3rd Dec. Teamwork.

If you get the chance to listen to the Reith lectures on Radio 4 you really should.  This year they are being given by a doctor Atul Gawande and they are all about the medical world - but with a wider application.  Today he told the amazing story of a little girl who had drowned and been underwater for thirty minutes and how a huge team of medical staff using many different interventions together managed to orchestrate her complete recovery.  They literally brought her back to life.  And they did it by using a system

He talked about how hospitals have managed to cut down their operating errors by using simple checklists.  And how one emergency team gave the most power in the system to the telephone operator as she was the person who had the job of calling in all the members of the team in an emergency  - and was therefore critical to the whole thing working smoothly and quickly.

So much to think about.  Try to listen to the talk,.   You can find it here and its only about 40 minutes long.    http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04sv1s5

One of the things which struck me the most about what Gawande had to say was about humility.
Everyone makes mistakes - even the most seasoned surgeons and world experts in their fields. Nobody is perfect.  But when you have been doing something for a long time, and when you are good at doing it you stop seeing the errors you make. And you become resistant to other people pointing out those errors.  It has been hard to introduce the simple checklist into some operating rooms because some doctors don't see the need.  '' I don't need someone looking over my shoulder.  I'm the expert. I've been doing this for years. I don't make mistakes.''  

But in the places where checklists have been introduced mortality rates have fallen something like 40% .!!   In those places everyone on the team has had to have the humility to realise that someone checking up on them is a good thing.    Have you washed your hands properly?  Do you have everything you need before you start?  Do we know the patients name and are we sure about the procedure?   etc etc etc.   Simple but life saving stuff

Elsewhere I heard that in a children's hospital ( it might have been Gt Ormond Street)  many young lives were being lost in the critical move from ambulance/helicopter to the intensive care unit.  The

physical removal of tubes and wires and the trip down the corridors and then the setting up again of tubes and wires was taking too much time and was costing lives.   So someone had the idea of asking for help - from of all places a Formula 1 driving team !!!    The guys who manage the pit stops came in and applied the same strategy to the medical handover as they do to the tyre changes on racing cars.   They cut the time of transfers massively and thereby also cut down on the lives lost in that process.   Brilliant eh? 

And what has all this got to do with Advent I hear you cry ? 

Well........ there is something to do with teamwork .  The church is called to bring back to life a world which is drowning - has drowned.   Where many would look and say that it is impossible, that there is no hope, that the time has passed and we are too late the church says ' No, There is hope , there is life! '   But in order to bring that life and healing we need to work together and we need a system.  
 It's funny cos Im not a fan of ' programme' church at all..... I balk at the latest bandwagon  ( usually imported from the States)  which demands we buy the book and the T-shirt and do it this way.   But..... but...... I do believe in structure.  I believe in methods.    The church is an interconnected interrelated body.  As such we operate as an integrated system  20 But now indeed there

are many members, yet one body. 21 And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” 22 No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary.   1 Cor 12 You and I are members of the team - like it or not!  And we all have a role to play in whatever it is our church ( and The Church) is involved in.  Do you know what your job is??   Are you doing it?  Are you good at it?  Do you have someone checking up on you to make sure you have what you need to do it well , and who can correct you if they see you going off track?  Do you realise just how vital you are in the process?   Take another look at the F1 photo above.  Each person only contributes one small part of a very complex operation but not one part can fail or the car wont get back on the track.  Each person is crucial.  You are needed.

Lord help me to be a team player.  To know my place and my role and to use the gifts and talents You have given me.  Help me to be open to guidance and correction where I need it so that Your kingdom can be advanced.  Thank you for medical teams which work together to bring healing to those in great danger and distress.  Bless every hand which offers care and healing this day and give wisdom to those who have to make difficult decisions under great pressure.  Amen