Why it’s so Hard to Change

by Jan 1, 20090 comments

As we enter a New Year, we are filled with optimism – and also the awareness that achieving those hopes will be difficult for each of us because we will naturally resist change.

Here is a story that reminds us to remain focused and conscious as we pursue growth, change and our dreams in 2009.

In 1846, a young Austrian-Hungarian doctor named Igaz Semmelweis investigated a notorious maternity ward in which nearly all of the inpatients contracted a fatal case of childbed fever. In the course of his investigations, he noticed that women who came into the ward after giving birth seldom became ill.

When a professor who cut his finger in the middle of an autopsy in that same hospital died of symptoms identical to those of these unfortunate mothers, Semmelweis reasoned that the students doing the autopsies were somehow transferring the fever to the women in the maternity ward.

Semmelweis began requiring that his students disinfect their hands before delivering babies, and the number of childbed fever cases dropped. Here is where “change” became difficult.

Semmelweis was labeled insane by his colleagues for having the audacity to suggest that they should wash their hands between deliveries, and they fired him. He tried to continue his research but was ostracized by the medical community. His own mental health eventually deteriorated, leading to his death in an insane asylum.

One final event leading to the general acceptance of germs occurred in 1860. A famed doctor was scheduled to speak at a conference where he intended to thoroughly denounce Semmelweis’s ideas. Before the speech began, he was interrupted by a man who proceeded to tell the audience that he had discovered the bacterium responsible for childbed fever. That man was Louis Pasteur, and the rest is history.

Lack of proper hand washing continues to be the primary reason why MRSA and other superbugs are spread in hospitals today. In my work with healthcare leaders, I continue to be amazed that some physicians and clinicians still do not consider it essential to wash their hands.

But change is hard, as we all know, and even when we are faced with indisputable evidence that should direct our actions, we still sometimes find “the old ways” easier.

So as we enter the New Year, let us reflect on the challenge of change at the same time as we look into our futures with optimism and hope, knowing that keeping our resolve, staying focused on our dreams, and refusing to be swayed by naysayers and doom-spreaders is essential if we wish to build something greater and more inspiring.

May your 2009 be filled with hope, achievement and many blessings.