking about patients, parenting, thinking about parenting, connecting with friends, trying to live in the moment, wherever and whatever I’m doing…

My Answers to Questions from Nicola:

  1. What was the most inspiring book you read?  …_The Art of Possibility_ by Rosamund Stone Zander and Benjamin Zander since 2009, and now also _Start With Why_ by Simon Sinek.  I read and listen to them both again and again.
  2. What song gets you “pumped”?  …”Beer For My Horses” by Toby Keith and Willie Nelson, and almost anything by Brad Paisley.
  3. How have you created meaning in your life?  …By maintaining excellent connections with fellow students of the Inner Work.
  4. What are you working on at the moment?  …My blog as platform for a future book, building awesome collaborations with a diverse group of amazing people.
  5. Any other interests besides writing/ blogging?  …Making greeting cards, public speaking, reading, communing with friends.
  6. What is you favourite time of the year?  …All times that are not winter in Chicago.
  7. What do you enjoy most about blogging?  …The community.
  8. Do you believe in love at first sight?  …Yes.
  9. Are you multi-lingual or know parts of a few others?  …Yes.
  10. If you had live this life again on repeat, would you?  …Yes.
  11. Who was your first follower on WordPress?  …Linda at The Task At Hand.

Below are my questions for the people I nominated (I vote that previously nominated bloggers may claim exemption, if they wish!).  Please feel free to comment your answers to any or all, regardless of your nomination status! 🙂

  1. What inspires you?
  2. How do you aim to inspire others?
  3. What do you most admire in a leader?
  4. What gives you meaning in your work?
  5. What personality trait has been the most enduring and representative of you?
  6. What genre of movie do you like best, and how has it evolved over your adult life?
  7. Who is your hero?
  8. Where do you feel most at peace?
  9. What song makes you sing along out loud, and/or break into dance?
  10. What do you want people to remember most about you after meeting you for the first time?
  11. What are you most proud of?

Once again, my most sincere thanks to all of my neighbors and classmates.  Planning to live here a while! 🙂

The rules:

  1. Make a post thanking and linking the person who nominated you.
    Include the Liebster Award sticker in the post too.
  2. Nominate 5 -10 other bloggers who you feel are worthy of this award. Let them know they have been nominated by commenting on one of their posts. You can also nominate the person who nominated you.
  3. Ensure all of these bloggers have less than 200 followers.
  4. Answer the eleven questions asked to you by the person who nominated you, and make eleven questions of your own for your nominees or you may use the same questions.
  5. Lastly, COPY these rules in your post.

Closing the Satisfaction Gap

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Speak the words “patient satisfaction” to any physician these days and stand back.  At best you may get an eye roll and/or an expression of disgruntled resignation;  at worst you may unleash a full-on rant about patient entitlement and how ludicrous it feels to be rated in the same way as servers at a restaurant.  Patient satisfaction survey data drives operational decisions in healthcare organizations across the country, for better or worse.  But what do these surveys mean for the patient-physician relationship?

What goes through your mind when you receive a patient satisfaction survey?

What moves you to fill in the dots, write comments, and then submit it?

What result do you expect from your response?

Do you think of it as communicating with the physician him/herself?

Or are you giving feedback to the organization as a whole?

Would you say to the doctor’s or the staff’s face the things you write in the survey comments?

Do you include your name?

Clearly we doctors feel great when someone writes, “She’s fantastic, I love her!” and “She always makes me feel comfortable and I feel like she really cares.”  Conversely, it’s very upsetting when we get “He’s a terrible doctor,” and “He doesn’t listen and makes me feel bad about myself.”  If someone said the latter about you, what would you think?  One of my first questions would be, ‘What do I do to make you feel that way?’  It’s relevant to both positive and negative feedback.  What do I do that makes you feel comfortable, and communicates caring?  What do I do that causes you to feel shame?  Consider this story:

Dr. Kairselott’s patients consistently wrote on their surveys that they felt rushed when seeing her.  This baffled her, because she prided herself on taking time with patients, looking them in the eye instead of staring at her notes, and making sure she came to each encounter thoughtfully.  Her superiors thought it odd as well, because they knew her to be a compassionate and dedicated physician.  But they felt they had to act on the data, and so admonished her to do better—take more time, don’t just hand the patients a prescription.  Dr. K felt indignant.  Her bosses were not in the room with her, they didn’t see how much she really engaged and attended to her patients’ needs.  She felt attacked, demoralized, and invisible.  She worried that if her patient satisfaction scores remained low, her income and reputation would suffer, and she felt powerless to change it.  What were these patients talking about?  Finally, one of them wrote:

“I really like Dr. Kairselott, but I feel rushed during my visits.  She’s always tapping her fingers on the desk, and it makes me feel like she wants me to talk faster, get to the point.  I end up not saying everything I want to say because I feel like she just wants to get out of the room.”

This patient gave Dr. K the best possible feedback: An objective observation about a behavior, her subjective interpretation of it, and its consequence for their relationship.  This is how we communicate evaluations to medical students on their performance in clinical rotations.  There is no reason why it should stop at the end of training; it’s just that the evaluators have changed.

Dr. K knew about her finger tapping habit, but had no idea of its effect on her patients.  It made sense, and she felt validated—she was, in fact, doing things right, and after gaining this new insight, she could take action to improve her patients’ experiences, and thereby her relationships with them.

Feedback can go both ways, too.  If I sense a patient disengaging, I can point out that his posture is turned away from me, he is not looking into my eyes, and his brow is furrowed.  I can tell him that I feel he does not trust me.  I can invite him to tell me what he’s thinking in the moment, and open the door to clearer communication.  Sometimes he will accept the invitation, other times not, and our relationship will proceed according to the path we choose to take together.

Medicine is more than a business; physicians are more than shop owners who want return customers.  When patients and physicians alike can approach patient satisfaction surveys as an opportunity to improve our relationships, rather than a forum to simply compliment or complain, then the surveys will truly fulfill their highest purpose.

Help Me, Help You

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When I am at my best, it’s a win-win.  I am present, attentive, and actively listening.  I am patient, cheerful, relaxed.  I am less judgmental, and more likely to acknowledge the things you already do to help yourself.  Not only do I hear what you say; I see and hear how you feel, and you know it.

When I am at my best, we feel connected.  You feel safe to reveal things to me that you might not if I were less than my best.  Then I get to know you—what you value, what you fear, and what you need from me.  I know better what questions to ask, and you can answer honestly.  My diagnosis is more accurate, my treatment plan more relevant.  You feel more comfortable asking questions.  We both leave the visit satisfied and fulfilled.

So what do I need to be at my best?  I need to take care of myself first: eat healthy, exercise, get enough sleep, manage my stress, and nurture my relationships.  If we consider each of these a bucket, then the ideal is to keep each bucket mostly full all the time.  How is that possible?  That is up to me.  I need to practice what I preach—a tall order!  It can lead to perfectionism, self-judgment, disappointment, and burnout.  It’s my responsibility to manage myself.

How could you help me be my best?  After all, you have a stake (and a hand) in how I show up.  Have you thought about this already?

What assumptions do you make about me?

How do those assumptions affect your body language, what information you give me, and how you perceive my words and recommendations?

What assumptions can you make about me that would maximize your chances of getting what you need?

I respectfully request that you consider the following about me, your physician:

  • I try my best to walk the talk. I know how hard it is.
  • Every day I bring all that I have to work, to do my best for you.
  • Some days (weeks, months, years) I have more than others, depending on what else is going on in my life.
  • I will make mistakes, and it’s not because I don’t care.
  • I know it’s my job to help you.
  • I need your help to do it.

When you feel that disconnect, like I have left Best Me somewhere else and you’re not getting what you need, what will you do?  Will you yell and storm away? Smile to my face and then write a scathing, anonymous Yelp review? What would you do if I were your spouse, colleague, friend, or child? You and I are in a relationship, not unlike these. Could you patiently, lovingly, ask me to slow down, take a deep breath, and be with you now? I think I would respond very well to that.