In Ohio there are many small roads that go under train trestles. At the time train tracks were being laid, it was cheaper to simply dig down and have the road go under the train tracks, rather than building bridges over them. The challenge is, many of these roads were built when cars were much smaller, as were delivery trucks much smaller.
As a child I read a story in My Weekly Reader, about one large semi truck that was going down a small road under a train trestle and got stuck; I mean really stuck. As the story went on, there was a great deal of activity around the stuck truck as to how to get it dislodged; police, fire and train engineers all looking at the truct. A little boy happened upon the scene on the way home from school, and stopped to observe the commotion. After a while the boy had an idea.
The boy mustered up the courage to come up to a man with a white coat and hardhat. Pulling on the mans jacket, he said “I have a way you can get the truck free” . ”Look son”, the man said “we have lots of people here and engineers with a lot of experience; we can figure this out. Why don’t you just move on”. The boy stood around for a while, and again came up to the engineer, “Sir?” the engineer looked down, “son, you need to move along, we have this under control”. ”But sir”, the boy shouted “If you’ll just let some of the air out of the tires, you an drive it out”. The engineer was stunned and did precisely that.
The engineer saw the problem from his perspective, looking at the trestle and the top of the truck, and the little boy viewed the same problem from his 4 foot 3 inch perspective, and ultimately arrived at a better solution.
What we are seeing in the world of healthcare reform are lots of smart people in white coats looking at the top of the problem, and missing the simpler solutions. Every hospital I’ve been, and consulted with, is full of highly educated, well meaning and committed individuals. The challenge hospitals face is that besides all the commotion of running a modern healthcare facility, there are patients to care for. People like you, and me and family and friends. And then there are the nurses, techs and support staff that are around 23/7. These are the individuals who despite what happens around them, need to take care of people in need of care; very simple, while very complex.
We ought not forget those who interact with the technologies intended to improve their efficiency and the outcomes they produce..
