Today on this 75th Anniversary of the founding of the World Health Organization, it is World Health Day. The focus on Health for All resonates in our exam rooms, communities, nation, and world more than ever. As we strive to improve the health of each individual by addressing barriers to care, remember the all needs to include healthcare professionals.
Barriers come in many forms. Access, compliance, education, resources, and time are just a few. You and your patients face your own. The barriers stand between the care you know your patients need and their health. That gap may create a moral distress for you. Cumulatively these gaps may lead to moral injury. You may find your health is more dependent on your care than you realize.
As you take the time to reflect on what health for all means, I suggest reading Wendy Dean, MD and Simon Talbot, MD's newly released book, If I Betray These Words: Moral Injury in Medicine and Why It’s So Hard for Clinicians to Put Patients First. They examine real examples of moral distress to find solutions.
As we strive for Health for All, let’s find solutions that improve the health of all.
Herb Schumm, MD
Board Member, Coalition for Physician Well-Being
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