Tribalism, the real enemy in healthcare

Five doctors went duck hunting one day. Included in the group were a general practitioner, a paediatrician, a psychiatrist, a surgeon and a pathologist.

After a time, a bird came winging overhead. The first to react was the GP who raised his shotgun, but then hesitated. “I’m not quite sure it’s a duck,” he said, “I think that I will have to get a second opinion.” And of course by that time, the bird was long gone.

Another bird appeared in the sky thereafter. This time, the paediatrician drew a bead on it. He too, however, was unsure if it was really a duck in his sights and besides, it might have babies. “I’ll have to do some more investigations,” he muttered, as the creature made good its escape.

Next to spy a bird flying was the sharp-eyed psychiatrist. Shotgun shouldered, he was more certain of his intended prey’s identity. “Now, I know it’s a duck, but does it know it’s a duck?” The fortunate bird disappeared while the fellow wrestled with this dilemma.

Finally, a fourth fowl sped past and this time the surgeon’s weapon pointed skywards. BOOM!!

The surgeon lowered his smoking gun and turned nonchalantly to the pathologist beside him and said: “Go see if that was a duck, will you?”

Source: Nursing Fun

What’s great about this joke is not just the stereotype behaviour of the five doctors – which most people working in healthcare immediately will recognise. What is wonderful here, is the different disciplines doing some team building. They may not be very efficient as a team yet, and they could have picked a different activity, but at least they have found a common goal: hunting.

In the real world of medicine we sometimes seem to have forgotten our purpose. The inconvenient truth is that we’re often acting as a dysfunctional team where every member’s main goal is to finish their own little task, and where other team members and disciplines are sometimes regarded as ‘the enemy’.

A while back I was privileged to hear Dr Victoria Brazil speak at a conference of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners in Brisbane. Dr Brazil is an emergency physician and passionate about the topic of medical tribalism. Instead of the more primitive tribal behaviour – characterised by hostility towards other tribes and the unwillingness to take responsibility for a bigger cause – we should move to a kinder tribalism driven by mission and purpose, without common enemies, she argues.

Dr Brazil reminds us that we cannot achieve the best patient outcome without other disciplines. Building relationships, communicating and networking are the key to success. This sounds obvious but it’s not very often that we make time to sit down and have a yarn with members of other teams.

You don’t have to go duck hunting together, but next time you talk to someone belonging to a different tribe, maybe just introduce yourself and ask how they’re going.

If you would like to know more about this fascinating topic: In the video below Dr Brazil, who is also a gifted speaker, addresses a room full of medical tribes (but with a common interest in emergency medicine). She explains how we can overcome the dark side of medical tribalism. Enjoy.