The human body has levers, and these are formed from bones, joints and muscles.
A lever consists of:
- a rigid structure (bone)
- a force acting upon it (muscle) to produce a turning movement
- a fulcrum which is a fixed point (joint)
- a load or resistance that is placed on the rigid structure (weight of body part being moved and anything that it is carrying)
Through these we can perform tasks and functions. Athletes are praised for having long levers – making them faster and stronger. When we look at an organisation we also have levers. We can pull on these to perform functions. Archimedes famously said give me a lever long enough and a place to stand and I will move the world.
We can use short or long levers to achieve a result. A short lever is, well, short, and can be constructed quickly. It doesn’t move a lot. It can be thought of as a short term lever, something made with little care and attention, designed to get a quick result. In Game Theory, you could play short term games with these short levers. Game Theory is a theoretical framework for conceiving social situations among competing players. In some respects, it is the science of strategy, or at least the optimal decision-making of independent and competing actors in a strategic setting.
Imagine a fast food truck or van. It’s on wheels so if you serve a bad meal or bad service you can just move and go somewhere else. It doesn’t really matter what it does to your reputation and people know this instinctively. Now imagine the perceived or anticipated quality of the food from a bricks and mortar store or restaurant. People assume this will be better than they would get from a street vendor or food truck purely because that shop or restaurant cannot move to a new area after serving a bad meal or providing bad service. In Game Theory, these businesses are playing a long term or repeat game. In this example, this is a long lever. These longer levers are, again, longer, and take longer to build. Long levers result in big movements.
In medicine we can pull short levers to get an immediate result. If you come in with high blood pressure we can prescribe a pill and almost certainly this will lower your blood pressure – if you took it. Sometimes you don’t want to take it; you’re not convinced that it’s a good idea or you don’t understand why or you don’t trust the person giving you that advice. When your GP is playing a long or repeat game they are building a relationship with you, a therapeutic relationship built on trust that takes time. This is a longer lever and with that you can achieve more movement. Maybe you take the pill to get a result. Maybe it allows your GP to work with you to undertake long-term strategies such as diet, exercise, and lifestyle modification which take a long time to bed in but which provide great rewards.
PartridgeGP wants to build these long-term therapeutic trusting relationships. These long levers are as valuable in medical practice as they are in a professional athlete. We really treasure them and our patients and that’s our thought of the day. To take the first steps towards this, make your appointment with us conveniently online right here – or call our friendly reception team on 82953200.
Where to from here?
For everyone, we believe that having a usual GP or General Practice is central to each person’s care and recommend that people with any health issues that come to the attention of other health professionals should be advised to attend their usual GP or General Practice rather than a specialised service (ie a place not providing the holistic care a specialist GP would). If they say that they don’t have a usual GP or general practice, they should be helped to find one and to actually attend it. Call PartridgeGP on 82953200 or make an appointment online here.
(Hat tip: Dr Oliver Frank)
(TL;DR – Get a regular GP or General Practice and use them!)
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If you are a great GP or a great Allied Health Professional, and you want to serve your clients or patients to the best of your ability, without worrying about all the non clinical things that get in your way, lets talk. Call Mrs Hayley Roberts on 8295 3200 and have a coffee and chat with us as to how PartridgeGP can help you to help others.
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