| June 13, 2000 | 03 00050 61 00061302 |
Mr. Steven K. Olsen, DDS,
admin@embarcaderodentistry.com
Steven K. Olsen, DDS.
Two Embarcadero Center, Podium Level
San Francisco, CA 94111
| Subject: | Medical Mistakes Reduced by Literacy |
Dear Steve,
Thanks very much for fitting me in on short notice to fix an emergency dental issue. I always enjoy the professional and timely work you and your team routinely provide.
Thanks, too, for suggestions in our visit today about contacting Soquoia Hospital to pilot test methods for reducing medical mistakes. This method uses email and the Internet in a unique, and powerful new way that augments human intelligence. If you have time to explore the links in this letter, you may get a sense of this potential to strengthen medical practice, indeed all forms of knowledge managemnt.
As I mentioned, Clarence Braddock at the University of Washington sent a letter on Sunday asking about progress helping Kaiser implement its requirements for improving care using a doctor/patient partnership model. My response to Doctor Braddock covers some of the ideas you mentioned today about writing things down to avoid mistakes due to limited span of attention that cause meaning drift.
Thanks again for your ideas, and for excellent patient care.
Sincerely,
THE WELCH COMPANY
Rod Welch
rowelch@attglobal.net