December is the time for reflection. For the last few years, I have found a great way to do that – by watching TED talks. The TED talk phenomenon is an example of how digital media enable the spread of ideas. In an effort to inspire you, both in life and in practice, I’m sharing nine of my favorite TED talks that range from digital medicine to meditation, from healthcare costs to healthcare transformation, and from happiness to introspection. Find the time in the next month or so to watch a few of these. You will be grateful for 2014 and inspired for 2015.
Stefan Larsson, “What Doctors Can Learn From Each Other,” October 2013
A physician and value-based health care advocate, Dr. Larsson argues for a paradigm shift in health care. He asks, “With our ever-increasing focus on costs, are we forgetting about the patient?” Through concrete examples, he argues that health care leaders should focus not only on quality over cost, but also that doing so will lead to overall lower costs and better care delivery.
Daniel Kraft, “Medicine’s future? There’s an app for that,” April 2011
In this fast-paced, energetic presentation, Kraft, a physician, scientist, and innovator, explores exponential technologies such as robotics and artificial intelligence, and how they are radically transforming health care. He argues that these technologies will usher in an “era of digital medicine,” (which has already begun), and will ultimately make care delivery faster, smaller, cheaper, and better.
Atul Gawande, “How do we heal medicine?” February 2012
Dr. Gawande, a Harvard surgeon, researcher, and writer, argues that health care needs fewer cowboys and more pit crews. The problem is that physicians have been trained, hired, and rewarded to be cowboys, or rugged individuals. Gawande says that medicine is obsessed with components – we want the best specialists, the best drugs, the best tests. But at what cost? He calls for medicine to be a system in which we can recognize both success and failure, and design solutions for the failures. His answer: a checklist. In a study of eight hospitals in eight different countries that implemented checklists for surgery, they found complication rates fell 35% and death rates fell 47%. The truth: As individualistic as we want to be, complexity requires group success.
Rebecca Onie, “What if our health care system kept us healthy?” June 2012
What if a physician could write a prescription for food, shelter, or heat for their patients to give them the basic resources they needed to be healthy? That’s exactly what’s happening in clinics in which Health Leads operate. Ms. Onie, a cofounder of Health Leads, has helped more than 9,000 families to receive the basic necessities for their health. She argues that this system not only allows physicians to manage patients’ diseases, but also to improve patients’ health.
Dan Pink, “The Puzzle of motivation,” July 2009
If you want your employees to work better, faster, and more creatively, then you should dangle a sweeter carrot in front of them. Right? Not so fast. In this intriguing talk, Pink blasts a hole in the belief that bigger rewards produce better results. In tasks that require heuristic thinking, larger rewards typically lead to poorer performance. Therefore, he advocates developing intrinsic motivation by focusing on autonomy, mastery, and purpose.
Matthieu Ricard, “The Habits of Happiness,” February 2004
With dozens of headlines screaming about doctor dissatisfaction, it might not be a bad idea to watch Matthieu Ricard’s video about achieving happiness. We all seek happiness and avoid suffering, yet for most us happiness comes in fleeting glimpses. What if happiness was something you could experience daily? Mr. Ricard, a French biochemist turned Buddhist monk, says you can. He believes that practicing meditation can put us in touch with our emotions (both good and bad), cultivate compassion toward others, and ultimately achieve happiness and fulfillment.
Graham Hill, “Less stuff, more happiness,” March 2011
In this video, Mr. Hill, the founder of LifeEdited , shares his story of buying a 420-square-foot apartment then designing it so it can include an office, a bed, a kitchen, and a table large enough for a dinner party of 10 people. (Spoiler alert: He gets it all.) His premise is simple: Having less stuff gives you more freedom and time, which will ultimately make room for more of the good stuff in life.
Louie Schwartzberg, “Nature. Beauty. Gratitude,” June 2011
In this beautiful and poignant video, Schwartzberg, a cinematographer who has been shooting time-lapsed flowers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for more than 30 years, shares his illuminating images and encourages us to more fully and mindfully connect with the people, places, and things around us. He shares two interviews about nature and gratitude, one from the perspective of a young child, the other from an elderly man. The underlying message in both is that nature’s beauty is a gift that cultivates appreciation and gratitude in us that we can then pass on to others.
OK, I’m going to include one more TED talk, which is mine. I presented “Reinventing physicians” in 2011 at TEDxPennQuarter. I hope you enjoy it.
Dr. Benabio is a partner physician in the department of dermatology of the Southern California Permanente Group in San Diego, and volunteer clinical assistant professor at the University of California, San Diego. Dr. Benabio is @dermdoc on Twitter.
