The great energy, ideas and conversations carried on into the second day of the Forum with thought provoking workshops, inspiring keynote speakers, great entertainment and wonderful opportunities to network and learn from one another.
For the early risers there were two special interest breakfasts where David Meates, CEO Canterbury DHB and Nigel Millar, MD, Chief Medical Officer and Geriatrician Canterbury DHB spoke about Seismic Transformation – Lessons from the Canterbury Health System while in a separate session Lynne Maher, PhD, Director for Innovation and improvement, UK spoke about the NHSI Co-Design Programme.
This was followed by a presentation by keynote speaker Dr Harry Pert.
Dr Pert, a GP in Rotorua has a reputation for innovation and open-mindedness and is passionate about making a difference in general practice.
During his presentation Dr Pert took the audience back in time to explore the role of the GP over the years – a history that has shaped the way GPs work today.
Although much has changed over the years, GPs continue to have the unique privilege of playing a small but significant part in a family’s life with some doctors fortunate to follow their patients from the cradle to the grave. – “In my practice I haven’t delivered the babies of the mothers I see but my fellow doctors have – I envy them,” says Dr Pert.
Dr Pert introduced us to his own practice – Ranolf Medical Centre in Rotorua and shared some of the innovative practices in the field of nursing, information capacity, use of health IT, payments and medicines.
He shared some key lessons learnt from his own experiences as a doctor, such as the importance of not only treating a patient’s disease but taking the time to ask what matters to them – including their expectations and fears.
He worries about the lack of doctors going into GP Practice, the current payment mechanism and its profound effect on patient outcomes and suggests that a 15 minute GP consultation is far too short to get an entire history.
Dr Pert suggests redefining the role of the GP and Hospital Practice and drawing on organisations and professions outside health, for inspiration and ideas.
The final keynote speaker of the day was legendary Dr Don Berwick, former President and CEO of IHI whose presentation was titled: Why Professions Must Lead in Health Care Reform – Toward an Ethics of Improvement
Protecting our patients from harm is a moral obligation, however unintentional errors can happen due to a series of latent causes such as tiredness, an unfamiliar environment, stress and variations in practice. Dr Berwick shares an honest and moving story of how he handled a particular incident as a young doctor, the choices he made at the time and the choices he would have made today. Mistakes can happen, however the real test is what do we do after the event to make sure the same mistake doesn’t happen again – do we talk to our superiors, raise awareness of the issue and try and make changes or due to fear of judgment, possible repercussions and embarrassment stay silent?
Dr Berwick talks about the role of leaders in the pursuit of goodness and that all health professionals have a duty to improve the systems in which they work. – “If we are the healers we are obligated to prevent harm to others,” says Dr Berwick. He adds that education professionals have a duty to prepare the health professionals of the future for this improvement work.
Dr Berwick also spoke about stabilisation wedges (Pacala and R. Socolow) which are being used to solve the climate problem for the next 50 years with current technologies. He suggests using wedges of improvement for heath care costs.
What a Spark!
Just imagine if 900 people from 16 countries around the world went back to their work places and applied some of the key knowledge, ideas and learning’s captured during the Forum to drive health care improvement. What would the future look like? The last 3 days have taught us it can be done and now it’s up to each and every one of us to make it happen. As Dr Berwick says “Let’s dream of a better day.”
Many thanks to everyone who attended the Forum and the amazing people who worked tirelessly behind the scenes to make this such a wonderful event.
We couldn’t have done it without you.
Below are selected videos from day 2 of the APAC Forum:
APAC Forum 2012: Keynote – Dr Harry Pert from Ko Awatea on Vimeo.
APAC Forum 2012: The Business Case – Investing in Quality from Ko Awatea on Vimeo.
APAC Forum 2012: Building Capacity for Middle Managers from Ko Awatea on Vimeo.
APAC Forum 2012: Creating Resilience in an Organisation – Preparing for an Unimaginable Disaster from Ko Awatea on Vimeo.
APAC Forum 2012: The Right Technology – Why Is It All So Hard? from Ko Awatea on Vimeo.