Learning > How much responsibility should you assume?

That’s the question I ask myself after years of helping professionals attract individuals to their practice for the delivery of services that in some way we hope will change their lives for the better.

It’s interesting that for a long time I placed my attention on the successful actions I conducted on behalf of my clients and the resulting numbers that measure effectiveness.

I was proud of the effect created and so were the many professionals on the receiving end of the added business. In the case of medical professionals, all those patients treated to healthier lives, all those procedures delivered that otherwise would have fallen by the proverbial wayside. What a magnanimous contribution on my part towards the health of the public at large and the financial security of myself and the dentists.

I now have adopted a new viewpoint that tends to cause me a bit of embarrassment, and I’m not so sure that many of you reading this shouldn’t be feeling it too. Responsibility has reared its ugly head.

While we are busily admiring ourselves for a job well done (and why not with all those healthier individuals out there) we completely forgot about those who didn’t respond to our invitations to attend their own enhancement.

I can’t help but feel a bit of sorrow when I contemplate the degree to which my efforts were and are incomplete. Who is going to take responsibility for those lost souls who don’t know enough about what’s best for them if we don’t. Who’s going to let them know that they could and should take care of their bodies and be healthy.

The only reason someone wouldn’t regularly maintain their health is lack of information. They just don’t know better. And if you don’t see your role as an educator to be part of your responsibility in this profession, we have a real problem.

There lies the essence of our error. So much of our focus is placed on what we’ve done right that we have become immune to the real measure of a job well done.

Let’s look at a single individual to crystallize the point. A resident of your community doesn’t have a good understanding of the need for regular checkups and doesn’t get them. Therefore problems are not diagnosed and the problem becomes more serious.

The problem is also worsened by the fact that this person doesn’t see the need for their spouse or children to get checkups either. Just how effective can you be with the latest technology in equipment and technique perfected if a guy down the street doesn’t even know you are there and what you can do to enhance his life?

If a doctor decided that his or her primary job was to create a completely informed community concerning health for life and the delivery of actual services was secondary, everyone would come out on top.

You, as a physician, couldn’t handle all the business in your respective neighborhood if every member followed your recommendations concerning checkups and needed procedures. You’d be so overwhelmed that you wouldn’t have time to say ÒuncleÓ. Not to mention the fact that you could look in the mirror and see a responsible professional doing the whole job in the strictest sense, which is the only job that really matters anyway.

My recommendation to you is to stake a claim to the territory you plan to be responsible for and create there a well informed population that does the right thing.

Let’s put our attention on the ones that got away and use the skills we have to improve the lives of everyone. We’ll all be better off for it.