Lessons Learned in changing healthcare

The pressure for changing healthcare is evident everywhere. Newly available data on excessive variation in quality, safety and cost are present in academic publications, disease registries, national scientific organizational reports, government-mandated reports and the published articles of numerous commissions and task groups. Personal experiences of disappointed patients, families and communities add a sense of urgency to the need for change. All around us, people are at work leading change in healthcare. All of these leaders have a journey of experience from which they have learned (and are learning!) lessons. The lessons have developed in response to the wide variety of publicly available information, perceived challenges and conflicts, co-workers desire for meaning and joy in work and personal recognition of better alternatives to the present situation all part of the lived experience of leaders.