“What on earth are we teaching these young doctors?” he asked, exasperated. He stressed that a physician’s responsibilities — to avidly manage diabetes or blood pressure, to promptly remove a urinary catheter, to ensure patient compliance with medications — come not from incentives, but from a sacred duty we assume upon entering the profession. Overemphasizing the former while underemphasizing the latter, he argued, does a disservice to the medical profession and to our patients. His words struck me because they were so at odds with the language of recent discussions I’d had on quality improvement. I’ve been taught that behavioral economics tells us much about how individuals consciously or subconsciously respond to incentives. If we are able to align incentives to promote safer, higher quality care, then that’s what we’ll get.
Posted on: Thu, 19 Sep 2013 13:18:04 +0000
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