A Message from our CEO

Another year is soon coming to an end. That gives us the opportunity to take a break, think back and look forward. ISQua has recently circulated the Annual Report 2020-2021, where you will find all the statistics on ISQua’s many achievements. I will take this opportunity to share some more personal reflections. What do I see?

Behind us, there are two years that have demonstrated how fragile systems designed by humans are, when nature strikes back, but also how fragility has been countered by quick and drastic adaptation, made possible by creativity, innovation, and incredible devotion. No one can doubt now that resilience is a prime quality of any social system, including healthcare; it is something we need to understand, appreciate, and nurture. I hope you will find an opportunity to dive into this topic in the coming year.

Ahead, a deep desire to continue the tortuous way back to normal, and yet not to normal as we knew it. Something must change and will change. Concepts like “person-centred system thinking” come to my mind. Care experience is created where people meet people but is inescapably embedded in a system that both facilitates and restrains what people can do and achieve.

System also means interconnectedness. The pandemic is not over before it is over for all. Climate change will affect everything. Two worried persons are sitting in the aft end of a small boat, sinking stern first, while one of the two persons at the bow says to the other “It’s lucky for us that the leak is in their end of the boat”. None of us must believe we are safe because we happen to be sitting at the bow.

Person-centredness means that patients are not objects, but it also means that staff are not components of a machine. In many countries, there is reason for serious concern about staff suffering from burnout or even leaving healthcare. Top leaders and policymakers must realize that while people can perform extraordinarily in an extraordinary situation, status cannot remain extraordinary permanently. If you try to boost the performance of the system by exhausting staff, failure will result. It may be painful to admit that there are limits to what you can deliver. In the spirit of person-centredness, patients and staff must be invited as true partners without passing the buck to them.

Each of us may ask: “What can I change?” And the answer must be: “What is the alternative to trying?” But to have a chance of succeeding we need community, and we need knowledge. ISQua will continue to support the building of communities of knowledge through Network – Knowledge – Voice. 

I and all the highly appreciated members of the ISQua staff thank you for having been part of the ISQua community in 2021. 

We look forward to working for you and with you in 2022 and wish for all of us that 2022 may bring hope, progress, and joy in addition to the challenges, worries, and backlashes we must also be prepared for. 

Dr Carsten Engel

ISQua CEO