By Dr. Nelson Novarro At the most recent Johns Hopkins Medicine International Partners Forum, I had the pleasure of presenting Pacífica Salud Hospital Punta Pacífica’s (HPP) journey to open a stroke center of excellence. We successfully opened the center last June, but our journey certainly wasn’t an easy one. We began to discuss the possibility(...)
The Business Case for Clinical Excellence
Posted by | Clinical Program Development, Collaboration, Health Innovation, Health System Sustainability, Patient SafetyIn the complex and continually changing environment of health care, some institutions—including Johns Hopkins—are differentiating themselves by establishing niche programs that deliver world-class care on selected fronts. Known as centers of excellence, these programs provide patients with specialized expertise and resources, and they offer advantages both within and between health care institutions. Patient-Centered Care In(...)
#Winning With Equality
Posted by | Health Care Leadership DevelopmentWomen make up 79 percent of the health care workforce, but there are striking disparities at the management level. Women hold only 26 percent of hospital CEO positions and 21 percent of executive positions at Fortune 500 health care companies, according to data from Modern Healthcare. These stats are sobering, but, to me, they’re not(...)
Pushy vs. Assertive: Why These Words Matter
Posted by | Health Care Leadership DevelopmentPrior to becoming president of Johns Hopkins Medicine International, I worked for 15 years in human resources, where I became highly attuned to biases in the language we use in the workplace to describe men and women. As a quick exercise, which of the words in these pairs might describe women? Pushy/Assertive. Emotional/Passionate. Abrasive/Direct. Bossy/Strong-minded.(...)
An Unlikely Journey
Posted by | Health Care Leadership DevelopmentThis year’s list of the Fortune 500 leaders includes the highest number of women ever … and that number is 24. Globally, only 5 percent of the largest companies have women at the helm. My personal observation is that most organizations’ presidents are men, most are tall, many come from top-tier schools, and few are(...)
Putting Women’s Health First
Posted by | Collaboration, Middle EastFlight attendants remind us to put on our own oxygen mask before helping others with theirs. This makes sense. But as I flew back from a women’s health event recently, it struck me that this advice goes against my ingrained sense to care for others first. It isn’t always easy for women to put ourselves(...)
Unraveling Irrationality in Heath Care
Posted by | Health Innovation, Patient Care, Patient Safety, ResearchReasoning defines human intelligence, yet we all too often make choices that utterly defy logic. We’re impatient or irrational—or both—even when it comes to ensuring our own good health. An earlier post covered the huge risk of overprescribing antibiotics. Overuse exposes patients to potentially dangerous side effects, wastes resources, increases antibiotic resistance and spurs the(...)
Deadly Resistance
Posted by | Health Innovation, Patient Care, Patient Safety, ResearchDr. Sara Cosgrove The Scottish physician Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin in 1928. Since then, antibiotics have transformed modern medicine and saved millions of lives by killing or slowing the growth of the bacteria that cause conditions such as bronchitis and pneumonia. However, shortly after winning the Nobel Prize in 1945, Fleming issued this warning in(...)
You’ve Got Our Ear
Posted by | CollaborationFor the past six months, we’ve used this space to share ideas about international collaborative health. Our half-year anniversary is a good time to check in with our subscribers to see what’s on your mind and how we can enhance your experience. Please take a few minutes to share your thoughts. Thank you for joining(...)
Reframing Health Leadership
Posted by | Collaboration, Health Care Leadership DevelopmentNo matter whether our organizations are in the United States or any other country around the world, we are seeing far-reaching shifts in the field of health care. Many of us are feeling the impact of rising demand and associated spending, changing demographics, aging populations, the growing prevalence of chronic diseases, increasing patient awareness and(...)