RWL Newsletter #145 - calm design, difficult employees, and therapeutic recreation
Greetings from the University of New Hampshire! We just finished our fourth annual Shaping the Future: Leadership and Public Policy in Healthcare event here at UNH. It went so well - I’m really proud of how my students presented themselves in this professional environment with executives from around Northern New England. We partner with the Northern New England Association of Healthcare Executives, the local chapter of the American College of Healthcare Executives, and we’re really proud of that collaboration. It’s great to see how executives from the field are eager to share their knowledge with our students, and help shape the future.
(picture is of my colleague and partner in crime for this event, Lucy Hodder, professor of health law at UNH)
On to the links!
Read
What: Fast Company, What operating rooms can teach us about ‘calm’ design
https://www.fastcompany.com/90416116/what-operating-rooms-can-teach-us-about-calm-design
Why: Evie Powell has a PhD in video game design, which she is now using to design the user interfaces for surgical robots. Think of that next time you get mad at your kid for spending too much time playing video games! This is a short read, but has some fascinating observations about human-machine interface and where we are headed. I like her idea of calm design as design that is complementary rather than distracting. She talks about how smart phones give us access to gobs of information that improve our lives, but at the same time the phone itself is a distraction. Calm design will provide us the information as we need it, without the distraction. She has some nice examples of both, and the application is explained talking about surgery.
Watch
What: HR Storytellers Connecting With "Difficult" Employees (5 min)
Why: In this short video a social worker turned human resources specialist talks about how to deal with talented but difficult employees. The example she uses is a talented heart surgeon who is on the verge of being fired because of how he treats the staff around him. She has some common sense advice that is relevant not just in healthcare but across any industry.
Listen
What: Health Leader Forge, Stephanie Nadolny, VP of Hospital Operations, Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital Cape Cod
https://healthleaderforge.blogspot.com/2019/10/stephanie-nadolny-vp-of-hospital.html
Why: Stephanie is the Vice President of Hospital Operations, Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital Cape Cod and the Vice President of Ancillary Services, Spaulding Rehabilitation Network. Stephanie started her career in therapeutic recreation and has worked in rehabilitation services for thirty years. In this podcast we talk about Stephanie’s journey from an entry-level clinician to running a 60 bed rehabilitation hospital and helping to lead a rehabilitation services network. I really enjoyed talking with Stephanie not just because she happens to be a two-time UNH alumna, but also because she is a truly authentic leader.
Thanks for reading and see you next week! If you come across any interesting stories, won't you send them my way? I'd love to hear what you think of these suggestions, and I'd love to get suggestions from you. Feel free to drop me a line at mark.bonica@unh.edu , or you can tweet to me at @mbonica .
Also, if you find these links interesting, won’t you tell a friend? They can subscribe here: https://tinyletter.com/markbonica
Have a great weekend and do amazing things!
Mark
Mark J. Bonica, Ph.D., MBA, MS
Assistant Professor
Department of Health Management and Policy
University of New Hampshire
(603) 862-0598
mark.bonica@unh.edu
Health Leader Forge Podcast: http://healthleaderforge.org
"I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by a conscious endeavor." - Henry David Thoreau