People say that the most expensive piece of medical equipment is the doctor's pen. It's not that we make all the money. It's that we order all the money.
Interpretation
Doctors have control over significant resources in healthcare, which highlights the weight of their decisions.
This quote by Atul Gawande emphasizes the financial power held by doctors through their prescribing authority. It suggests that instead of merely earning high salaries, doctors significantly influence healthcare costs and the allocation of funds within the medical system, illustrating a deeper responsibility that comes with their role.
In practice
In a discussion about healthcare reform, you might say, 'As Atul Gawande noted, the most expensive piece of medical equipment is the doctor's pen, reminding us of the financial power doctors wield.'
A failure often does not have to be a failure at all. However, you have to be ready for it-will you admit when things go wrong? Will you take steps to set them right?-because the difference between triumph and defeat, you'll find, isn't about willingness to take risks. It's about mastery of rescue.
No one teaches you how to think about money in medical school or residency. Yet, from the moment you start practicing, you must think about it. You must consider what is covered for a patient and what is not.
Just using a checklist requires [doctors] to embrace different values from ones we've had, like humility, discipline, teamwork.
When I do an operation, it's half a dozen people. When it goes beautifully, it's like a symphony, with everybody playing their part.
At times, in medicine, you feel you are inside a colossal and impossibly complex machine whose gears will turn for you only according to their own arbitrary rhythm. The notion that human caring, the effort to do better for people, might make a difference can seem hopelessly naive. But it isn't.
We look for medicine to be an orderly field of knowledge and procedure. But it is not. It is an imperfect science, an enterprise of constantly changing knowledge, uncertain information, fallible individuals, and at the same time lives on the line. There is science in what we do, yes, but also habit, intuition, and sometimes plain old guessing. The gap between what we know and what we aim for persists. And this gap complicates everything we do.
If I had to give you one piece of advice it would be this: don't be intimidated by other people's opinions.
People often ask me what is the most effective technique for transforming their life. It is a little embarrassing that after years and years of research and experimentation, I have to say that the best answer is - just be a little kinder.
The older we grow the greater becomes our wonder at how much ignorance one can contain without bursting one's clothes.
This is a fact: Strength in the pursuit of peace is no vice; isolation in the pursuit of security is no virtue.
Time passes unhindered. When we make mistakes, we cannot turn the clock back and try again. All we can do is use the present well.
A lighthouse is more useful than a church.
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