THE WELCH COMPANY
440 Davis Court #1602
San Francisco, CA 94111-2496
415 781 5700



December 27, 1999

03 00050 61 99122701




Mr. Clarence H. Braddock III, MD, MPH
Assistant Professor
braddock@u.washington.edu
College of Medicine
Medicine, Adj Med History and Ethics
University of Washington
1660 S. Columbian Way; VAMC (14A); ACOS/Education
Box 358280
Seattle, WA 98108

Mr. Michael J. Barry, MD
barry.micheal@mgh.harvard.edu
Department of Medicine
General Internal Medicine
Massachusetts General Hospital
55 Fruit Street
Boston, MA 02114

Subject:   Helping Doctor/Patient Partnership
Better Health from Better Communication

Dear Doctors,

This confirms calls today on the report by ABC News in which you were quoted concerning studies showing critical information is omitted in 90% of communication between doctors and patients. The problem is chronic in all meetings, calls and correspondence, especially email, throughout all industries, making...


Communication the biggest risk in enterprise


(see my paper on September 24, 1999). The solution requires better work practices, tools and roles, what I call the science of Communciation Metrics. Since communication is a predicate to action, improvement reduces mistakes in medical practice and other fields. It requires leadership and education to overcome ignorance and denial. Sounding the alarm, as you have done, is the first step. President Clinton's recent announcement of a national initiative to cut medical mistakes is a strong second step.

Real improvement requires trying different methods, i.e., change, which is strongly resisted. Two initial ideas are...

  1. Enhance traditional patience assistance for proactive communication support of the doctor/patient partnership; and

  2. Educate doctors and patients together about good communication practices.

Can you support pilot testing these ideas to begin implementing Communciation Metrics into the doctor/patient work stream?

Thanks very much for your input.

Sincerely,

THE WELCH COMPANY



Rod Welch
rowelch@attglobal.net