Gregory Hopson
There is no doubt that Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. sincerely hopes to make the world a better place. The Hudson River cleanup he helped lead is one of the most successful environmental achievements in the United States. It has bipartisan support, sets global standards and receives the highest praise: imitation.
It makes sense to believe that Mr. Kennedy can leverage the same skills and enthusiasm to lead Health and Human Services (HHS). He has a complex system, scientific evidence and a good track record of protecting public welfare. Even skeptics of his appointment hoped that he would succeed.
However, skills in one realm do not always translate into another realm, rather than the strength of that skill. It's hard to realize this until the influence of the law
Unexpected consequences are starting to complicate things – Now Mr. Kennedy’s public health approach is happening. I know this feeling-because I made the same mistake.
Before I started using the healthcare database, I had over 15 years of experience in the database of auto parts, newspapers, manufacturing and insurance. Each domain has its own complex logic, but I can adjust from one domain to another relatively easily.
When I started in the Department of Anesthesia at the University of Iowa, I believed I could transition into a new field as smoothly as usual.
My first task was simple: List the report of the active prescription medication listed for the patient at a given appointment. It's soon to figure out how to find patient data, date data and prescription data. My expertise in the database was transferred very smoothly to a new domain!
All I have to do is use the charts I have and see how to make the connection.
I can read…how hard is that?
Not only was it harder than I expected, but it didn't immediately realize why.
Mr. Kennedy has taken a similar path to vaccines and autism. He can see patient data. He can see the vaccine data. He can see data on autism. The connection seems clear.
In my case, the theory of an Iowa researcher is that the length of clinical appointments can be predicted by the number of prescriptions the patient takes. My job is to combine all relevant data. He then uses it for calculations.
I built a dataset. Everything looks right. But I'm so new that I didn't realize there are hidden flags to determine the type of date. and prescription signs at the date of visit. I didn't even know there was a database flag that would recognize them. The flag is oversimplified; it is much more complicated than this.
Kennedy believes he was confirmed in 1998, when Andrew Wakefield and colleagues published a study on Lancet that hints at the link between MMR vaccines and autism. It looks right. It seems obvious. Many people believe this. But like my report, it is flawed – the sample size is small, the design is uncontrolled and speculative. My initial dataset had “error” data because I missed some flags. My mistake was caught for a long time before the data approached any research. Wakefield's research not only included fake data, but also reached the publication stage.
My researchers showed me my mistakes and I was lucky that this was early in the process. Meanwhile, epidemiologists and clinicians repeatedly showed Mr. Kennedy his conclusions not to stand up. Yet, like a friend of mine, he once debated astronomy with Dr. James Van Allen – yes, Van Allen Belts van Allen – no matter how authoritative the objection is, it is hard to give up some beliefs.
Whenever I get into a new field, I learn three questions – I think they apply to all of us…including Mr. Kennedy.
1. How do these domains be the same?
For me: All databases share tables, rows, columns, and indexes.
For Mr. Kennedy: All public health issues involve preventing toxins from entering our environment or the harm of the body.
2. How are they different?
For me: Business database tracks USD. Clinical databases track patients. The structure looks similar, but the rules are completely different.
For Mr. Kennedy: Environmental health requires legal expertise as well as some biology and chemistry. But HHS focuses on in vivo health and requires a deep understanding of epidemiology, infectious diseases and clinical medicine.
3. How does my background help or hinder me?
For me: My technical background helped me learn quickly, but it also blinded me to specific areas of rules. I once declared a case without opioids and painkillers cannot be moderate sedation. The clinician quickly taught me that there were exceptions.
For Mr. Kennedy: His background allows him to analyze threats such as industrial pollution. However, it may hinder him if he believes that all doctors are interchangeable experts, or he relies on consultants outside of his expertise.
It's like asking epidemiologists to provide advice on cardiology and vice versa. Both are experts, but not in the same way.
The key feature of Mr. Kennedy and everyone in health care is that we all want to make the world better and not cause harm
Mr. Kennedy and I believe our past success is more transferable than actually. And we both must understand that being corrected by experts is not personal criticism, but cooperation.
In health care, success is not right or wrong. It's about listening to the right people do the right thing.
In public health leadership, it’s not about Mr. Kennedy being defended or defeated. It's about whether he's ongoing courses – leveraging his strong advocacy skills to empower clinicians, epidemiologists and program leaders to best protect health.
This shift will lead to a legacy worthy of the Hudson River Cleanup itself.
Working remotely from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Gregory Hopson is a business intelligence developer at Emory Healthcare in Atlanta, Georgia.
