Expecting Perfection

Someone asked me the other day at what point did health care change to where absolute perfection became the expectation by patients, government regulators, politicians and the media? A very valid question in this day and age.  To answer that question, I think back to a quote from the Institute for Healthcare Improvement's Jim Conway, "Our systems are too complex to expect merely extraordinary people to perform perfectly 100% of the time.  We, as leaders, must put in place systems that support great practice by people who suffer from being human and will make mistakes.  We must have systems that catch our humanness before it gets to patients and causes harm." At WMHS, we have state-of-the- art technology and a staff dedicated to providing the most effective and efficient care.  Are we perfect all of the time?  No, but we strive to be.  When we are not, we inform our patients and work to right the situation.  You can't ask for much more from a values based organization that focuses exclusively on the care of the patient.