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

• f 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/