Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/831159
Words From the C-Suite: Advice From 4 Executives By Alyssa Rege 'Team-based collaboration is essential to the future of our functioning healthcare system' F or one C-suite executive, the intersection of technology and med- icine will become a crucial part of the healthcare industry in the next few years, if not sooner. To use that technology effectively, med- ical professionals from all disciplines must learn to work together for the benefit of the patient. Larry Chu, MD, is the executive director of Medicine X, an initiative ex- ploring how emerging technologies will advance the practice of medicine, improve health and empower patients to become active participants in their own care. Dr. Chu said through his work as a professor of anesthesi- ology, perioperative and pain medicine at Stanford (Calif.) University, he witnessed inefficiencies in students' ability to interact and problem-solve together. He said the issue is especially problematic, since an individual's health is an amalgamation of various provider recommendations. If each medical professional isn't aware of the recommendations their colleagues provide, the patient is the one that loses out in the end. "Inter-professional, interdisciplinary, team-based collaboration is es- sential to the future of our functioning healthcare system[,] and we can't get there if we're not learning and teaching together. In health- care, we learn in silos. Medical doctors train in medical school, and we don't know anything about pharmacists. Pharmacists train at pharmacy school [and] … tend not to know anything about nurses. Nurses train at nursing school [and] … don't know anything about occupational therapists. Yet when we're all done, we're expected to work together … [We need to spend time] in our curriculum to un- derstand the misperceptions that arise between the patient persona and the provider persona, so that we can uncover the roadblocks to honest conversation that get in the way of participatory healthcare decisions. We can't have honest conversations if we don't have trust, and we don't have trust in our relationships because we don't under- stand each other.," Dr. Chu told Becker's Hospital Review via email. n Bill Gates hopes Trump will be 'pragmatic' about foreign health aid B illionaire philanthropist and Microso Founder Bill Gates said he is counting on President Donald Trump to be "pragmatic" when it comes to U.S. foreign health aid. In an interview with Bloomberg, Mr. Gates said President Trump's recent proposal to significantly cut the nation's foreign aid budget may affect how much money other nations contribute to fund foreign health efforts. He speculated that because President Trump recently reversed his posi- tion on a number of economic pledges, a frank discussion with the presi- dent may help him see the importance of continuing to fund such efforts. "I've talked to [President Trump] about HIV and how the U.S. should be proud of our work [to combat the virus]. is dialogue is important: You've seen his pragmatism on a number of things and I'm certainly hoping that these health-related budgets receive some of that atten- tion … Trump wants to be a leader, he wants to have things that he's actually accomplished. It means talking to him and giving him some background that he might not have had through his past work." n 'First get started, then get smarter' A mong the numerous business lessons he has learned over the course of his career, one C-suite veteran said seizing opportu- nities as they come — instead of waiting until you're prepared — has helped him become a successful entrepreneur. In a conversation with CNBC, Jeff Lawson, CEO of Twilio, a soware development company that allows apps to contact users directly, high- lighted the importance of taking initiative and taking advantage of op- portunities as they come. As entrepreneurs, you're expected to fail at one point or another; how you respond to that failure is what counts. "No one is going to just teach you exactly [what you need to know]. Life is not a paint-by-number sort of deal. We have to figure it out … My grandfather, during the Depression was working in a factory and he wanted to make more money … He went to the owner and he said, 'I need to make more money, how do I do that?' e guy said 'I don't have any other jobs. e only job I have is driving the truck. Do you know how to drive the truck?' My grandfather's answer was, 'give me the keys' — and he got this job and made more money. But here's the thing he never told his boss: He had never driven a truck before in his life … it's a lesson that I've internalized and brought into our company … it's like, you know what, we'll figure it out. And if we don't, someone else will … e best way to learn something new is to commit yourself to doing it." n 'Algorithms will drive future health gains' L loyd Minor, MD, dean of the Stanford (Calif.) University School of Medicine, believes further advances in medicine and health will be tied to medical professionals' ability to interpret massive amounts of data. Since taking over as dean of Stanford's medical school, Dr. Minor has established a department of biomedical data science within the medical school and announced a partnership with Google. He said his efforts are part of a larger belief that the future of medicine lies in personalized health, which focuses on prediction and prevention. Dr. Minor recent- ly sat down with e Wall Street Journal to discuss the how the medical school is integrating data science and medicine to mitigate hospital infec- tions transmitted through poor hand washing. "We know that a lot of hospital infections are transmitted by our hands and hand washing can be tedious, but it is extremely important. So we began a project with the folks in computer science to develop an [artifi- cial intelligence]-based system that can look at the hand-washing stations outside of an ICU room and determine when a person has washed their hands. e interlock on the patient's room is only opened and triggered when a person has gone through the appropriate hand washing. Now, it can be overridden if there is an emergency. But if it is overridden it gets recorded and there needs to be an explanation of why it was overridden. I was skeptical at first. I thought you could fool it by … not actually rubbing your hands. Well, it turns out to be pretty darn good … [the technology] is being piloted in the ICUs but not yet driving the opening and closing of doors. e technology is validating that the hand washing is taking place and we are getting feedback from others on how it works." n 29