PRESIDENT’S COMMENTS D. Mark Courtney, MD Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine 2017-2018 SAEM President
A Kick-ass Coffee Machine
"Until we can interact with each other as human beings, and see others in the modern medical machine as unique individuals, we will struggle with treating patients as human beings and unique individuals."
Like some of you, I recently found myself in a faculty meeting where the topic of overall physician engagement within my hospital system was discussed. Senior members of the hospital system presented to the emergency department faculty our engagement score and pledged to do more to improve the collective sense of “engagement” (aka wellness) among all faculty across the entire health care system. After 20 minutes of graphs and comments, they asked for suggestions of what could be done to improve engagement. Awkward pause. No one said ANYTHING. My chair is chief medical officer of the hospital system and more of a listener than a speaker, so I spoke up and said, “You know what would really improve physician engagement? A kick-ass coffee machine in the physician lounge!”
The point is, we have devolved so much to “Phone Medicine” that people are defined more by where they work, or what role they play, than who they are as human beings. Until we can interact with each other as human beings, and see others in the modern medical machine as unique individuals, we will struggle with treating patients as human beings and unique individuals.
I told them that my wife, who works as a physician assistant in suburban, non-academic competitor hospitals, visits staff lounges equipped with push button machines that serve lattes and cappuccinos to accompany bagels, oatmeal, and "grab and go" snacks. Our lounge had nothing but a lame TV, some crusty oncologists, and coffee from a syrup concentrate that at best could be described as simply an adequate bolus of caffeine.
After I was done speaking, and made the argument of coffee machine as a bridge to human-human interaction, my other faculty started chiming in on other things we need: Discounted or free parking! Less boarding! Faster response times for neuro consults! None of these issues will be resolved soon and none will be resolved without humanhuman trust and collective problem solving across specialties. But guess what? The very next Monday I got an email from someone high up that said, “Send us some specs on this coffee machine you want. We want to move on that right away.”
I went on to state that really this is a vehicle for more human-human interaction among physicians in our hospital. Like many of you, I suspect when you call the reading room to discuss a case with a physician you are met with the response of “RADIOLOGY.” Or when you call an orthopedic resident you get “ORTHO.” I have made it my mission to respond by saying, “Hey my name is Mark Courtney, I am one of the ED attendings. What is your name?”
The coffee machine was part joke/part serious. What we really needed was a venue for physicians to interact with each other as human beings. Perhaps it is sad that a lounge or a coffee machine or free snacks is seen as a solution for gathering people in the same place to allow their humanity to emerge, but it has been done successfully, and even reported in the literature.
About Dr. Courtney: D. Mark Courtney, MD, MSCI, is director of research and an associate professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago. Dr. Courtney is the 2017-2018 president of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM).
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