Monday, May 27, 2013

Kaizen Curmudgeon for Seniors


A little history:  The Kaizen Curmudgeon blog was founded in May 2007.  Its original focus was on Lean (a management culture used by Affinity and ThedaCare), leadership, and health care.  Until January 2012 the blog was sponsored by the Performance Excellence Team at Affinity Health System.  Kaizen Curmudgeon is presently independent and authored by Dwight Easty in Ridgeview Highlands, apartment 1643.  He is advised by a three-person editorial board that includes one physician.

Although the blog’s original mission has not been abandoned, its focus is shifting toward health care and topics of interest to senior citizens.  Regrettably, new readers of Kaizen Curmudgeon will have missed many of the early years’ postings that would have been of value.  To help them “catch up,” there will be a link to a pertinent archived posting at the end of each new posting.

In every posting’s right margin is a paragraph titled About Me; it is actually about the blog’s fictional protagonists as well as the author.  (It neglects to mention that the fictional Kaizen Curmudgeon is the author’s alter ego.)  Also in the margin is the blog archive showing dates but not titles and a blank where one can subscribe (free) to the blog by entering his/her email address.  And to further aid new readers, attached below is a partial table of contents showing titles and posting dates of articles of potential interest to senior citizens.  Some—but not all—of the dates are hyperlinks to the original posting.

“So, Jaded Julie, what do you think of that idea?”

“It’s great, Curmudge.  Your fellow residents of the old folks’ home should find the postings interesting, possibly more so than the blog’s original readers.”

“Julie!  It’s not an ‘old folks home.’  It’s a senior citizen apartment community.  My building has a heated underground garage, it is nonsmoking, and it is never noisy.  For me, it is the perfect place to live.  Residents may be as young as 55, go to work every day, and of course are more active than I am.”

“Thank goodness.  If they weren’t they would be dead.”

“Julie, you are incorrigible!”

“I try, but the old geezer who writes this stuff has the last word.  Every few years you have a good idea.  The last one was six years ago when you conjured up my name.  Keep up the good work.”

“Thanks for the reassurance, Jaded Julie.  What would I do without you?”

Kaizen Curmudgeon—Contents of Interest to Seniors

Kaizen Curmudgeon Blog Title—Date Posted

The Curmudgeon and Jaded Julie Talk About Names—5/23/07
Nursing—The Curmudgeon Shadows Jaded Julie—7/26/07
Stan’s Story—10/30/08
Patient Safety—All postings between 11/06/08 and 3/12/09 except 12/18/08
Patient Safety—Infections 2—2/05/09
Patient Safety—Human Factors—2/19/09
Patient-Centered Communications—6/11/09
Communicate—Think—Diagnose—Communicate—6/18/09
Physicians and Lean—6/25/09
Primary Care in 1940—(Doc on call 24/7.)—8/20/09
More About Primary Care in 1940—8/27/09
Mistakes—mnemonics, sleep deprivation—4/01/10
Mistakes 2—standard work, checklists, ‘Isabel’—4/08/10
Mistakes 3—necessary fallibility--7/22/10, see also 2/19/09
Amazing Devices—AutoAnalyzer, pulse oximeter—8/05/10
Amazing Devices 2—Library resources, PDA Road Map—8/12/10 (already out of date)
Amazing Devices 4—ultrasound, electronic stethoscope—9/09/10
A Day in a Hospital in Prague—4/23/09
Brand and Generic Drug Names—5/14/09
Volunteering: the Seniors’ Raison D’être--1/07/10
Lean Lessons from Long Ago--2/25/10
A Culture of Elegance--3/25/10
Hey patients, checklists are okay.--4/29/10
Twice Blessed--5/13/10
Judgment--6/18/10
AIDET for Physicians—10/01/09
AIDET Redux--7/01/10
Docs on a Treadmill--7/15/10
Evidence-Based Medicine—The Patient’s Perspective--9/23/10
Evidence-Based Medicine 2—review articles, clinical trials--9/30/10
Evidence-Based Medicine 3—evaluating the literature--10/14/10
Evidence-Based Medicine 4—“Will it help my patient?--10/14/10
Evidence-Based Medicine 5—getting a second opinion--10/21/10
The Robot--11/03/10
Superbugs--11/04/10
Stan’s Story Redux—12/29/10
The Middle Years—2/09/11
Way to go!—The value of an advance directive.--2/17/11
Way to go! 2—The end is near,--2/24/11
The Old Men’s Table—4/18/11
The Crystal Ball 4—5/12/11
The Crystal Ball 5—5/19/11
The Crystal Ball 6—5/31/11
The Crystal Ball 7—6/03/11
The Crystal Ball 8—6/13/11
Conventional Wisdom—8/08/11
Sepsis—introduction, pathogenesis--8/26/11
Sepsis 2—diagnosis, management—9/07/11
Sepsis 3—resuscitation bundles—9/15/11
The Bad, Good Medication (prednisone)—9/23/11
Flow—1/13/12
Standardized Clinical Processes—2/16/12
Explanation—3/01/12
Doc Talks—Introduction—4/02/12
The Teamwork-Artistry Spectrum—4/08/12
Docs and Teamwork—4/15/12
Specialists—Introduction—4/22/12
Why Physicians Choose Specialties—4/28/12
A Puzzlement—7/08/12
Complex Systems (e.g., health care)—7/15/12
Health Care Elsewhere—7/29/12
Health Care Elsewhere 2—8/05/12
Health Care Here.  How might it change?—8/12/12
Health Care Here.  Further thoughts on changes.—8/19/12
Emotional Intelligence—Introduction—11/27/12
Emotional Intelligence 2—12/06/12
Risks and Fears—Introduction—1/03/13
Risks and Fears—Examples—1/13//13
Risks and Fears 3—(The Old Risks and Benefits File)—1/20/13
Bloggers—Affiliated or Independent—1/27/13
The Ordeal 1 (cancer chemotherapy)—2/04/13
The Ordeal 2—2/10/13
The Ordeal 3—Summary—2/16/13
Unconventional Wisdom 1—2/28/13
Unconventional Wisdom 2—Mice in the Laboratory—3/07/13
Unconventional Wisdom 3—Epidemiology—3/20/13
Unconventional Wisdom 4—Radiation Background—4/01/13
Unconventional Wisdom 5—How much?  How does it work?—4/15/13

Unconventional Wisdom 6—Policy Issues—4/24/13

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