Mapping Healthcare

Behind so many children with complex medical needs there is an often invisible support system. The people we're talking about are family members of children with medical complexity. Pediatric neurodisability specialist Helen Leonard shares her experience navigating the healthcare system with her son, Matthew. We hear why health systems are generally better at handling heart attacks or injuries, but fall short for people with complex needs. If we want to truly deliver coordinated and integrated care, we have to support the entire family, because caring for the caregiver is caring for the child.

The field of Human Factors emerged during World War II because of the need to improve the design of aircrafts and military equipment, while paying attention to human fatigue, perception, thinking, understanding, and usability. It's where psychology meets engineering to design processes that make it easy for people to do the right thing. Paul Bowie tells us how Human Factors expanded into health care to improve how people interact with health systems. It’s less about creating the perfect clinician and more about designing the perfect (or at least a much better) interaction between humans and health systems.

Too little, too late. And too much, too soon. This and the next episode are about the c-section paradox: the rising rates of medically unnecessary C-sections globally and the underuse of c-sections when they are really needed. Hear about the complex interplay of factors that come into play for a birthing mother not getting a c-section when it's medically needed, and how this causes medical problems or death in mothers and newborns. Abha Mehndiratta discusses an initiative in the state of Bihar, India to increase access to medically necessary c-sections at resource-constrained public hospitals.

When most people hear about lean they think of assembly lines and car factories. Hear how this management philosophy streamlines healthcare and involves healthcare teams in delivering high value care. Aravind Srinivasan tells us how Aravind Eye Care System uses lean to increase access to eye surgeries for millions of people in India. It is a non-profit that does not rely on donations or government assistance. About half of their patients – those who would otherwise not be able to afford vision care – receive free cataract surgery in a financially sustainable model that prevents needless blindness.