Wednesday, August 27, 2014

The Fine Art of Feedback - A Lesson for Fraser Health

Feedback is a gift - those who provide it are being brave in doing so, they are providing an insight into not only want went wrong (or conversely well) but how to do better in the future. It's not easy to tell someone else or an organization that they failed you. When a person provides feedback, they do so in the hope that someone else will not be failed in the same way. They do so in the hope that by being open - by exposing themselves, that they can affect positive change. They do so in the hope that their words do not fall on deaf ears.

The easy thing to do, is to defend against the criticism. People and organizations receive feedback as a threat - a threat to their viewpoint. Further, it is difficult to admit that what was done or not done caused real harm to another person. It is difficult to admit that change is neccessary. Particularly difficult when the organization or individual is heavily invested in their point of view or way of doing things.

This past week, Fraser Health got the gift of feedback. The articles, on Today's Parent, and iVillage and comments on those articles are a treasure trove of information that can be used to do better - to provide quality care to all moms, to learn.

However, rather than take the gift as an opportunity to do better, to initiate changes to better serve moms, Fraser Health took the easy way out in their response. Which basically reads like - the choice is yours as long as your choice is the same one we'd make for you, which is to breastfeed, unless it's absolutely not a physical possibility.

So what's the problem?

The problem is that the health and well being of ALL women at a time of exceptional health vulnerability (not just physical health vulnerability, but also mental health vulnerability) needs to be supported. The problem is that a health authority can not just say that they are available to support the needs of those who make the choices they deem to be the 'right' choices. A health authority can not just substitute ideology for quality care and neglect the needs of those who either cannot or choose not to breast feed. The problem is that the right to do what one pleases with ones' own body is sacred and that those choices need to be made out of free will, not coercion.

The problem is that health care provision should never come with a big heaping helping of unjustified guilt and shame, as that generates stigma and undermines quality care.

So what would be the right response, in this situation? How could Fraser Health make the most of the gift of feedback that they've been given?

The right response would be to acknowledge that real harm has resulted from the policy - harm that Fraser Health is committed to remediating. The right response would be to include those who have been brave enough to call out Fraser Health in it's approach to new moms to develop a new approach to infant feeding. The right response would be to develop an infant feeding strategy that treats grown women, new mothers, like adults and respects their right to decide what to do with their own bodies. The right response would be to commit to support all women in the provision of quality healthcare during pregnancy, childbirth, and the year post-partum and to encourage feedback, and to use that feedback to do better.

Fraser Health via twitter has indicated that they are reviewing and would like to talk and has asked for my contact information.

I am hopeful they are now willing to listen, and will ultimately find their way to doing the right thing.

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