Learning together...or not

Today's post is stimulated by an ongoing dialogue with colleagues about how we learn and about whether or not "evidence-based medicine" will ever be mainstream. There are many wonderful things about the human body and psyche, there are also some really troublesome and tiring things about the human body and psyche. That sentence was profound, wasn't it?! I think, however, that it is often the elephant in the room that no one wants to acknowledge. The dark side of all of us that knows what to do, but like the typical teenager (at least in my house) does the opposite just for spite, or because they want to.

Learning is a complex process of trial and error, of reading and applying, of analyzing and discerning and then putting into action - or when finding an idea or concept lacking in verity, re-studying the problem. Humans appear to learn better when they are in dialogue about a topic and differing positions are presented. When the arena for debate is open and welcoming and allows for all to learn from each other. Healthcare learning has historically been "see one, do one, teach one" which allows for some grave misadventures. The trainer may or may not be cognizant of the best techniques or up-to-date knowledge, thus the learner perpetuates out-of-date knowledge.

This came home to me just last night as I attended a mandatory parent-student session in my 17 year olds Driver's Ed class. Seems that I was still adjusting my side mirrors "the old way" and holding the steering wheel in a less than optimal manner - who knew? That information had never been disseminated to me, and even though I've been driving for more than 30 years, I had never come into contact with this information. this is true of our healthcare practitioners as well. We all lead such busy lives that we can not keep up with the amount of data that are published. No matter what search engine we employ, or how many hours we decide to devote to "keeping up", there is no stopping the amount of data published. I'm talking about the best research - you know, randomized, controlled, double-blind, adequately powered clinical research. The mass of less than optimal material that is available is staggering. Unfortunately, this is what is most often picked up by a news media and well meaning persons (WMP's) who are "researching" a malady - but who don't have an adequate science or statistical background to know when a study design is fatally flawed.

Once we do learn something new, there are not adequate venues for sharing our knowledge. As my experience showed from last night, I will now share with my wife, and we will tell others, but that is piecemeal and less than optimal distribution. How can we learn to do better? One way is to engage with each other in a dialogue about our health, wellness and wholeness. Create environments and groups for open sharing about what we know - and more importantly, what we don't know. That is what Possibilities Journey (www.possjrny.org) is up to for 2011. Informed dialogue that helps all of us learn and makes us all a little bit better.

Hoping that you all have had your influenza vaccine by now - if not, there's still time to get one. BTW, the evidence suggests that it is about 70% effective at preventing the flu. ;-)

Peace,
Dan