What makes this ＂little clinic＂ the best hospital in America

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Time：2020-08-17Click：

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About the author:

Ice hockey, MD (Clinical Medicine) and MBA (Business Administration) from Yale University, USA. He is now a physician and hospital administrator in the top three teaching hospitals in the United States.

Thirdly, ice Hockey Doctor shares with you the development of Chinese and American medical care, the popularization of health care and the journey of studying medicine and practicing medicine in the United States.

On the day of the Mayo interview, it was raining and shivering, and the streets were barely visible. But inside Mayo's sprawling hospital, it's a raucous scene:

There are warm, contented smiles on the faces of patients and doctors, not to mention the ubiquitous elderly volunteers.

After just one day of interviews, I wrote this article fascinated by Mayo's history and culture.

Rochester, Minnesota, a city of less than 100,000 people, is home to one of America's top world-class hospitals, the Mayo Clinic. Every year, more than 1.3 million patients come from all over the world, including many high-ranking officials, relatives and relatives of the emperor, and celebrities.

In addition to its headquarters in Minnesota, the Mayo Clinic has branches in Florida and Arizona and is a comprehensive healthcare system that includes outpatient clinics, hospitals, medical research units and medical schools.

In 2015, the Mayo Clinic had a total revenue of $10.315 billion, about half of which came from operating revenue and half from government and community donations.

The humble name of "the Clinic" in such a vast medical system begins with the Mayo Clinic's origins.

The Mayo Clinic's origins

Back in the mid-19th century, William Worrall Mayo, one of the few doctors in town at the time, opened a small clinic where his two sons were apprenticed and assisted. He was affectionately known to his neighbors as "the Little Doctor" because of his lean stature.

In August 1883, a category five tornado struck Rochester, causing heavy casualties. Dr. Mayo organized the rescue, and the local nuns joined in as nurses.

When the disaster was over, the abbot approached Dr. Mayo with a proposal to set up a hospital together, with Dr. Mayo to administer the care. Thus the Mayo Clinic's first Hospital, the 27-bed St. Mary's Hospital, was opened in 1889.

Dr. Mayo enlisted other doctors, and his two sons, William (named after their father) and Charles Mayo, returned to work at the Clinic after completing medical school at the University of Michigan and Northwestern, respectively.

In the decades that followed, the Mayo brothers managed the clinic as old Dr. Mayo retired.

The growth of the Mayo Clinic

1. Cooperation management concept beyond The Times

The success of Mayo Clinic is due to the founder's group Practice. At the beginning of the twentieth century, small private clinics were the norm.

But the Mayo brothers realized that no doctor can have as much knowledge as several doctors.

So they found some of the best doctors nearby to join and jointly manage the hospital, and made consultation Clinic. At the same time, patients do not have to travel to the hospital because doctors with different specialties work together.

The brothers also trained in medicine and surgery, and often traveled to other parts of the United States and Europe to learn the latest local knowledge and bring it back to the Mayo Clinic. Thanks to Europe's then-advanced sterilization techniques, the Mayo clinic had the lowest surgical death rate in the United States.

Gradually, the Mayo clinic's reputation spread. People from all over America jammed the only train to Rochester to come to the Mayo Clinic.

2. The Mayo Brothers work closely together

The clinic's success is also due to the Mayo brothers' close partnership. The two brothers have their own strengths in management. William is humorous and good at making speeches, so he is an outsider. Charles is introverted and careful, so he manages more internal affairs.

After the two brothers were married, the houses were built side by side and connected by a telephone. If one brother wanted to talk to the other, he could just pick up the telephone and shout. It is said that they had intended to connect the two houses, but abandoned it after the outcry of the two wives.

3. Put the patient's needs first

The Mayo Clinic has lived up to its founders' motto: "The Needs of the patient come first".

The Mayo brothers often couldn't afford to pay for free medical care. Once, when a patient of Charlie's was worried that he couldn't afford an operation, Charlie quietly asked his secretary to put 400 dollars into his account and told him not to let the patient know, for fear that he would be embarrassed.

The Mayo Brothers set up the Mayo Foundation, stating that the hospital does not seek to make a profit, and that revenue goes back to the hospital and its patients. Until now, the more than 4,000 full-time doctors at the Mayo Clinic are paid on a salary basis, regardless of patient Numbers or other factors. This is completely different from most medical systems and private hospitals in the Us.

4. Eliminate hierarchy and cooperate on an equal footing

In the United States, medical students usually wear short white coats and stay in hospital until they wear long white coats.

Doctors at Mayo, from medical students to their superiors, don't wear white coats. They wear suits (except, of course, when they're on the night shift).

The tradition is also a legacy of the founders, who believe that the first is to promote teamwork by eliminating the usual hierarchical structure in hospitals. Second, wearing a suit is the most formal, showing respect for the patient and showing your best side.

Seeing a doctor, teaching and research are equally important

The Mayo Clinic's trademark is three interlocking shields, each representing patient care, education, research, symbolizing the equal importance the clinic attaches to all three.

The Mayo Clinic has about six thousand research papers published each year in peer reviewed journals.

The Mayo Clinic is rochester's largest employer, followed by IBM and the telecommunications industry. The Mayo Clinic is on Forbes' annual List of the 100 Best Companies.

For newcomers, it's amazing that in a small city with a population of 100,000 and surrounded by rice fields, some of the world's top doctors and specialists are happily busy with their patients.

But if you look at Mayo's history, humanity, and philosophy, it's easy to understand why the Mayo Clinic is a mecca for doctors and patients alike.

This article is reproduced with permission from the author

Responsible editor: Shamouer

Photo credit: The Web