Outpatient Surgery Magazine, providing current information on Surgical Services, Surgical Facility Administration, Outpatient Surgery News and Trends, OR Excellence and more.
Issue link: http://outpatientsurgery.uberflip.com/i/685863
1 6 S U P P L E M E N T T O O U T P A T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E J U N E 2 0 1 6 and how to sit with families who have lost a loved one. But if you're a doctor, you're not prepared for that, and it's a huge task if you don't have the tools to do it. • Honesty trumps all. Always be open and honest with patients and families, even when it's painful and difficult. Most of the time it's difficult, but it's always the better policy to tell the truth and deal with the situation. When we're more open and honest, yes, we have to deal with unfortunate cir- cumstances, yes, we have to deal with the fallout from bad events, like my son's case, but it's much better to deal with all that when it happens than to try to deal with it 5 years down the road, when the truth comes out anyway. • On using personal tragedy for good. A tragic string of ½ second moments changed my life forever. At OR Excellence, I'll share my story of hope, healing and forgiveness. When you're faced with tough choices, in a ½ second you will make a decision that will start a ripple, and that ripple will make a wave. If you choose to start with excellence, then those around you will rise to excellence and they will ride the crest of that wave with you. But if you choose to compro- mise in the next ½ second, it may change you and it may change someone else forever. A nurse in Savannah decided one day that she wanted to cut a corner and in that ½ second it changed who I am forever. • TRAGIC TURN Days after surviving a car accident that killed his mother, 17- month-old Josh Barron lost his life as a result of a medication error in the hospi- tal where he was recovering from his head injuries. This is the last picture of OR Excellence speaker Ridley Barron, who broke his shoulder, with his son.