How Do We Add Mission to An Admission?

September 10, 2013

Great question. Great pun, too.  However, in the current period of HCAHPS, patient engagement, employee engagement, patient satisfaction, without a mission, how can you ever reasonably expect to provide quality healthcare?

And, I am not referring to the mission that is well framed and mounted in your administration office or hung in the lobby.  I mean what really matters to each of us, at our core — why we get up in the morning, and what guides our actions and decisions.

So adding a mission to an admission implies that for each admitted patient, whether to the ER or the hospital, a mission must accompany every event,  intervention, protocol, test — everything. If not, the respect patients deserve as an individuals will be lost.

As a musician, playing an instrument without mission means that one is a mechanic with technical prowess.  I’ve read that it takes an IQ of only 40 to play an instrument.  However, to be a musician and stir the hearts of your listeners is hardly mechanical.

Treating a patient with compassion and empathy, being sensitive to his or her situation and integrating your humanity with your skills is hardly mechanical either.

So, mission — what really matters?  What are you bringing to this situation that only you can bring because who you are is unique to you?

I have zero tolerance for doing something that has no meaning for me.  That’s probably why I performed for 25 years and then had to manifest the music in another way by creating The C.A.R.E. Channel. Because what mattered to me was more than my skill as a musician and what brought meaning to my life was far more relevant than a standing ovation.

Those of you who know me have heard me say this. For those of you who don’t, both my husband Dallas and I needed more than musical perfection.  We wanted more than could be offered by the pursuit of recording contracts, managers, and all else that cloaks the music industry.

And, each of The C.A.R.E. Channel artists have come to us with the same goals: to move beyond success to meaning.  We specifically don’t put artist/composer credits on The C.A.R.E. Channel so as not to burden or distract patients and families.  So, all of us C.A.R.E. Artists have had to rearrange our professional goals to make room for our individual missions.

What matters?  To feel alive, the stakes have to be electric; and to be electric some connection must be made between who you are and what you are doing. Once made, the connection brings to life what matters.

Do you add mission to your admissions?