GMNG Conversations
John Murray: Chief Ethics Advisor
John Murray is GMNG’s Chief Ethics Advisor and the Dean of Global Engagement at Hesston College in Hesston, Kansas. Here, he speaks about the importance of GMNG’s dedication to ensuring a humanistic approach to our digital incubator. John shares how diversity certainly is key in our goal. But what is diversity?
The multitude of identities, lifestyles, beliefs, approaches to problems, are all types of diversity. In other words, diversity is variety, different, unique, and multifaceted. Diversity is not finding what is common amongst ourselves despite the obvious differences; that only reinforces commonality. John implores us to bring and learn what makes each of us truly unique to exemplify what diversity is and why it is important.
Dr. Sachin Jain, a subject matter expert in promoting concepts such as compassion in medicine, has reminded our organization that “diversity and inclusion is not a box we need to check; it’s foundational to winning and running a successful business.” As healthcare continues to evolve, we must reinforce our ability to empower our patients through a multidisciplinary approach that is diverse.
Why is curiosity so important?
New ideas, openness, and humility are inherent in a curious mindset. John emphasizes that we must acknowledge we definitely don’t know it all. Our network is made up of subject matter experts, Fellows, and professionals from various disciplines that have something valuable to offer each other. Curiosity drives the multi-disciplinary approach; this is vital for our work.
What is the Bio-Psycho-Social Approach?
We discuss each member, Fellow, and/or partner’s Bio-Psycho-Social to understand who they are, what their ambitions are, and how we can develop a mutual relationship that benefits everyone.
The “bio” is the biological needs that a person has. In our developed model, this entails having the means to provide for someone’s/their dependents’ physiological needs.
The “psycho” is one’s skillsets, motivations, and skillsets that drive them to do the work they believe needs to be done.
The “social” refer’s to one’s networks. How do they engage with others and how do they influence each other?
Lastly, the “analog/spiritual” is the energy a person spends outside of time and space. What religion, faith, lifestyles, etc. guides our lives?
A Multi-Disciplinary Approach to Healthcare
Family Science is a key lab at GMNG. John speaks on the importance of family in our lives; it’s with whom we create and/or pass on our values in an intimate way. Though family values can seem cemented and traditional, John believes encouraging curiosity is a significant component to understanding what values we keep, what values we create and what values we leave behind.
What are RVUs and GVUs?
RVU: Relative Value Unit. In simple terms, RVUs measure how much a medical professional’s work is monetarily valued.
GVU: Green Value Unit. This is a GMNG metric used to give quantifiable value to altruistic acts of compassion, education, and research that don’t have a dollar sign attached to it.
Both are important. We at GMNG feel there are ways to quantify and reward the help we give to each other that acknowledges the good that people already willingly do for each other. Many of the founding members of GMNG and its labs like the Health Disparties Lab, were alumni from the Ten Schools, and adopted the concept of “non-sibi” (latin: not for self) within our company’s charter.
Menno Clinic
John discusses the Menno Clinic he helped start in Chiluvuru, India. The clinic primarily serves low-income patients but is open to all. The Mennonite tradition of helping all regardless of their identity or background drives the function and goals of this clinic. GMNG finds this project aligned with our values, particularly compassionate care. We want to continue building relationships with multicultural, interdisciplinary, and interfaith organizations and the individuals that drive them.
Why GMNG?
John knows that interpersonal relationships with people across disciplines, cultures, and lifestyles keep us learning and growing. His dedication to learn and share fruitful conversations to truly understand people allows those around him to become more knowledgable and engaged individuals. This mindset and these practices are why he is our Chief Ethics Advisor. We believe the fundamental part of what we are trying to do in and with healthcare is engage with others in meaningful ways that enrich our professional and personal lives.
“Medicine happens in a context...it’s when we understand that the part that we have to offer, the expertise that we have to offer, fits in as one piece of the puzzle that makes not only individual wholeness, but community wholeness. And national wholeness. And global wholeness. That doesn’t happen when it’s about ‘me first.’”
Why do these conversations matter?
Professional environments can often become very straightforward and bluntly about the profits. These types of engagements can become problematic because of the lack of attention to other valuable assets people bring to each other in business interactions, such as mentorship, skills training, and valuable network-building. These human capital assets are immensely valuable because they contribute to improving the whole person, and there are many ways to engage with people to bring out these assets that ultimately improve business and personal experiences.
John is a fantastic individual to lead conversations on these topics because of his humanistic approach to multiple industries and faith-based line of work. He is a medical field outsider that offers perspectives about human engagement and discourse that isn’t readily found in healthcare or many other professional environments. This type of disruption is highly valuable because of our interdisciplinary approaches that already exist across medical specialties and the range of backgrounds our fellows, partners, and clients come from.
What do these values mean for GMNG business?
As we continue to grow and develop relationships with physicians, hospitals, and relevant stakeholders, we want to continue to bring the values that make us, us. We want to really know our partners and provide meaningful opportunities to develop our sense of understanding of each other and do business in a more robust way. Most of the most influential business folks out there already make key connections with people that end up creating personalized business experiences for all parties involved; we want to make a conscious and explicit effort at doing this.
What is GMNG Conversations?
The GMNG Conversations page highlights GMNG members that are influencing the network in a unique way. Stay tuned to learn about more GMNG members, partners, subject matter experts, and Fellows that are making strong impacts on the network and in rural healthcare.
If you have any questions, comments, and/or would like more info on a particular GMNG member, please contact us at info@greenmedicalonline.com.
Check in soon to learn about our next GMNG Conversations series with Dr. Chris Zarour!
