http://www.thinkinterval.com/2009/02/were-not-going-to-say-we-told-you-so-but/ Welcome to the transformation Tue, 20 Dec 2011 22:42:09 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://www.thinkinterval.com/2009/02/were-not-going-to-say-we-told-you-so-but/#comment-32 Chris Bevolo Wed, 11 Feb 2009 18:08:57 +0000 http://www.thinkinterval.com/?p=871#comment-32 Of course wireless internet, or cushy pillows, or a nice view, aren't more important than a great doctor (or any other measure of high quality clinical care). But it's all relative. Think of it this way. If you were deciding on a car to purchase, and were asked to rank from a list what is most important in your buying decision, what if the list had "Car won't blow up when I start it." Most people would rank that at the top, above MPG, style, type of stereo, etc. But obviously, no one would use that criteria to purchase a car, because we would all assume this would never happen. I exaggerate to make a point. When it comes to choosing a cardiologist in the Twin Cities, for example, I assume I have dozens of high quality doctors to choose from. So I'm going to use other criteria like convenience or service for my selection, both because I understand it better, have more experience valuing it, and because there are differences in convenience among my choices. It's very much perception vs. reality, but narrowing your selection of a cardiologist to those who have great quality outcomes (assuming you can find and understand that information) will still leave you with many choices. Of course wireless internet, or cushy pillows, or a nice view, aren’t more important than a great doctor (or any other measure of high quality clinical care). But it’s all relative. Think of it this way. If you were deciding on a car to purchase, and were asked to rank from a list what is most important in your buying decision, what if the list had “Car won’t blow up when I start it.” Most people would rank that at the top, above MPG, style, type of stereo, etc. But obviously, no one would use that criteria to purchase a car, because we would all assume this would never happen. I exaggerate to make a point. When it comes to choosing a cardiologist in the Twin Cities, for example, I assume I have dozens of high quality doctors to choose from. So I’m going to use other criteria like convenience or service for my selection, both because I understand it better, have more experience valuing it, and because there are differences in convenience among my choices. It’s very much perception vs. reality, but narrowing your selection of a cardiologist to those who have great quality outcomes (assuming you can find and understand that information) will still leave you with many choices.

]]> http://www.thinkinterval.com/2009/02/were-not-going-to-say-we-told-you-so-but/#comment-31 tom Wed, 11 Feb 2009 18:01:00 +0000 http://www.thinkinterval.com/?p=871#comment-31 So are hospitals saving us from ourselves? Seems scary to think that wireless internet is more important than a doctor. I would agree that might be better than the best doctor, but it certainly isn't more important than a competent doctor. Do we really know the difference? So are hospitals saving us from ourselves? Seems scary to think that wireless internet is more important than a doctor. I would agree that might be better than the best doctor, but it certainly isn’t more important than a competent doctor. Do we really know the difference?

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