How's your new year?

Did you make a resolution or set any goals for 2021? How’s it going? I was talking to a friend of mine recently who was frustrated with 2020…he had a health-related goal and failed to reach it. He was a bit dejected by the whole thing, but as we talked about it, he came to terms that 2020 was a good year to establish a baseline. He had no real idea what 2019, or prior years looked like. Now he had the historical reference with which to truly compare and assess himself. He had data. He’s motivated for 2021 because he knows with facts, not just feelings, where he stands. And so three weeks in he’s crushing it.

There are all sorts of digital tools to track performance and goals. Some people love spreadsheets, and there are a boatloads of apps that are focused on whatever part of your life you want to measure. On the personal side, I love to use Strava for running, biking and other exercise activities; I started intermittent fasting a year ago and really appreciate the daily motivation of the Zero app; and TripCase to track personal and work travel (I spent more nights in a tent than I did in a hotel last year due to the pandemic; go figure). I’ve got years of data I can review and use to assess where I am. 

This week we launched StartBox at a new surgery center. These guys are great, they provide best in class care, and they have not had any wrong site surgeries. But they know there are always opportunities to improve patient care, and so they committed to start tracking their data in 2021, not only to prevent wrong site surgeries but also to capture errors and near misses in order to improve their processes and communication. As their experience grows, they will be able to not only qualify their commitment to excellence, but quantify it with objective real-time data utilizing the StartBox System.

Reach out to us now and commit to making 2021 a new year to advance patient safety with StartBox. Make a resolution to protect the patient every step of the way, from the decision in the doctor’s office to the incision in the operating room. And crush wrong site surgery.