‘New power’ has potential to create real change needed in medicine
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Key takeaways:
- New power allows opt-in decision-making instead of having decisions made for individuals.
- To get back a sense of control lost during the pandemic, those in medicine should work together to create change.
CHICAGO — The field of medicine has functioned in an old power world for centuries and the time has come for new power to “enter the chat,” according to a speaker at the Women in Medicine Summit.
“We are in the midst of societal upheaval,” Megan L. Ranney, MD, MPH, FACEP, dean of Yale School of Public Health, said during a keynote address. “We have come through the past few years of the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic, with most of us as front-line health care providers experiencing all the trauma that went along with being forgotten, having to take care of patients who were very sick, with limited resources, and now we are in the moment of our emergency departments, hospitals and clinics still being overcrowded and understaffed — and yet no one seems to care anymore.”
Source: Jennifer R. Southall
The pandemic also caused many in medicine to question where they belong, what they should be doing and how to best impact the world, she said.
“For me, and for many, one of the best protections from burnout and one of the best predictors of resilience is a sense of control,” Ranney said. “The pandemic took away our sense of control, and again, right now as health care providers, we don’t know when or if anyone is going to save us from what feels like an impending breakdown of the health care system. Perhaps for some of us, that already has broken down.”
One way to get back that sense of control, according to Ranney, is in coalition and coming together organically to create change through new power.
Power spectrum
Ranney encountered the concept of new power a few years ago from Jeremy Heimans and Henry Timms, authors of New Power: How Power Works in Our Hyperconnected World — and How to Make It Work for You.
“[The authors’] definition of new power is that it operates differently, like a current,” she said. “It is open, participatory and peer driven. It is like water or electricity and is most forceful when it surges. The goal with new power is not to thwart it, but to channel it. It is made up of both new models for power, but also new value systems for power. The idea is not good vs. bad, but that we may choose to be more affiliated with new power but still have some managerial structures.”
Old power is much of what medicine and academia has traditionally been, Ranney said.
“Old power is long-term affiliation. It’s institutional. It’s the portraits on the wall of your medical school. It’s all about being managed.... It’s authoritarian. There is a very strict separation of public and private — the old way of working,” she said.
She encapsulated it as old power being the opposite of new power.
“The values of new power include increased participation, all voices matter; it is inclusive — there is space for you, regardless of who you are or what your background is,” Ranney said. “It is sometimes about short-term affiliation. It may be something like a wave that we move into and then move out of. There is no value judgment with not sticking with something for 20 years. It is transparent rather than closed. It allows us to opt-in to decision making instead of having decisions made for us, and it allows us to have networks and informal governance rather than parliamentary procedures.”
Create change
Ranney said new power can create true change in medicine — and the world for that matter.
“With new power, there is certainly an element of sponsorship for each other, and there is also an element in which we can come together to change the world,” she said. “I encourage you as you think about your own work, to think about where the work that you care about fits on ‘the compass’ and where you’ve moved between old power and new power over the course of your career — how you could potentially shift the place where you are right now.”
Ranney offered tips on ways to create change:
- create or join a community that's related to the needs that you identify;
- identify what your key drivers and best skills are to bring to the table;
- lift others up — new power relies on inclusivity; and
- create funding.
“Most of all, don’t give up,” Ranney said. “Examples of new power have created true, lasting change in the world, whether in state policies, national policies, funding mechanisms, national tracking of PPE, or funding of important political races and medical groups. New power has the potential to help drive real change in the world, but requires that we don’t give up.
“To quote Ruth Bader Ginsburg,” Ranney continued, “‘Fight for the things you care about, but do it in a way that allows others to join you.’ This is the ultimate new power quote.”
For more information:
Megan L. Ranney, MD, MPH, FACEP, can be reached on Threads @megranney.
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