Cheap solutions to big problems work better; small is the new big

In a hilarious TED talk, marketing expert Rory Sutherland points out the counter productive trend to throw big money at problems when, in fact, small changes are often more effective. The talk does touch on health care – at about four and half minutes into the video he describes a link between childhood immunizations and lentils. At the end of the video (only 12:37 total, you will be hooked after 30 seconds) he describes the job I want – Chief Detail Officer.

In another TED talk, Paul Bennett of Ideo gives convincing evidence that small is the new big and the importance of finding design in the details. The health care hooks include tracking experience of care from the patient’s perspective (I know, but it is new for the people who run hospitals) and data input device designs that allow nurses to hold patients’ hands during scary procedures. My favorite quote from the video – the blinding glimpse of the bleeding obvious. I’ll be using that a lot.
Ellen Andrews