In Innovation Projects, Mayo Physicians See Their Roles Anew

A series of remarkable, documentary-style video interviews, present five Mayo physicians describing the very individual but very similar personal journeys of physicians deeply trained in the science of medicine, who now are striving to master medicine as an art. Created by the Yale School of Management as part of an online, multimedia case study of the [...]

The Medical Icons of Vernon Smith, M.D.

A sample of computer icons created by Vernon Smith, M.D., Mayo Clinic. These icons are used in the “YES Board”, a communication device created with assistance and funding from the Mayo Clinic Center for Innovation. A hospital emergency room is just about the last place one would expect to find a very particular, highly sophisticated, [...]

Devola Funk’s Health Care Reminder: “You feel healthier when you’re dressed.”

“Exam” side of the Jack-and-Jill room A Mayo Clinic patient, Devola Funk, said something to me the other day that stopped me in my tracks and got me thinking. “When I’m dressed I feel healthier than I do in a paper gown,” Ms. Funk said. I was absolutely stunned to hear how she had so [...]

What is the ROI on love”

Susannah Fox has crafted a wonderful post on the thread of “Love”, that ran through Transform2010. A beautiful image, and I see it now, thanks to her words. Enjoy, and ponder the return on YOUR investments as you read What is the ROI on Love.

The Artist, the Scientist and the Doctor in Each of Us

What is immensely hopeful is that the new science of morality offers a foundational, empirical, legitimizing rationale for health care designers to ply their trade.

Instead of being seen merely as artists whose skills are primarily aesthetic, or even simply decorative, the new science of morality connects design principles directly to the life and death matter of human healing. The affinity of aesthetics and morality, once celebrated mainly by poets, artists and philosophers, is now a proven scientific fact.

Viewed through the lens of this new perspective on human nature, designers should and must be regarded as full and active collaborators in the health care process.

Thinking About Life, Death and Design at Transform 2010

More than anything, the recent two-day symposium at Mayo Clinic – “Transform 2010—Thinking Differently about Health Care” – got me reflecting about how we make moral decisions as human beings.

This question was to me the sparkling golden thread running through the symposium’s 42 brilliant presentations offered by clinicians, surgeons, nurses, computer programmers, human rights activists, inventors, social workers and many others who brought their mighty passion for healing to bear on a single stubborn problem – the conundrum of human suffering.

A Sock, A Clown’s Story and Other Tales of Health and Care

What do we mean by the word “health?” Can there be different definitions of health in different countries, states and regions around the world? If that is the case, how then can we learn important lessons from each other about how to stay healthy, as we must?

Hardly a symposium of limited ambition, “Transform 2010: Thinking Differently About Health Care,” sponsored by the Mayo Clinic’s Center for Innovation, hosted a group of speakers who took on such big questions.

Get a taste of the Transform Symposium

No one would suggest attending an educational symposium simply for the food. Well, maybe no one but us. But the food at next week’s Transform2010: Thinking Differently About Health Care may be more interesting than most, and it’s a great match for the mood of the symposium. As you might guess, there’s a story behind [...]

It’s not too late to be part of Transform

Join us for T R A N S F O R M 2010: Thinking Differently About Health Care September 12 to 14 | Seats are filling fast! Over 30 Great speakers! Follow us on Twitter #txfm10

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius visits Mayo Clinic

On Thursday, June 3, 2010 HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius visited Mayo Clinic to learn about innovative projects for improving health care delivery. How thrilling that much of the meeting took place in the Center for Innovation. Mayo Clinic speakers included CEO John Noseworthy, M.D., Michael Harper, M.D., Doug Wood, M.D. and Nina Schwenk, M.D. Watch [...]