Lack of healthcare knowledge

Coming back from a big healthcare conference, especially the Institute for Healthcare Improvement's annual conference, always seems to make me realize how little my friends and family know about healthcare and how it works. I can't say that I knew much about the topic myself until I started writing about it two and a half years ago, but it's easy to forget that most people under the age of 30 don't know how the complex web that is U.S. healthcare actually functions (mainly because people this age are generally healthy). I guess healthcare is one of those things that you don't know much about until you are forced to know about it, and at that point it's kind of too late because understanding it takes more than a day or two.

Anyway, having been to this specific conference for two years now, I have left both years convinced that those people in charge of hospitals and other healthcare entities truly want to do the right thing for the general public. Most attendees leave energized, convinced they will bring new quality improvement projects back to their facilities. This year there was a lot of "well with the new administration, hopefully things are going to change" going around, and I agree with this sentiment because in its current state, healthcare for this country does not work; it costs an outrageous amount of money ($2 trillion this year, although that is set to increase exponentially in the coming years), is poorly organized (why does my ER doc not know what medical advice my primary care physician has dispensed?) , and does not serve the entire population (I think it's something like 47 million people in this country who are uninsured).

Anyway, I'm rambling about this here because it's something I've come to realize that I'm passionate about. When I started writing about healthcare, I never thought I'd be excited to write about patient safety every day... but I guess I've turned into somewhat of a nerd in that aspect. It's at topic that I hope that my friends and family take a bigger interest in, because we are all a part of the healthcare system!

Anyway, here's a clip that was shown during a keynote speech- it got the audience kind of revved up (it was shown in relation to global health). Enjoy!

The Girl Effect