Thursday, March 9, 2017

Buy In versus Ownership in Infection Prevention

I am becoming increasingly wary of hearing the term 'buy in' when it comes to evidence based practice in infection prevention.

These differing concepts are neatly summarized here by Henri Lipmanowicz, former Chairman Merck International and President of the Plexus Institute

"Buy in" connotes that others have done the thinking and have come up with the prescriptive recipe for you to implement. "Ownership" means that key and critical players are involved in either the idea generation or development of the implementation plan- so that they understand it, believe in it and make it happen.

In infection prevention, as new knowledge guides improved safety measures and outcomes, the challenge is to assemble the right team, to develop and own the implementation plan.

"Buy in" is not needed.