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Happy 2023! Seth Godin’s comment "if we focus on the costs of doing the work to make things better, it’s tempting to simply stay still," is so appropriate to the current conversations about generating and using real-world evidence that is truly derived from patient, family and caregiver experience. I’ve been involved in conversations about the need to improve our will (and our ability) to measure what matters to patients for decades, and our inertia derives from the fear of loss of power.
If we are truly in the era of patient-centricity, then the voice and the expertise of patients - of lived experience - must be the driver and the source of our investment of time and resources. We don’t need more "gold standard" designed studies to tell us that when we address the whole person; when we provide for the human, environmental, and health factors affecting a person and their family; and when we aim for, and measure, outcomes that actually matter to those individuals, we can do better. We may not cure everyone, or avoid all adverse outcomes, or even satisfy all needs. But we will see change that works and that reallocates our resources toward things that matter. And, along the way, we will learn (more rapidly) what doesn’t work and which actors and actions aren’t focused on the health of all. I’m renewing my resolution for action to make things better. Are you?
P.S. If you answered ‘Yes,’ call me: I’d like to help you make your resolution a reality.
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