A New Year to do Better
Dear Readers:
To you all, Happy New Year. It is not lost on me that this first month of the year is almost always a time that we as humans (no matter our ethno-religious background) tend to make various resolutions. In general, these can be summed up as “do better.” In most cases, I would guess that these resolutions tend to be inward-looking, eg, lose 10 pounds, eat fewer processed foods, work out daily, read a new book every month, among others.
However, I put forward that it is also a good time to look to the care of our patients. There is an opportunity to expand our minds when we see a new patient, and especially a new problem. One can commit to reading a new article or researching a new topic weekly. If we were to follow Mahatma Gandhi’s statement of “You must be the change you want to see in the world,” then we should also think: “how do we want this patient to be taken care of”? This is a time of year to re-evaluate and perhaps streamline the diagnostic process and our attempts to provide the most targeted algorithm of care in the most educational, efficient, and caring method possible.
Most of us work in a system that allows us only to make certain decisions. Knowing when to try to change that system is paramount to our happiness. Whether our electronic medical record does not work for us, patient scheduling is not what we think it should be for patient care, or access to outpatient materials is not as streamlined, this is the time to make a list of what we can do better and work on it to improve the care of our patients. Making this list will also allow you as caregivers, and patient advocates, to realize your priorities. In my experience, one key to professional tranquility is to recognize that which I do not wish to make the effort to change, that which I am going to try to change, and that which I simply cannot change. Putting the things that we do in our day-to-day life as clinicians in these buckets also allows us to look at all the things that work right in our practice and for our patients. We can take joy in these little victories.
We have all chosen a very noble task—taking care of others—that we should remember as we enter this new year; therefore, we can be more joyous in our daily perspective, more caring in our daily activities, and more equitable in how we treat others. In this coming year, we as a journal hope to be more collaborative with our authors, more thoughtful in our editorial processes, and more concerned about the quality of our work. We look forward to partnering with you, our readers, to continue to be better.
John C. Lantis II, MD
Editor-in-Chief, Wounds
woundseditor@hmpglobal.com
