Pedometer wearers unite. The walking meeting will sweep Washington, DC.
Posts Tagged ‘walking’
Dupont: Monthly Walks with PSA 208 Lieutenant ; Borderstan
September 11th, 2009 | Popularity: 4% 0 comments | Leave a reply- Dupont: Monthly Walks with PSA 208 Lieutenant « Borderstan – Walking is healthy and promotes safety. Washington, DC police offer monthly walks with residents to discuss neighborhood concerns. Why not do the same with your boss?
Photo Friday: Not a Workstation, a Walkstation
May 8th, 2009 | Popularity: 20% 1 comment
This week’s photograph was taken by Kristen Juel using her mobile device (hence the blurriness – original photo posted at Twitpic here) of myself and Margaret Laws, Director of Innovations for the Underserved Program for The California Healthcare Foundation, during one of the open space networking sessions at the Innovation Learning Network in person meeting in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
The topic of this session of open space networking was, of course, the walking meeting, which is a simple innovation that can transform everything from business conversations to clinical care (imagine a medical center equipped with a sound insulated walking track in its perimeter, to allow clinicians and patients to walk and talk about their daily lives).
These workstations, called Fitwork, are manufactured by Steelcase and allow users to walk at up to 2 miles per hour, while working on their computers or talking on the phone.
There are so few reasons not to have walking meetings, why not try one this week? I’ve compiled some of the evidence behind their benefits along with a handy guide to getting started.
Being My Own CIO – 2008 Update
December 11th, 2008 | Popularity: 26% 9 comments
Diagram produced at MindMeister.com
Time flies. It’s been about a year since my first My Own CIO entry, and I keep meaning to do a refresh, so here it is. Now is an appropriate time, since now that I’m now working part time for a very large organization, I will also begin to experience not being my own CIO for part of my life. I’m looking forward to all of it.
To review the guidelines:
- Open source or public source (avoid proprietary standards)
- Affordable
- Web 2.0 friendly (maybe I’ll create Web 3.0) – incorporating social networking, tagging, interaction
- Easy to maintain (and maybe to tinker with)
- Compatible with Apple produced products (which typically means open standards)
The guidelines haven’t changed. I’ve tried a whole bunch of things, and one assessment I’m going to make is that a person can alter their workflow only so much, so as I found stuff that worked, I stuck with it:
- E-mail: Apple Mail. Desktop and iPhone. Since 2007 Microsoft has released Entourage 2008, which did not make the cut (see the next bullet point). Apple Data Detectors are incredible time savers.
- Documents: Pages, Numbers, Keynote, and TextEdit. Still a “goodbye” to Word, Excel, and Powerpoint. I remember a time when using a Macintosh meant that all the open applications on my dock were manufactured by Microsoft. Now those have been replaced by open source or Apple alternatives, and this is not based on any specific feeling about Microsoft, which I have a lot of respect for. It’s simply about what works.
- Project Management: Paper. Yes, paper. I’ll post about this later.
- Firewalled opaque Intranet: I didn’t create one of those. I still use a transparent blog. Still on Wordpress.
- Content Management System: I use this blog and delicious.com for maintaining my links.
- Image Management System: iPhoto. I recently upgraded to an image stabilized Canon Powershot IS 770. A camera in 2008 is as important a business tool as pen and paper (yes, paper).
- Weekly/monthly/yearly business memos: I have discovered Twitter in the last year. 140 characters is long enough for most situations.
- Mobile e-mail/web: iPhone 3G, magic cell phone of the future. Since 2007, I’ve discovered the breakthrough that GPS is in a device like this. I know people complain about the ability to type e-mail using this device, but then again, that’s from the perspective that e-mail is still useful as a primary communication tool. In the last few months I have also been given a competitor device (named after another fruit), for my other role, and I have found that the vacation from the competitor device has caused me to type less well on it relative to the iPhone. I am also a MobileMe user and find that it works pretty well for managing contacts and calendars (using iCal and Address Book). There still isn’t (in my experience) a grand calendar application that you can delegate some access to for scheduling, and combine with different parts of your life. My vote would be for an extension of iCal that allowed delegated scheduling, because I think Apple is closest.
That’s the updated list. Here are some new arrivals since 2007:
- Meeting scheduling: Timedriver. No more back and forth about when someone is available via e-mail (there’s a theme here about the value of e-mail I am noticing). I could actually write a bit more about this tool, and disk space is cheap, so I will. I’ve been using TimeDriver since it was available to beta users, and it is a great example of how Web2.0 tools promote “listening” and by extension, respect. There is something fundamentally different about offering people a clean list of available times that they can use to connect with you, at their convenience, compared to asking them to wade through your calendar on an enterprise calendaring system, or asking them to send you an e-mail list of times. In today’s virtual world, it’s actually important to tell people what you look like with a photograph when setting up time as well. Both are accomplished here. I’ve linked Timedriver to MobileMe using BusyMac’s BusySync software so now I can manage my availability from my computer or my iPhone. I like it. People who schedule with me say they like it. Win-win, win-win-win.
- Virtual Library: Bookswim. One area where Washington is challenged relative to my former home (Seattle) is the public library system. I would gladly put forth effort to change that, as a huge fan of the libraries. In the meantime, this is a service that functions like Netflix for books.
- Voice service: Skype. The Pro Version.
- Transportation: Zipcar. A great invention. Metro, another great invention. As of 2008 I no longer own a car. Don’t miss it.
- Documents & Bibliographic References: Zotero. Free. Integrates into Firefox. No more Endnote.
- RSS Reader: I used to believe that a desktop application was required for this, but I just switched over to Google Reader. It works best on the desktop and on the iPhone. It is a great demonstration of the power of cloud computing. I’ve also begun using the iPhone application Byline, which syncs to Google Reader.
- Pedometer: Omron HJ-151
Feel free to chime in with your recommendations and reactions, as always.
2 Minutes To Working Smarter – Walking Meetings
November 30th, 2008 | Popularity: 15% 2 comments- 2 Minutes To Working Smarter – Walking Meetings – Scared to leave the safety of your routine? Think again:
# Want an honest or a confidential conversation? A walking meeting gets you out of the earshot of co-workers or people sitting at the next table.
# Brainstorming ideas and solutions? It’s faster and easier when you are active.
# Are people reluctant to commit to coffee or lunch? Others seem to immediately recognize the value of a walk. It’s a fresh idea, it’s free, and there’s no awkwardness over the bill.
# Problems to resolve? Walking side-by-side is more collaborative in energy than sitting across from someone with a desk or table in between.
Gmaps Pedometer
November 21st, 2008 | Popularity: 12% 0 comments | Leave a reply- Gmaps Pedometer – Handy application for creating walkable/runnable/bicycle-able routes. Great for planning and maybe summarizing walking meetings (“I think Thomas Circle is where the idea came to us”).
Your pedometer’s new best friend: Apple iPhone
November 21st, 2008 | Popularity: 17% 0 comments | Leave a replyCongratulations, Apple, Inc., and Google, on adding public transit and walking directions to the iPhone 3G. It appears that there’s a full Washington Metro timetable available – no more awkward trips to the WMATA web site (which is a good web site, but has a WAP version that’s not viewable on the iPhone). I’m going to test the new features out by heading to the newly re-opened National Museum of American History, where I hope to photograph the Greensboro Lunch Counter, for my collection.
Now Reading: Evidence that the Walking Meeting is Transformational
October 28th, 2008 | Popularity: 25% 3 comments
This article is actually called “Experiencing Physical Warmth Promotes Interpersonal Warmth” but when I read the writeup of it in the Los Angeles Times, I knew that it would have significance in thinking about the Walking Meeting.
I wrote a How-To on the Walking Meeting on this blog in Jaunary, 2008, and have been practicing them for almost 4 years now, and I’ve noticed a lot of differences between these and the standard sit down and talk meetings.
In this article, the authors test the hypothesis that stimulating the part of the brain that happens to process both physical and psychological warmth (the insular cortex) results in greater feelings of interpersonal trust and comfort. They tested this out two ways. First, by having subjects hold hot or cold fluids on their way up to a sham personality evaluation. The second way was even more interesting – they asked subjects to hold a hot or cold pad for a sham product evaluation and then offered them a “selfish” gift (bottle of Snapple) or a “community” gift, a $1 gift certificate to an ice cream shop presented as a “treat a friend” option. Half of the subjects were told the opposite, that the Snapple was the “treat a friend” gift and the gift certificate was the “treat yourself gift.”
In both cases, subjects perceived people as warmer (in the first case) with the warm exposure, and were more “community” oriented based on the framing of the gift they received.
Tying this back to what I’ve noticed after 4 years, it is that there seems to be an activation of some kind that happens in these meetings when I participate in them. Part of it is community orientation – I enjoy pointing out parts of our community as we walk, as a reminder of who we are serving. Part of it is the implied vulnerability of bringing someone to a less-controlled space. Maybe part of it is the occasional hot beverage.
In my How-To I actually caution against beverage purchasing during walking meetings because of the expense and caloric load, so I will slightly amend that with the added information provided here.
In terms of getting people to do these with me, I have had my share of blank stares and confusion from people, mostly ones who I am meeting for the first time, but I continue to ask for this as an option, and about 92.5 % of the people I ask are happy to do it.
Look at your calendar and see what meetings are coming up. Convert at least one to a walking meeting this week, and report on it here.
Revisiting Health Social Networking and Communities with http://www.inspire.com/brian
October 14th, 2008 | Popularity: 31% 1 commentI got to revisit this topic with the person behind (or in front of the easy-to-remember) URL, Brian Loew, the CEO of Inspire.com.
I visited this the first time in May, 2008, when Brian and VP for Partnerships Amir Lewkowicz and I went for a short walk to talk about Inspire.
And I have to take a short break here to celebrate having a blog, that allows someone like me to remember when they last looked at something…
Back to the story, Brian offered me the opportunity to walk somewhere to meet him and go for a walking meeting while in Washington (well, I offered the walk to him). Again, twist my arm. And I’m glad I did. It has been a (short) while since I have been looking at the state of online communities for health. This could be because the last bit of excitement around these occurred around Health 2.0 this spring.
What hasn’t changed for me though, is the interest in supporting social networking in the empowerment/engagement of patients managing their health, so I was grateful for the update. Inspire.com has redesigned their site, and moved away from organization that is by health condition and more person-focused with the idea that someone will have multiple health interests depending on themselves and their families.
As I mentioned previously, Inspire has an interest in supporting clinical trials, and serves as an intermediary between consumer/patient organizations and pharmaceutical manufacturers looking to recruit interested patients who opt-in to trials in a privacy protected way.
What I am especially interested in the work I am doing the presence of a platform that could serve a diversity of health interests depending on the focus of, say, an employer group, a provider group, or a patient group. I have found a small hypertension community on Inspire, and joined it. It nicely allows me to indicate that I am there as a health professional/interested person rather than a patient with hypertension (at least not one, yet).
Near the end of our walk, Brian asked me an interesting question as we talked about how much patients think of their conditions throughout the day. He asked, “What would you think if you knew that I had a chronic condition?” My answer – that I would have a lot of respect for that person and pay close attention to their experience. I want to learn as much about people and the ways they encounter their health outside medical centers. I think other health care providers do, too, and I hope health communities can help teach as much as they learn.
Photo Friday: Extroverted East Coast
August 1st, 2008 | Popularity: 20% 1 comment
This week’s photograph confirms Richard Florida’s research (just a little) about extroverted types being closer to the Atlantic than the Pacific Ocean.
Frozen yogurt is back. In a big way. As a Generation Y customer in line told me, “(large ice cream chain) is doomed.” I really enjoy a place where people are easy to engage, and they walk to get places. In this case it’s to one where the product sold is only 25 calories per ounce. Not bad! (More pictures of the atmosphere are here, this place is Web2.0 enabled)
Living in a walkable city is healthier
August 1st, 2008 | Popularity: 10% 0 comments | Leave a reply- This Old Healthy House : University of Utah News Release : July 28th, 2008 – People living in walkable neighborhoods are less likely to suffer from obesity.
Photo Friday: Public Expression of Grief
July 25th, 2008 | Popularity: 21% 2 comments
click on the image to see it full size
I took this photograph as I was walking to Georgetown and noticed the Ghost Bike placed in Dupont Circle by the Washington Area Bicycling Association. The ghost bike was placed in a ceremony on July 10 (more information here) following the death of 22-year old Alice Swanson, who was killed by a garbage truck while riding her bike to work on July 9, 2008, in Dupont Circle.
As I walked by, I noticed the words written on the tire by Alice’s mother. They had an impact on me. They will on you too. Click on the image to see them for yourself.
Now Reading: Who’s Your City?: How the Creative Economy Is Making Where to Live the Most Important Decision of Your Life, by Richard Florida
July 24th, 2008 | Popularity: 36% 6 comments
The world is not flat; place matters.
I couldn’t agree more with the latest work by Richard Florida. This book looks at the importance of place not only in the global economy but in a person’s life. I personally had a good idea that this made a huge difference some time ago, despite living and working in a world where colleagues work for organizations for which home base is irrelevant.
On this, my 300-day DCVersary, I can confirm that my experience bears this out. Moving from one of the smaller “mega-regions” (Cascadia, Portland, Seattle, Vancouver, 9 million people, $260 billion light-based regional product) to the second largest one in the world (Bos-Wash, Boston-Washington, DC, 54 million people, $2.2 trillion LRP) has undeniably made a significant difference in everything I do, even in a technology-related occupation. As Florida describes, people cluster:
(There is) the tendency of creative people to seek out and thrive in like-minded groups, and (there is the) self-perpetuating economic edge that comes from doing so.
Florida does a good job of reviewing the evidence that place matters, and the idea that its impact on personal and professional happiness has been underemphasized. He combines original research as well as data currently available to create a compelling picture of both the importance of place and the factors about it that matter. One of the interesting explorations in the book is about the personality of cities – extroverted people and agreeable people tend to be localized east of the Mississippi, where “open to experience” people tend to be localized to the coasts, with dominance in California and Bos-Wash (okay, maybe the extroversion doesn’t stretch as far east as DC, and maybe the “open to experience” doesn’t stretch as far South, but I’m pretending they do – you always see the best in something you like).
Throughout, It’s nice to imagine where you might “fit” but also how your own experience stacks up, because an important criteria of a place its aesthetic.
I have been using a curious measure for the past few years to judge aesthetic, the “touch-down” measure. It is, “In what city do you say to yourself, ‘I’m home,’ when the plane touches down on the runway.” I think you can’t fake that. Alternately, it’s the city that when the plane touches down, you say to yourself, “I can’t believe I don’t live here.”
I give strong kudos to Florida for acknowledging the role of diversity and tolerance in a place, not just for minorities, but for all people. He says:
It’s not about tolerance for tolerance’s sake. As my previous research has shown, places that are intolerant simply do not grow. And, as the Place and Happiness Survey confirms, people in intolerant places are less happy and less fulfilled than those in tolerant an open-minded ones.
This finding is similar to research that shows the same thing about organizations. As a patient said to me a very long time ago, “We don’t tolerate diversity (within the organization I work for). We LIVE diversity.” That describes a place that has a better chance of thriving, and one that most people (including me) want to be involved with.
A book by an author that writes a blog is a better read
It is worth mentioning that as I read the book, the positive impact of Florida having experience writing a blog came across, because (a) he brought his personal experiences and those of his colleagues into the story and (b) he crowd sourced several of his ideas, bringing in commentary from blog entries. This made for a much more engaging read, and I can’t help thinking that without this experience, the work might feel less connected to the experience of real people. I think this is an interesting way that blogging is changing traditional publishing because those who blog are forced to become more personal in their communication to be successful. I like it. A lot.
And the winner is…
I have experience living in three mega-regions described in the book: Bos-Wash, Nor-Cal, Cascadia and it was interesting for me to compare the decisions I’ve made with the characteristics of each. All of them offer so much. My recent experience with Bos-Wash has been, well, fantastic, both in terms of livability, ability to be extroverted, and exposure to diverse populations and cultures. Nor-Cal scores high in my book as well as it shares many of the livability and diversity attributes, as well as strong dominance in technology and innovation. Cascadia was definitely enjoyable for the time I spent there.
Who’s Your City? Feel free to post your experiences…
Oh So Close – HelloHealth
July 20th, 2008 | Popularity: 25% 0 comments | Leave a replyHow long before HelloHealth comes to Washington, DC, with the most regional-serving walkable urban places per capita in the country?
Note: There’s been some buzz about walkability for other cities as well, also fine choices for those who love living in places that support walking.
Walk Score – Helping homebuyers, renters, and real estate agents find houses and apartments in great neighborhoods.
June 17th, 2008 | Popularity: 12% 0 comments | Leave a reply- Walk Score – Helping homebuyers, renters, and real estate agents find houses and apartments in great neighborhoods. – A website that promotes walking (and indirectly property valuation) by what's nearby. DC does quite well. Type in your address and see where you fall.
Health 2.0 Definition, Version 2
June 6th, 2008 | Popularity: 48% 29 commentsRemember that I started the defining in anticipation of talk I am giving? That talk is happening next week, in collaboration with the California Healthcare Foundation, who are working to foster next generation ideas for health care.
Based on the comments I’ve read to date, here’s what I put together:
Health 2.0 is participatory health care. The combination of content and community enables the patient to be an active partner in their own health care and the citizen to be an equal partner in improving the health system.
Here’s a summary of the improvements suggested:
Dave: add “When patients meet Web 2.0″
Andre: add “Social Media”
Jen: “Content and Community” (commerce coming)
Deborah: “Strike transition, promote participation”
Lodewijk: “Not a transition; Health 2.0 defines the combination of health data and health information with (patient) experience through the use of ICT, enabling the citizen to become an active and responsible partner in his own health and care pathway”
Gilles: ” Add ‘and equal’, add ‘informed’”
Dave: “Lodewijk + is the combination of new Web tools, health information, and patient awareness, enabling the citizen”
Susannah (offline) : “Participatory medicine”
Matthew: “Good luck”
Here’s the original:
Health 2.0 is the transition to personal, participatory health care. Everyone is invited to see what is happening in their own care and in the health care system in general, to add their ideas, and to make it better every day.
Better? Easy to discuss in an elevator, or on your way to a walking meeting?
What U. of Chicago Law School Blocking Internet Access has to do with Improving Health Care
June 5th, 2008 | Popularity: 21% 2 commentsA lot.
When I first read this story: Slashdot | U. of Chicago Law School Blocks Internet Access, and followed the comments, I realized that this is a symptom of a much larger issue. Notice especially what people say they are doing with their laptops while their professors are droning on. It might seem alarming, but I think it’s just a variant on what generations of students, young and older, have been doing for generations – doodling, playing pong, thinking, dreaming, daydreaming, you name it. This is incredible creative energy, all being wasted.
This story is playing out in adult education, medical education, and the business world in a big way.
The question asked in the Slashdot article and in every other space is, “should people pay attention better, or should there be something better to pay attention to?”
I think the latter question is the better one to ask. If we have known for a very long time that continuing medical education is largely ineffective (at enormous cost to US taxpayers who are subsidizing the travel deductions), we have a great opportunity to innovate, have fun, and learn a ton at the same time.
In the past, I have arranged convergences in a LEAN way that involved creative problem solving – no powerpoint slides. There are now unconferences, World Cafe (which I have never tried but looks interesting), BarCamp (same), and whole rooms of meeting attendees with laptops connected to the Internet that could be engaged beyond checking their e-mail. There are now options like a conference blog, wiki, and social networking site. The Health2.0 Conference did the latter in March, and I thought it was very effective.
Perhaps future CME accreditation requirements could mandate an alternate approach to meeting management. When I was in medical school, we called the easy way out the “parade of slide carousels” (I’m dating myself). I’m ready to try the more difficult way out, to inspire people to bring every ounce of creativity to the table when they are at the moment they are ready to learn. This includes social networking, walking (what a treat for an eager student to get coaching from an expert in their field), simulated (or real) rapid process improvement. This should also include the voice of the customer – in medicine, the patient.
What if the physician attendee at a conference was asked to walk with a patient for an hour, to learn about how they manage their health (I have always dreamed of a medical visit that involved a walk with a patient, maybe this the next best thing).
If we do this, we’ll then take the next step, which is harness peoples’ creativity every day, in everything they do, where they work. It will be the norm. No conference needed.
Those are my ideas off the bat. I welcome yours. And then let’s try them.
Getting out of IT prision through employee asset management; DC still growing up
March 15th, 2008 | Popularity: 64% 0 comments | Leave a replyMarch 12th through March 13th:
- DCist: Columbia Heights Target Crime Update – There’s an interesting debate going on about the value of big box retailers in urban areas. I believe a similar debate has been in play in Seattle for some time. DC is growing up. Oh, and this Target is walking distance from me.
- Business Technology : Why Businesses Banish Cool Technologies – These businesses, unlike the ones in the next link, are the ones that may find themselves challenged when it comes to recruiting GenX and GenY staff and leaders. Maybe there’s a way out, see the next link.
- Why a worker says ‘it feels like I just got out of IT prison’ | Technology | The Guardian – Employee asset ownership may be a good way for IT to support innovation in large organizations. Ask BP and Unisys. And the GenX and GenY staff that will expect to use technology to its fullest.
- AHLTA 2008 – National Forum on the Future of the Defense Health Information System; supporting care for a vulnerable population (the enlisted and returning veterans).
- Developing Rails Applications on Mac OS X Leopard – Nice guide to R on R on Leopard
Steve Jobs and Leadership Philosophy; Health Plans and AMA less EHR supportive?; Two Health2.0 Services
March 10th, 2008 | Popularity: 62% 0 comments | Leave a replyMarch 4th through March 6th:
- Steve Jobs speaks out – On his marathon Monday meetings (9) – FORTUNE – a weekly check and adjust at Apple
- S.F. equity firm launches health initiative with CalPERS, GE, others – San Francisco Business Times: – Maybe this will help California lead in Health IT.
- AMNews: March 10, 2008. Insurer finds EMRs won’t pay off for its doctors … American Medical News – Less health plans are requiring EHR adoption for P4P, and the AMA doesn’t have a policy requiring physicians to adopt them either.
- Virgin HealthMiles – As demonstrated at Health 2.0 – a pedometer program that includes a pedometer that uploads data to the Virgin HealthMiles website
- i2y – As featured at the Health 2.0 Conference. For the 68,000 GenX and GenY individuals who are diagnosed with cancer every year.
Better walking in DC; BIDMC going LEAN?; CEO Blogging; Best Companies 2008
February 7th, 2008 | Popularity: 71% 0 comments | Leave a replyFebruary 4th through February 6th:
- DC Moves for Safer Sidewalks – Get There – Washington government takes a step toward promoting walkability. Sidewalks stay open for business.Walkers rejoice!
- Apple //c – a photoset on Flickr – The OOB experience of an unopened AppleIIc computer. Remember when technology was fun? It still is. And I never even learned to program in Pascal.
- Ryanair’s Changing Altitude – Efficient cost management and charging for everything keeps margins high at RyanAir – a great example of “copy how we think” in terms of being like Southwest
- Running a hospital: More on fetching and work-arounds – BIDMC launches an improvement methodology called SPIRIT. Looks like it’s at least partially based on LEAN?
- The Health Care Blog: Bad Medicine: How The AMA Undermined Primary Care in America – Brian Klepper – Analysis of RBRVS and impact on primary care.
- The ethics of CEO blogging – Nice discussion from Paul Levy about the approach that a CEO takes to blogging. I’m in support!
- Insurers Begin To Reimburse for Online Visits, Concerns Remain – Nice profile of Kaiser Permanente’s program.
- Marriot Rolls Out Web-Based PHR System to Employees Nationwide – iHealthBeat – An employer-sponsored PHR. Will the lack of connection to the health care team be an issue?
- KUOW: Program Archive: Patient Safety, January, 2008 – Dr. Matt Handley, from Group Health Cooperative, is featured
- Best Companies 2008 – FORTUNE Magazine’s Top 100 Employers to Work For – The 2008 list is out. From an HR/Leadership perspective, it is interesting to look at some of the most important qualifications for being on the list, such as support for diversity.
The Art of the Walking Meeting
January 10th, 2008 | Popularity: 32% 6 commentsUpdate October, 2008: Here is a post about some scientific evidence that may lend credibility to the idea that a walking meeting may stimulate feelings of trust and personal warmth.
I was perusing through the Department of Veterans Affairs National Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention’s excellent December, 2007 issue of Health Power! Prevention News, and happened on a review of this systematic analysis of the impacts of using pedometers to increase physical activity and improve health (Bravata DM, Smith-Spangler C, Sundaram V, et al. Using Pedometers to Increase Physical Activity and Improve Health: A Systematic Review. Jama 2007;298:2296-304.)
So what is this? About 3 years ago now, I was offered a pedometer as part of a test of a walking challenge. I have since upgraded to a non-freebie variety, as recommended to me by Mark Graban, publisher of the well regarded LEAN Blog. In the LEAN world, pedometers are great for time-motion studies.
They have been great for bringing fitness into the work environment, too, and changing conversations. My other nickname for this is “WWW” or “work while walking” (or maybe “walk while working), and here’s the recipe:
First recorded spam; Physician Blogs; Enjoying culture of DC Neighborhoods; Empowering staff; LEAN definitions
December 24th, 2007 | Popularity: 44% 0 comments | Leave a replyDecember 24th:
- The etiquette of telecommunications | Getting the message, at last | Economist.com – The economist describes the first incident of spam, via telegraph.
- Are Suggestion ?Boxes? the Best Way to Go? | Lean Six Sigma Academy – Also interested in employee empowerment as much as patient empowerment. I should have installed one of these in my office before I went on sabbatical.
- Training Within Industry: Lean Jargon – Part III, Gemba (Genba), Genbutsu, Genjitsu – Catching up on my LEAN studies. Helpful guide to common LEAN terms. These are my favorites.
- Out of the shadow — Calman 19 (1): 170 — Health Affairs – Bearing witness to inequities for those we are trying to serve. I am having similar experiences in my work, and it has impact. Great article by Neil Calman, MD.
- Rising Popularity of Medical Blogs Raises Questions About Anonymity, Reliability – iHealthBeat – This is an important topic to me as a physician blogger. I do not blog about patient experiences except in the most general terms. At the same time, I think patients want to improve the system they get care in and we should (or I am) develop best practice
- Cultural Tourism DC – U Street Heritage Trail – Great map and walking tour of African American History. Perfect for the nation’s most walkable city
79 Day DCVersary, a Hug-In, the Dupont Circle neighborhood
December 13th, 2007 | Popularity: 44% 1 commentI missed the 60 Day mark due to travel, so this is the 79 day DCVersary. Still a green light, and greater appreciation for this environment by the day. In what other community do people respond to intolerance by staging a hug-in?
There’s a few stray links below about a recent report on RHIOs, and new “innovation” in ISPs accessing the code within Web pages for their customers – a new first.
Links for December 11th through December 12th:
- Wash. Leads Metro Areas in Walkability – people who know me well know that this is a make or break for a city. Another reason to love Washington.
- Underuse of colorectal cancer screening in a cohort of (Fee for Service) medicare beneficiaries – The study excluded managed care enrollees, so it’s really a study of fee for service Medicare, an important asterisk.
- DCist: Hug-In at Rite Aid: ‘It Feels Nice to Hug’ – What a great way to battle intolerance.
- The Shopkeeper Whose Sign Was ‘Open’ – washingtonpost.com – 14th Street Neighborhood leader Noi Chudnoff has passed away
- ZIPskinny demographic information for 20009 – WASHINGTON DC – Demographic Information about my neighborhood
- Dupont Circle Business Networking – Historic Dupont Circle Main Streets – 17th Street is getting a makeover. It looks like Plan B is more elaborate
- The State Of Regional Health Information Organizations: Current Activities And Financing — Adler-Milstein et al., 10.1377/hlthaff.27.1.w60 — Health Affairs – I admit, I have at times gotten in trouble for not being supportive of RHIOs.
- Lauren Weinstein’s Blog: Google Hijacked — Major ISP to Intercept and Modify Web Pages – ISP Content filtering now hits individual Web pages
- What Is Management’s Role in Innovation? ? HBS Working Knowledge – Nice discussion in the comments. I think there is a role, and some of the comments talk about what that role is.
Blog commentary, an idea for a Wellness Trust, Employers sponsoring less insurance
December 13th, 2007 | Popularity: 25% 0 comments | Leave a replyDecember 4th through December 10th:
- A Wellness Trust to Prioritize Disease Prevention – Brookings Institution –
- Blog Schmog – www.healthleadersmedia.com – Tips on how to blog well, from a blogophobe (self-described)
- Smaller percentage of small firms covering health – Washington Business Journal: – More individuals will be responsible for the cost of their care
- Revolution Health Group buys 2 Web companies – Washington Business Journal: – Revolution now has employees in Seattle….
I *heart* New York (and their pedometers especially)
October 4th, 2007 | Popularity: 11% 2 comments
Today marked a bit of a milestone for me in that my company issued pedometer died. I’ve been walking with it non-stop since 2004 – it was my permanent company brand. The thing about pedometers is that you can’t really buy them easily, but you can get them because so many organizations give them away. So today, courtesy of the Clinical Systems Improvement Group in the New York Department of Health and Mental Hygeine, I got rebranded. I’m still trying to evangelize the walking meeting here, but I admit it’s a little hard if the humidity is at a level that makes you want to duck into the nearest air conditioned space.
I spent the morning in the South Bronx, visiting one of the Institute’s facilities and meeting with leaders of Urban Health Plan, and then in the afternoon with folks from Clinical Systems Improvement. I will detail that information on the PCHIT blog when it’s up.
One thing I notice about New York is that people walk as fast as I do here (well, some of them do). It’s good that I can count my steps again.
