Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self. - Cyril Connolly
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
Inspection
Sorry internet - it's going to be quiet on Broadsheet this week and perhaps next week as well. I even had to cancel a much anticipated lunch with Snay yesterday.
You see, something known as the JCAHO showed up on our doorstep yesterday for their tri-annual onslaught and inspection of nearly every process, policy and procedure throughout our hospital. In the world of Hospital Administration, it is the equivalent of answering a knock on your door, only to find Mike Wallace and a camera crew standing there and saying "Hi! We're from 60 Minutes. Can we get your comment on a few things?" - Bad juju. VERY bad juju.
Anyway - everyone here has their panties in a bunch, and it looks like I'll pretty much be living at work for the foreseeable future. I was here from 7:00 AM - 9:00 PM yesterday, and today's looking about the same.
Thank your lucky stars that you're not an administrator at King/Drew Medical Center in LA. So far, they have failed inspections by JCAHO, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the California Department of Health Services...It's actually a tragic story. The hospital and medical center were founded in response to the Watts riots in the 1960s, and the medical school has played an important role in the training of minority students (David Satcher, MD graduated from Drew). But they have been subjected to 40 years of a strange combination of failed oversight and political micro-management by the LA County Supervisors.
I could tell you how long it took to get that tie tied properly but you wouldn't believe me.