Over the years, I’ve come to realize that what made me say I’d enjoyed a mandate was having succeeded in creating-sometimes from scratch-a new network or collaborative approach, often under complex conditions. You don’t always get to choose the people you work with, so it’s very gratifying to be able to overcome initial misunderstandings and misunderstandings to move forward together towards a common goal where everyone benefits.
I began to enjoy research when I discovered just how much infection prevention issues can benefit from the expertise of engineers and social scientists. Many technological tools can support humans in adopting behaviors that can solve structural problems. Through collaboration, communication channels that support decision-making have a direct impact on patient health.
If there was ever a time when collaboration was perfectly deployed, it was during the pandemic. The objective could only be a common one: everyone against this virus. Together, we had to prepare the hospital, reorganize services, protect patients and advance research. In the face of adversity, all the professionals pulled together to find solutions and innovate. The sharing of information was absolute, the mutual support genuine. The adventure we embarked upon together brought us together. We discovered human beings with whom it was good to work and laugh. We invented new ways of doing things, and although we could all have done without the pandemic, it created an esprit de corps that will be hard to regain. Will this collaboration survive the return to “normality”?
If it hadn’t been for the mutual support and pleasure of working with others, in collaboration, the last few years would have finished me off for good. But I still have a touch of madness and energy left to wait and see where the next collaboration will take me.
