My name is Liz. As a personal introduction I am currently on a trip for my 25th wedding anniversary, and I am the mother of 3 daughters, 2 currently in university, and one finishing high school.
As a professional introduction I am a Director in healthcare overseeing 3 programs: Home Care, Therapies, and EMS. I have been a physical therapist since 1995. I recently took training to become an Emergency Medical Responder so that I could gain a better understanding of EMS. I have volunteered in a number of professional capacities, and I am currently the Chair of the Legislation Committee of the Saskatchewan College of Physical Therapists, and was a former President of that organization. I also sit on the Legislation Committee of the Saskatchewan College of Paramedics. Personally I volunteer in many areas in my local church and in my community.
My experience with research is limited, and I must confess that I am terrified of this unit, and especially so now that I am behind in the coursework. I have always struggled to understand the research literature, and my interest in doing formal research has always been hampered by my fear of it.
I have struggled to access the library articles while in Europe, and due to the limitations with the internet the videos are almost impossible to view. What I have learned about scholarly inquiry is that it has rigorous criteria that, if not followed, will not pass the peer review process. It takes significant periods of time to complete, and to be published, so often is not “cutting edge”; current research is often a few years old. Informal research is a process that I attempt to be involved in every day. I feel privileged to be in healthcare in Saskatchewan right now. Although the previous Premier and his government have been criticized in the media for introducing Lean principles into healthcare the culture that has been created is one that is constantly looking for improvement, completing PDSA cycles on a weekly basis, and taking on larger improvement projects when indicated. This is the research that excites me – practical, based on data, quick actionable items, staff engagement, lots of failures, but lots of successes.
A recent decision that I made as a leader was to provide intravenous hydration for clients in their home through our Home Care program. This was very unpopular with the Home Care Registered Nurses as they still feel that this is very unsafe for clients and puts their licence at risk. This decision was made because we have clients right now who become very ill and dehydrated after their chemotherapy, and with the difficulties that they are facing, it is even more disruptive to have these clients have to stay in hospital to remain hydrated. And there is no evidence that indicates that home IV hydration is unsafe when certain criteria and parameters are met. In addition, the decision to purchase new technology to make it easier for patients was made by the frontline manager that reports to me, and I supported this decision to make the situation safe. The factors that influence my decision making are: is it patient and family centred care? Are patients safe? Are the staff safe? Is there evidence that supports or refutes the decision? What internal data supports the decision? If there is no data, can we run a trial or PDSA cycle to gather our own data?
I wasn’t able to access the article through the library. Though I have completed two MA courses already there has been no teaching or coaching in accessing articles this way, and with being overseas and having internet issues, it was just an insurmountable task to attempt to navigate and self-teach. If I am able to keep up with the upcoming coursework I will attempt to edit this blog post. The Pfeffer & Sutton article was very interesting to me due to the comparison between evidence based medicine and evidence based management. Evidence is conceptualized in this article as both formal and informal inquiry, using facts to make decisions, and changing the culture to one that always asks questions and challenges traditional ways of thinking (Pfeffer & Sutton, 2006).
Evidence based decision making is so important in leadership for the same reason it is important in medicine. In medicine patients are put at risk, treatments may be ineffective, and people may die if evidence based decision making is not used. In leadership followers are put at risk, actions may be ineffective, and organizations may no longer be relevant if evidence based decision making is not deemed to be important.
In healthcare leadership so many traditions and myths still exist, and old methods that were effective at one time but are no longer are still being used. Is this your experience? If so, how can we, as one leader of many, turn this tide?
Reference
Pfeffer, J. & Sutton, R. I. (2006). Evidence-based management. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2006/01/evidence-based-management