A Culture of Health, Where Everyone is Included

I have been doing a lot of thinking about all the players that are involved in healthcare.  There are so many opinions, "experts", people that are involved (patients), caregivers, researchers, and us. It really is a village but are we are an inclusive village?

There are oftentimes when it feels like we are in a power struggle for who knows, more, is respected more and the questions or the real matters tend to fall of the table. I know that as I purpose my quest for advocacy, that I struggles with the best way to be heard or to ensure an environment that all stakeholders feel valued. I have been trying to think of ways to break down barriers and getting multiple people to move towards a commons goal. In this particular context I believe that I do think that some conversations are easier or promote collaboration. It is the ones with the tricky topics or the difference of opinions, or the ones that even challenge of our traditional notions of power or expertise.

If you could design a culture of health, where everyone is included. What would you want it look like? I think I would like to create an environment that encourages dialogue ideas and where ego would have no power have or place but the enthusiastic encouragement of ideas, problem solving and a collaborative approach that could look at health care from all sides would reign. If I think about how I would do that, I would need to create "something": in which our traditional roles had no bearing on how we would collectively determine outcomes.  I think it needs to become more common practice, similar to how miscellaneous teams come together.

The principal of openness is one that I would like to ponder. Even as a patient who wants to be heard and respected, I have found myself falling into times where I want to be heard but I am not as open to others. While some of this feels very me, against everyone else. It is unlikely to make my case stronger or help to find viable solutions for a greater good. How we can change these moments and create that environment. I was convinced that it was all in the design of the environment, but after a recent experience. It has to be about uninhibited goals, different approaches and thinking differently.

"Everyone Included™ is a disruptive force in health care that combines unique expertise from all stakeholders to drive innovation and change through openness and experimentation. It’s a model that encourages everyone to be health care rebels in an attempt to transform health care for the better." - Larry Chu,

There will always be lots of personality coming together but if the idea of collaboration and co-creation is forecast, I am hopeful that patients will continue to sit at the table of decision making as we'll as being seen as a necessary part of the conversation. More than patients but all aspects and players that drive care. There is evidence that patient participation in particular causes improved health outcomes, enhanced quality of life, and delivery of more appropriate and cost effective services²