HealthLeaders: Why a Hospital CEO Views Burnout as a 'Complex' Problem, Not Rocket Science
By Jay Asser
When hospital leaders try to fix workforce burnout, they often respond by reaching for the same tools to quantify solutions.
Pro formas and ROI models can be useful for alleviating strain, but Dr. Alejandro Quiroga, president and CEO of Children's Mercy Kansas City, believes that approach misses the point.
"A complicated problem has a solution that you can know the answer ahead," Quiroga tells HealthLeaders. "Sending a rocket to the moon is a complicated, not a complex problem. Why? People have done it."
Burnout, he argues, is not that kind of problem because it's complex, and "a complex problem doesn't have a solvable answer."
The distinction of complex versus complicated has become foundational to how Quiroga approaches workforce challenges. In his view, healthcare leaders often apply engineering-style thinking to problems that are human and adaptive at their core.
Read the full article via HealthLeaders