I find myself in turmoil at times, asking what my role and influence should be in healthcare. I watch colleagues - some more outspoken than I am - boldly call out the dysfunction in our system. I think like them, I reason like them, but I’m not always as bold. And yet, when I teach people about the ways patients are subtly pushed to the margins of care, I see the shift happen. Once someone sees it, they can’t unsee it. Once they hear it, they can’t unhear it. That’s influence.
But influence carries responsibility. If I speak plainly, people may question their careers. Some could even lose their jobs. Others may dislike me for raising uncomfortable truths. Still, when the compass points toward the patient, these risks feel secondary.
Our healthcare system is broken in ways that are easy to normalize but impossible to justify. Behind every spreadsheet, regulation, and billing code is a person - often alienated by a machine that was supposed to serve them. Patients are supposed to be the winners in healthcare, but too often they are treated as the product, the pawn, or the afterthought.
That reality leaves me with a conundrum: do I lean harder into boldness, calling things out without flinching? Or do I focus on building people up, providing encouragement and hope for those who want a better way? Maybe the answer is both.
Because real change requires translation. We need voices that not only diagnose the problem but also point toward solutions. We need honesty that makes people uncomfortable, yes - but also vision that helps them imagine something better.
If my words reshape someone’s perspective, that’s not failure, it’s faithfulness. If they make a person rethink their role in the system, that’s the beginning of change. If they spark a movement where the only true north is “Did the patient win?” - then the risk is worth it.
Healthcare doesn’t need more silence. It needs more voices willing to carry the responsibility of influence. My role, I’m realizing, is not to be the loudest voice, but the steady one. The one that always comes back to this truth: patients must win. It’s the only way forward.
- Dr. Jonathan Bushman