Harvard surgeon and author Atul Gawande has written several books and New Yorker articles about medicine, aging, mortality, quality improvement, and philosophical musings. In many ways he reminds me of Lewis Thomas. Gawande is probably doing more than any other person to improve the quality of our health care. He looks at a problem, studies it, interviews people, then writes in a language we can understand.
In Gawande’s book Better he has advice to doctors on how to be a “positive deviant” from the current norms in medicine. To stay engaged intellectually and connected he has the following advice:
- Ask an unscripted question. Too often doctors are rushed, and miss this human interaction.
- Don’t complain. This one can probably apply to us all. Do you really want to hear your colleague complain about things?
- Count something. Gawande likes to engage in figuring out why mistakes occur. He encourages us to study and analyse.
- Write something. By keeping a diary or journal or simply writing about any subject of interest, we clarify our thoughts.
- Change. Be an early adopter. Avoid being a curmudgeon. Learn and apply.