Volume 1 Number 3 In This Issue

OPINION: Relationship-centred care: toward real health system reform

Johny Van Aerde, MD, PhD

The health care system and its professionals are criticized, at times even politicized and moralized, for the way they conduct their business. read article

Rethinking power in a hospital setting

Peter Dickens, PhD

Although hospitals are among the most complex human systems ever devised, they continue to deliver quality patient care. A brief examination of the literature related to power and hospitals reveals some interesting patterns that I then frame through a case study in a Toronto hospital that has demonstrated a commitment to interprofessional collaboration and distributed leadership. read article

Enhancing physician leadership resilience

Greg McQueen, PhD, and Chris Bart, PhD

Resilience — the capacity to cope with stress and bounce back — is a critical attribute for physician leaders. Two methods for cultivating resilience have received only scant attention, and these are the focus of our article: viewing stressful and painful situations as opportunities to learn and grow rather than wither and die; and engaging in non-arbitrary social cooperation and consensus-building.  read article

The facilitative leader: Designing engaging and productive meetings

Monica Olsen, MHRD and Mary Yates, MEd

This second of two articles on the fundamentals of civility for physicians focuses on communication, self-care, and responsibility. Adopting these behaviours empowers us to take responsibility for our own well-being which, in turn, enables us to do and be our best under all conditions. read article

Seeing differently: applying the Theory of Constraints in health care

Alex Knight,  MBA, CEng, and

Ruth Vander Stelt, MD

With increasing health care costs and growing demands, most countries are facing the challenge of providing high-quality, timely care that remains affordable. To improve productivity, a shift in perspective is required: from seeing complex systems as best managed by breaking them down into parts to seeing them as a chain of activities where system performance is determined by a few underlying constraints. This approach, based on the Theory of Constraints, focuses on ongoing improvement achieved through a rapid process of identifying and strengthening the weakest link in the chain. read article

The 5 Cs of physician resilience

Mamta Gautam, MD

Several years ago, I began to look at physician health in terms of understanding why some physicians appear to cope better than others in the same situation — why some are more resilient. I reviewed my practice population to identify dimensions of this quality that could be taught. My review produced “5 Cs of resilience”: confidence/control, connections, commitment, calmness, and care for self.  read article

BOOK REVIEW

Service Fanatics: How to Build Superior Patient Experience the Cleveland Clinic Way

James Merlino

McGraw-Hill, 2015.

Reviewed by Johny Van Aerde read review

BOOK REVIEW

The Systems View of Life: A Unifying Vision

Fritjof Capra and

Pier Luigi Luisi

Cambridge University Press, 2014

Reviewed by Johny Van Aerde read review