The team needs to be aware and willing to be self-aware.
The team is responsible for making sure the team’s health is maintained and safe.
That means not only are team members accountable for their own health, but that their team members are accountable as well. This can be difficult for people, particularly the manager, to do, but it is crucial. A healthy team can provide the best health care outcomes but also be the best at providing good care. The manager needs to be accountable for the team’s health and in providing good care.
This is all very complicated, but let’s just take a look at what each of the characteristics actually means. The management characteristics include being self-aware, being accountable, and being able to provide good care. Self-awareness means being able to learn from your mistakes. Accountability is making sure you are being accountable to people. Good care is knowing who you are accountable to, what you are accountable for, and whether or not you are being accountable for it.
The other thing I like about this list is that it’s a pretty short-sighted list. It’s not only important to have a good care team in place, but it’s also important that everyone on this team is self-aware. I know that sounds kind of silly but I truly believe that self-awareness is a necessary ingredient in any team that attempts to provide quality care.
I know people are always going to focus on how much better health care teams look like, but I have to wonder how much better they really are overall. I’m referring to the kind of health care teams that have an office, and an actual person in the office. I know that the vast majority of care teams have no such thing as an office, but I’m sure that many of them do have a person in the office.
Yes, I know that in my own practice I have a number of health care providers who make me laugh with their in-office joke. I often tell one of them that I have a friend that is a medical assistant, and she says, “It’s okay, my friend can just call me if she needs to pick up some prescriptions.” I tell her that, well, it’s kind of true, but it’s not really okay.
In the health care industry in general, I’ve seen this too, where patients who have health insurance, and who are in their own home, and who don’t have the means to pay for their health care, will often have a home health care worker or nurse assist. I’ve heard of cases where a patient has a home health care worker who has no skills whatsoever, and is just a housekeeper.
I’m not saying that it’s a bad idea or is wrong. That would be a ridiculous comparison. It’s a perfect example of how the industry has failed to evolve to a point where it can handle the fact that the sick are no longer the only ones who need help.
This is one of the reasons why I think health care workers need to be educated. We are not only trained to provide good care, but we are also trained to be able to see when something is wrong and how to fix it.
