Healthy minds, healthy professions

About this episode

Winds of cultural change are blowing through many sectors, and the legal and medical professions are no exceptions. In part two of their discussion, lawyer Chris Georgiou calls out the culture of learning that the legal profession must embrace, while surgeon James Kinross explains the “patient safety culture that has been the biggest healthcare revolution in my professional lifetime”.

Kinross describes a “no-blame learning environment” where morbidity and mortality data is meticulously recorded and appraised to discuss “what went wrong, and why, and how do we make sure this never happens again”. There are lessons here for many professions, legal among them.

The two men also discuss the mental pressure that is heaped upon professionals, and the prevalence of anxiety, depression and burnout. And they reflect on the increased need for professionals to have technology expertise to perform at the top of their game, while understanding the limits of tech and how humans still add value.