Really got me thinking about performance as it relates to medicine. The differences in outcomes that we see are not due to varying education, finances or technology, but instead, these differences reflect human performance.
Gawande used various examples of...
I Dilligence
Handwashing
Polio in India
Battlefield medicine
II. Doing Right
Chaperones and nakedness
Malpractice
Doctors' salaries
Doctors of the death chamber
When to stop fighting
III Ingenuity
APGAR score
Inter-hospital competition
Performance of surgeons in India
How can I become a "Positive Deviant"? This is what Gawande suggests.
1) Learn something about your patients and co-workers by taking an extra two minutes to listen. It makes you remember the people you see.
2) Don't complain. It's boring, doesn't solve anything and it will get you down. Keep the conversation going down more positive roads.
3) Count something. Remember that medicine is partly science. Find something interesting and learn about it with the help of the numbers that define it.
4) Write something. Writing lets you step back and work through a problem. Lets you keep your sense of purpose. Your audience connects you to the larger world.
5) Change. Be willing to recognize the inadequacies in what you do and to seek out solutions.
