Your resolve can lead to life-saving change

Resolve can lead to dramatic, even life-saving change. But first you need to commit to being the change you want to see.

Here is a story I’d like to share.

A neurosurgeon was concerned about the amount of time a patient spent winding his or her way through the medical maze before being diagnosed. In many cases, the process took four to six months–sometimes too late to effectively treat a patient.

So this neurosurgeon was resilient, even more so than me.

He had a caring mindset and was committed to doing what was right for his patients. This surgeon’s goal was to shorten the time to a minimum between the first visit and the time a diagnosis was made. He did this by examining the entire diagnostic process and realized that the patient was required to see a doctor, take a medication, see a doctor, take a stronger medication, go to a specialist, go back to the doctor and finally see a neurosurgeon, often months after seeing his primary care doctor for the first time.

When you are talking about a tumor, this length of time can be a death sentence.

Here is what happened after he compiled the results of his study…

His team developed a list of early symptoms that led to the initial office visit. They compared these symptoms with the patients who were diagnosed as having a tumor. They then developed a checklist of symptoms to determine whether an immediate referral to a neurosurgeon was the best plan of attack.

They also arranged to be sure neurosurgeons left a bank of appointments open for these patients so they would not have to wait for weeks or months to be seen. The result was a diagnosis happening within a couple of weeks instead of months. Lives were saved.

This neurosurgeon’s story has always inspired me as to the power of a caring mindset.

There is nothing more important than caring for others. Think about what you can do to be more resilient in your decisions. You may not have saved lives but you will make a difference.