On Football, Palliative Care, and Quality Measurement

by Arif Kamal (@arifkamalmd)Transition into the Fall months means one thing for a boy like me from the Midwest – it’s football season. Snare drum cadences, referee whistles, and the crunch of linemen helmets were the soundtrack to many memorable evenings growing up. In football, winning requires strategy and execution, while embracing the humility that even the most exquisite gameplan, well steeped in planning and expertise, can fall flat. Though the two worlds seem unrelated, I often think of football analogies when approaching palliative care quality improvement.Football offenses across college and professional leagues are increasingly calling the Run-Pass-Option (or RPO for short). In the RPO, a quarterback has three choices after the snap – hand the ball off to a running back, pass the ball to a wide receiver, or start running the ball himself. The overall goal is to keep defenses guessing, while matriculating the ball down the field efficiently. Based on the situation, the quarterback chooses where the ball will go. For example , if time is short and there are no timeouts, the quarterback may choose to throw a long pass to a wide receiver streaking down the sideline to both gain yards and stop the clock. If the defense is playing back, then the quarterback may run the ball himself for a big gain. Notice that all three op tions (throw, running back run, quarterback run) are always available, can meet the goal of moving the ball down the field, but are decided upon ...
Source: Pallimed: A Hospice and Palliative Medicine Blog - Category: Palliative Care Tags: conference kamal patient reported outcomes quality improvement Source Type: blogs