• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

33 Charts

  • About
    • What is 33 Charts?
    • Bryan Vartabedian MD
  • Blog
  • 33mail
  • Foci
    • Social/Public Media
    • Physicians
    • Patients
    • Hospitals
    • Information
    • Process/Flow
    • Technology
    • Digital culture
    • Future Medicine
  • The Public Physician
Future Medicine, Physicians

The Way We’ve Always Done It

March 13, 2017 By Bryan Vartabedian · Reading Time: < 1 minutes

the way we've always done itThe most dangerous phrase in medicine is this is the way we’ve always done it.

This is one of those internet memes that resonates with our disruptive side. Virally passed on Twitter, it suggests that they’ve just had it wrong all these years and we know what’s right. In some cases they have and we do. Sometimes not.

There are many things in medicine that work really well. Certain procedures, for example, have been perfected. There are, however, instances where our understanding of disease and the technology used to treat disease forces us to pivot and modify a procedure.

It’s easy to suggest that something needs to change. The trick is knowing what needs to stay the same.

And when doe the way we’ve always done it actually make sense?

Image of surgeon William Halstead at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Modified via National Library of Medicine.

Related Articles

  • Weekend Medicine
  • Publishing Before the Idea is Done
  • Lockstep Medicine - Marching in Time with the Past

Tagged With: Creativity, Design Thinking, Innovation

Related Articles

  • Weekend Medicine
  • Publishing Before the Idea is Done
  • Lockstep Medicine - Marching in Time with the Past

Primary Sidebar

Bryan Vartabedian, MD

Bryan Vartabedian, MD
Bryan Vartabedian is the Chief Pediatrics Officer at Texas Children’s Hospital North Austin and one of health care’s influential
voices on technology & medicine.
Learn More

Popular Articles

  • The Fate of Fired Cleveland Clinic Resident Lara Kollab
  • Cures Act Final Rule – How It Will Change Medicine
  • 12 Things About Doximity You Probably Didn’t Know
  • Should Physicians Give Their Cell Phone Number to Patients?
  • Doximity Dialer Video – Telemedicine’s Latest Power Player

Sign up for 33mail newsletter

Featured Articles

Will the Future Need Doctors?

The Case for New Physician Literacies in the Digital Age

Yes, Doctor

Doctors and social media: Damned if you engage, damned if you don’t

Health Care and the Visibility-Value Continuum

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter

Footer

What is 33 Charts?

With a mashup of curated and original content that crosses the spaces of digital health, media, communication, technology, patient experience, digital culture, and the humanities, 33 charts offers unique insight and analysis on the changing face of medicine.

Founded in 2009 as a center of community and thought leadership for the issues doctors face in a digital world, 33 charts was included in the National Library of Medicine permanent web archive in 2014.
Learn More

Foci

  • Digital culture
  • Digital Health
  • EHR/Health IT
  • Future Medicine
  • Hospitals
  • Information
  • Patients
  • Physicians
  • Process/Flow
  • Quality
  • Social/Public Media
  • Technology

Copyright © 2023 · 33 Charts · Privacy Policy