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
