Welcome to this episode of leading the rounds where we interview Dr. Lauge Sokol-Hessner. 

Dr. Sokol-Hessner, MD, is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard University and the Associate Director of Inpatient Quality Improvement at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. He is also faculty for the IHI Virtual Expedition: Is Your Organization Conversation Ready?​ which educates on end of life conversations with families and patients. 

We hope you enjoy this episode where we discuss the importance of Quality Improvement for medical leaders, difficult conversations, and more. 

As always, if you like what we’re doing, give us a positive rating on apple podcasts and connect with us on social media.

Welcome to Leading the Rounds! 

Questions We Asked: 

• As you developed as a leader, what sparked your interest in quality improvement?
• Who should know about quality improvement science?  
• What is the best way to learn quality improvement? 
• What is different about medical QI and industrial quality work? 
• How can we make quality improvement and change something that people want to do instead of another requirement that people grumble about? 
• Is there a benefit of being an innovator or a lagger with technology? 
• How did you become involved with the Conversation Ready Project?
• How do you deal with difficult conversations with a dying patient’s family?  
• When does standardization take away from the humanism of medicine? 
• What suggestions do you have to avoid moral distress as physicians? 

Quotes & Ideas: 

• “Anyone in healthcare who provides care should know the general principles of quality improvement and why they are important.” 
• Innovation/Adoption curve 
• Questions for starting a QI project: 
  • What is the problem? 
  • Is it really a problem for those involved?
  • Is this something that we can fix? 
  • How can we fix it? 
  • Is our change better? 
• “You will go much further, much faster if you are doing it with other people.” 
• Joshua Lakin article, https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/article-abstract/2715161
• “We are all hoping that your loved one gets better, but we are worried that will not happen. Would it be okay if we talk about a plan B if that doesn’t happen?” 
• “The purpose of learning the skills is so that they are in your toolbox, and you can use them at the right moment.” 
• “We encounter moral distress… when we have cognitive dissonance between what we believe is the right thing for a patient, and what is actually happening.” 

Book Suggestions: 

• Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela 
• Our Iceberg is Melting by John Kotter 
• Just Mercy by Brian Stevenson