The hope of healthcare – trade-offs!

When I was a kid, I traded baseball cards. In those days, you would buy a pack of cards, try to chew the gum for about two minutes, and sort through the players you got!

This was often fun to do with a friend because it opened up so many possibilities. In the mid-1980s my team was the New York Mets. My neighbour was a big fan of the Pittsburgh Pirates. As we shuffled through our cards, it became natural to trade with each other. Perhaps you can identify with exercise in some way.

There is an important lesson to learn about trading. And the lesson has everything to do with value. It is even stated as a law (and you know I love my laws!).

The Law of Trade-Offs states that a person always trades something of lesser value for something of greater value. It is very simple concept, and one we see in operation around us every day. Very often we trade money for something – food and clothes quickly come to mind. 

I have two teenage daughters in my household and they are locked in to being fashionable. These two girls have particular brands of clothes and shoes they like and don’t like.

From a functional perspective, there is generally very little difference between one brand and another, but from a fashion perspective, there can be a world of difference.

I will not embarrass myself with my lack of fashion knowledge in this column. I will simply say you can value one brand much higher than another and that value is usually accompanied by a corresponding increase in price.

Remember our formula from the last column: Q=V/C.

Q=V/C for Brand 1

Q=V+ (higher perceived value /C+ (higher actual cost) for Brand 2

In this equation, the formulas can actually calculate out to have the Quality (Q) be equal!

Now back to our trade-offs.

People always want to trade something of lesser value for something of greater value. 

In the television show “The Office,” in one episode Dwight showcases the law of tradeoffs (S7:E6 – “Yard Sale”).  Dwight starts with a thumbtack and through a series of tradeoffs, he ends up with a guitar. Yes, it’s true.

While this concept is presented for laughs in the episode, we should not overlook the lesson presented. 

Within the world of pharmacy, we must be intentional to show the value that is provided to our patients. In the absence of recognizing the value, a patient can become disengaged with his care.

For example, if a patient is spending $X on care, and they do not recognize or believe they are receiving value, how long do you expect they will remain engaged? We shouldn’t be surprised at all if a patient’s engagement falls off if he does not feel he’s receiving something of value.

For pharmacists to be the Hope of Healthcare, we must highlight the value we provide to patients. 

This is what I have observed. As a group, pharmacists often have difficulty defining and describing all the ways we provide value. We know we do. But to quantify and qualify the value we provide can often be challenging.

As healthcare continues to change, evolve, and mature, we must be clear in the value we provide both individually and collectively. So, what are some ways you provide value to your patients? If you haven’t started a list of how you do this yet, I encourage you to start that list today. Then keep adding to it as new ways you provide value become obvious. You will be glad you did.

Until next time

Jesse McCullough, PharmD

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