Education edges toward a year-round approach – healthcare is already there
As the industry tries to preserve valuable human resources and incorporate artificial intelligence into operations, new knowledge emerges every day.
On a coordination call last week, one of my colleagues at Health Data Management noted that her children were going back to school – this week.
It’s been a while since we’ve had school-aged children in our house, so forgive me for being out of touch with modern school year schedules, but I had to shake my head in disbelief. This week, as in August with a single digit for the date? In my hazy recollections of going to Chicago Public Schools in the 1960s, we typically started the school year in September, as late as mid-September.
Increasingly, the push is on to move to a concept called year-round school (which, as my colleague noted, needs new branding in the worst way). The intent is to have a balanced calendar, replacing the traditional summer break with shorter, but more frequent breaks. That’s quite a switch from what people expect and the rhythms they’ve maintained for years, so change will be difficult to achieve.
With education, the goal isn’t the structure of the school year, or the ability to retain arcane facts for a lifetime. It’s the training of the memory, the ability to think critically, learning how to apply old knowledge to new situations, to build a foundation for a lifetime of learning and, essentially, to learn how to learn.
This ability to learn and adapt within healthcare are highlighted in several articles we published this week. There’s never been a better time to gather facts, synthesize knowledge and make evidence-based adjustments to past practices to achieve optimized operations and improved care delivery.
Burnout continues to vex healthcare organizations, and while those concerns among clinicians have received most of the attention, Dr. Teray Johnson has focused a series of articles on the impact on administrative staff. In her final article, she details some of the positive steps that organizations should take to ameliorate negative impacts on these crucial workers.
Artificial intelligence is re-inventing healthcare in multiple ways, and there are many facets for applying it. For example, Yvonne Perez writes about how AI can have an impact on the revenue cycle, incorporating a zero-defect approach. Additionally, Scott Ponder uses imagery in his article to make the case that AI can be a “refinery,” if the data can be of high-enough quality.
And the human component in healthcare delivery always merits attention. Mentoring is a key educational tool, and organizations need to move beyond just giving lip-service to the notion to optimizing initiatives so that well-designed programs can help build a more representative, compassionate and forward-looking healthcare system. You’ll get solid value out of Sepi Browning’s article on the subject.
As I continue to write about healthcare into my 70s now, I am always fascinated by the new things I’m learning. Over time, I’ve seen incredible value in being a lifelong learner, realizing there’s so much I don’t know. That’s my wish for all of you, as well!
Fred Bazzoli is the Editor in Chief of Health Data Management