Is Healthcare Ripe for Reverse Mentors?

Understanding is key to the flow of ideas, and for innovation to take place.

When we think of leaders within the halls of medicine, I imagine most think of gray-haired “experienced” physicians. Surely these published researchers and experts in their fields possess the “experience” that makes them the perfect candidates to lead their institutions through the next decade or so… or do they? And can they do it “alone”?

Medical institutions are no different than any other business enterprise.  They are subject to significant regulations and external forces which can change every few months.  These institutions are typically led by, and future direction determined by those who have worked their way through the ranks by playing nice, achieving certain milestones, and remaining in the visionary path of the board empowered to appoint the next set of leaders.

But times they are a changin’.  And they are changing rapidly. 

The government is looking to partner with forward thinking organizations and push innovative strategies to:

• decrease medical error rates,
• improve transparency,
• decrease costs, and
• model a system that places the patient in the center of their health care team.

The government is penalizing hospitals for practices they believe are harmful … even though their own laws and the issue of unintended consequences are responsible for these very practices.

Payors are looking to work with forward thinking organizations to create an ecosystem that fosters very similar objectives.

Healthcare IT industry leaders are similarly looking to partner with institutions to push technology out and enable the changes government and payors seek to achieve.

Is the old guard up to task?

• Do incumbents understand the role technology will play in enabling these changes?
• Are they aware that failing to adapt to technological changes threatens their own viability?
• Will they miss the opportunities for interconnections that can lead to serendipitous or purposeful encounters with key players?

Understanding is key to the flow of ideas, and for innovation to take place.

Innovation forms and emerges along the periphery… by the young, agile, technologically savvy physician who is trying to define how they will be recognized by their patients and peers.  It is in this nimble, mobile, and newly minted periphery where the greatest chance for meaningful transition or process changes may emerge.  These young physicians are socially savvy and able.  They embrace technology and teamwork. They understand how to use their social networks to gain a better understanding and knowledge that their own singular efforts may fail to yield.

Healthcare is ripe for recognizing, enabling and fostering a system of “reverse mentoring.” 

I observed a medical student showing a high-ranking physician a simple app for calculating the anesthetic needs of a patient… or a drug interaction which may threaten the life of the patient.  The physician was fascinated.. and therein lies the premise of my chosen title.

Chairmen are not tweeting. They are not utilizing the power of pull to gain knowledge from their social network periphery.  The vast amount of available knowledge has clearly exceeded the cognitive capacity of any non-superhuman physician or leader. Technology is evolving at an extraordinary pace. If you do not understand the technological breakthroughs that are taking place to fix many of the issues that ail a complex, broken system, to whom should you turn–especially as the leader of your organization?