An introduction leads to some important

reminders about standardization

by Matthew Sappern, CEO

A new acquaintance recently reintroduced to me an article authored by Dr. Atul Gawande that piqued my appetite for change – and cheesecake!

In “Big Med,” published in the August 13, 2012 issue of The New Yorker, Gawande touched on one of my favorite topics – standardization. His lightning bolt came while dining at The Cheesecake Factory. His guests ordered a wide variety of dishes from a seemingly endless menu – the food was uniformly presented and immensely satisfying. So, he went back in to the kitchen and learned how The Cheesecake Factory has struck an effective balance between universally applied standards and the tacit knowledge of the chefs, which I liken to “freedom at the grill.”

Today’s growing “super-regional” health systems are moving to PeriGen because they need to find ways to ensure this balance for the sake of quality care.

It is virtually impossible to ensure consistency in how individual L&D nurses across a health system will assess potentially disturbing trends; that lack of consistency will always limit the efficacy of even the most well-considered protocols. Alternatively, computer systems designed, trained and deployed to vigilantly identify specific patterns that might be of concern lends some control to the effort. The quest for continuous improvement relies on standardization for the baseline. Once potential issues are consistently identified – the clinicians can consider each case. In other words, they can achieve freedom at the grill.