Where’s Mom?
So if you’re looking to hire, try mom, because to be honest she’s already here, working 2 jobs, listening because you aren’t, paying attention because it’s in her DNA, picking up the pieces, and then saving the day when it matters most….
Eileen is a mom who moonlights as a hospital nurse - she once told me that she figured out a way to limit 7-day and 30-day readmissions – “This was 2010,” she said, “not long after the government started its penalties for patients readmitted back to hospitals. We realized at Yale that readmits were like 5x lower when the word “mother” or “mom” appeared somewhere in our medical notes, so when mom wasn’t in the ER or inpatient discharge encounter with the patient, boy our antenna went up that things could go sideways … we set up a protocol to improve discharge instructions and follow up within 24 hours.” If I’ve learned one thing in my 52 years, about 24 of them married with kids, I’ll admit it’s that moms listen and hear really well, particularly in a crisis, and sure do have a knack for motivation. Eileen’s story is relevant as the nation invests heavily in AI systems to capture the exam room encounter with written details to help patients and caregivers who get home, only to realize they didn’t listen and don’t have the foggiest idea what it is they are supposed to do. It seems to me this is a great invention, but I do wonder if it’ll move the needle on lifestyle changes and following doctors’ orders in the same way as mom yelling at us to run around the block or do our homework, in that way that makes you kinda just want to laugh and cry and, above all, not let her down. “You heard your teacher – put down the Space Invaders, get off your fannies, run around the block 5x—no 10—then pick up that book already,” mom would holler at us. On this Mother’s Day weekend, hats off to moms who show up and take note. Or as Reese Whitherspoon once said – “if you aren’t yelling at your kids, you’re not spending enough time with them.”
Writer’s note: Thanks to my mom and to my bride Bridget for all the times they show up, listen when I’m not and, when needed, yell at the kids. Love ya…