These three words have managed to make it into our lexicon and I really dislike the phrase, conceptually I fully support these three words.  Since the turn of the century, all levels of any one in health care calls themselves Health care providers and want to be actively involved in recognition and treatment decisions of the patient experience…

So what defines the patient experience and when does it begin and when does it end? When a patient suddenly goes south and life leaves them do they still feel as part of the team? Do they participate and support bringing them back to life? What about the horror of death and the liability of medical treatment? one moment of misjudgment and your decision can mean the life or death of the person in front of you…

In my experience, I have been at the bedside when that patients lips turn blue, the line on the monitor is flat and all health care providers are now scrambling out of the room, it is usually myself, a nurse and usually a resident or medical student trying to bring this patient whom one foot is on the banana peel and the other foot is on the autopsy table…

Where are all the damn health care providers?? My guess is that when all is going well everyone wants a piece of the pie, when things go south, no one wants the responsibility nor the accountability or liability. I have had the opportunity to serve on many committees to review deaths in a hospital, I always wonder why we all are so afraid to speak up? Where are all the health care providers? I am usually the elephant in the room saying, “we screwed up”… much like a murder, the previous twenty four hours prior to death, many signs and signals that were not apparent become very clear.

I argue that health care providers should also be involved and dissected in their part of the complication of a patient, much like an administrative autopsy. You can’t rejoice in the positive and disappear when things go wrong, this concept brings me back to team work, when you work and play as a team, you share the joy of a championship, you also share the trials of losing…