From restaurant manager to OR nurse, a guy who gets it

Registered nurse Paul McGourty. Photo source: Boston Globe

"It's all about making the customer feel welcome and special."

That's a quote from Paul McGourty comparing his two careers — first as a marketing manager for Au Bon Pain restaurants to his new career as a registered nurse in the OR at Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital in Milton, Mass.

McGourty was profiled by The Boston Globe ("Live and learn: Relating to People," October 6, 2013) in a series about people who have transformed their lives through education and training.

But McGourty has transformed more than just his own life — he is among the new generation of health care workers who "gets it" when it comes to building a better patient experience.

Too many organizations think patient experience is about raising HCAHPS scores or offering hotel- and spa-like amenities. 

It's not. 

It's about building a trusting and communicative environment where caregivers, patients and their families are actively involved in creating and executing care plans.

Because feeling "welcome and special" is just the start. Feeling "activated and heard" is where the real magic happens.

Eat right, check. Exercise, check. Sleep? Not so much.

Your routine says a lot about you — and your health.

Good health is about eating right, getting plenty of exercise and being as active as you can. It's also about getting enough sleep.

Do you?

I don't.

But I'm trying.

I think I've mastered the eat right/exercise more game (see how I used gamification to lose 70 pounds). I track calories in/calories out every day. Three years on, it's no longer a chore — it's just what I do.

Now it's time to try and win the sleep game.

I've been using the Jawbone UP for several months to try and get a handle on my sleep patterns. Every night, my UP band quantifies my sleep — deep versus light sleep, how quickly I fell asleep, how long I was in bed and how many times I awoke during the night. It shows me my average over the last seven days (usually not a pretty sight!).

Jawbone also sends me a weekly report. My most recent report tells me one thing very clearly: Go to sleep earlier!

I'll know I'm winning when I reach that eight hour goal more than I don't.

I have a lot of work (er, sleep) to do!

Here's a look at my reports for the last two weeks: 

My Jawbone UP report for the week ending October 20, 2013.

My Jawbone UP report for the week ending October 13, 2013.

Photo Friday: Autumn in a beach town

Summer is not the only special season when you live in a beach town.

Enjoy autumn!

Weekapaug rocks, looking toward Misquamicut Beach, in Westerly, R.I., shot October 12, 2013.

A ride on the Pink Ribbon Highway

Someone is thinking BIG about cancer awareness in Iceland.

October is cancer awareness month in Iceland. We had to think up a new way to promote the Pink ribbon. So we took to the streets, and with good help painted the biggest pink ribbon in the world. In the middle of Reykjavík.

President Obama has something to share with you

The White House wants to share. Or more precisely, they'd like you to share.

Our executive branch recently launched White House Shareables, a new section on www.whitehouse.gov that makes it easy to share President Obama's ideas with your circle of friends.

This is a great concept for every organization or business: Aggregate all your key messages in one place and make them easily shareable via social media.

The White House's latest entry is "What Obamacare Means for You" featuring a "white board" video that explains the Affordable Care Act. The page also includes links to key information and promotes the hashtag #getcovered, to help make spreading the word a little easier (and a lot more trackable).

Topics cover all the usual suspects — the economy, education, immigration, energy and the environment and much more on health care. There's even a "grab bag" of stuff that doesn't fit nicely into a single category. There are videos, articles and infographics galore — indeed, a grab bag of shareable goodies.

Starting October 1st, you can go to http://www.healthcare.gov and use the new Health Insurance Marketplace to see all of the health plans available in your area and sign up for the one that fits your needs and budget.