by Nick Jacobs

"Compassion is not weakness, and concern for the unfortunate is not socialism." (Hubert H Humphrey)

Each and every day hospital executives are faced with the reality of the sometimes overwhelming responsibility of ensuring that life is carefully delivered, maintained and eventually transitioned. We are ultimately responsible for the appropriate management of resources, allocation of funds and commitment to excellence that allows all of these life transition situations to be addressed appropriately.

In addition, we face the challenges of probability and statistics as we attempt to deal with whatever the odds parse out. Some days the chiller stops and the house heats up. Some days we have a crush of sick people who all hit the emergency room at the same time, and each time we think the day is running smoothly, a piece of equipment breaks or one of our twenty plus regulatory agencies shows up with a check list. It's all part of the day.

When you think about running a $50M, $100 M or $1B business with 500, 1000 or 30,000 employees, consider that each one of them typically represents a family of four. Consider the fact that each and every one of those family members in some way, shape or form also come under the umbrella of your responsibility.

If that isn't enough for you to consider, then consider this one. Think about what it would take to look into the eyes of a family member who's loved one died because of something that one of your physicians or employees might have either done or failed to do. That would be my most dreaded experience.

The burdens of leadership are all put to task when the added responsibility includes life and death situations.

Because of the intensity of this role, quality assurance, risk management, and six-sigma perfection are all realities of our day to day activities. There also is a tendency, however, in this world of health care to create protective mechanisms, to insulate, to attempt to limit access and to prevent pain to oneself. This is achieved in many ways by self-talk. Rationalizing of each and every situation to create the space needed to keep it unreal.

We do this by becoming the sun around which the planets are forced to orbit. We become the center of the universe, and we completely strip the power away from those for whom we have been hired to protect and nurture. That is Employee Centered Care.

It has been my philosophy to have an open door policy, to provide transparency in every way possible, to reach out with compassion.

Interestingly, the most difficult part of leading such an organization with compassion includes development of the skills necessary to cope with the social fabric present and with the previous training of the employees and other stakeholders. In our current world order where tough is a daily requirement; compassion is many times interpreted as weakness. Instead, compassion needs to be a daily requirement. Do unto to others as you would have others do unto you.