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Letter From the Founder
Every day I hear from patients or friends that they dislike the direction medicine is heading. They are paying too much for too little service or poor quality, or they can't access or spend the time they need with their providers. Almost daily I hear my fellow healthcare workers complain of not having enough time with patients, poor decisions being made by bureaucrats, and being asked to do more with less. As a semi-retired primary care physician with leadership experience I am often asked my opinion on these and related issues, and more specifically what healthcare workers can do to improve their professional lives. Trained first as a chemical engineer and then as a physician, and subsequently certified by the American Board of Family Practice and the American College of Physician Executives, I have spent over 30 years trying to improve the care that I give to my patients and the systems that support the care of patients. My experience and study have shown me that the answers to the above questions are not straightforward. I have developed the Clinical Catalyst to answer those questions, to improve patient care, and to continue my leadership and training interests, as well as to return something to the profession that I thoroughly enjoy and the community in which I live. I believe that the direction that medicine is going needs to be changed and that the foundation for this change needs to be skilled healthcare workers leading interesting, sustainable, and rewarding professional lives.
As the healthcare industry evolves and becomes more complex, healthcare professionals will need skills outside their clinical specialties in order to thrive in their environments. Leaders, managers, and administrators will need skills to create the environments that allow frontline workers to flourish. This website provides information to build these skills by focusing on innovation and the clinical team. The information also aims to improve the effectiveness and sustainability of clinical teams within the larger organizations and communities in which these teams exist. The materials presented here are designed to be used by busy healthcare professionals, with references to allow for further study as desired.
The core of the website is the information provided by Clinical Catalyst Presents. My presentations introduce our lay and professional audiences to important science and concepts to support sustainable individual and professional lives while contributing to their organizations and communities. We provide handouts and references as support for our presentations and workshops. We believe that healthcare professionals are most effective when they model sustainable behavior.
As the number of presentations has grown, I have identified the need for more in-depth information about some aspects of my material. The Clinical Catalyst Primer is designed to help meet this need.
As the world and medicine have gotten more complicated and complex, I believe it is critical to collaborate and successfully function in teams. In the spirit of collaboration we are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution.
Donald D. Forrester
September 2009
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