What Have We Learned? What Next? - Panel Discussion, Medical Directors with Audience Participation, April 28, 2000

Robert Carr, MD, Vice President and Corporate Medical Director, SmithKline Beecham, Philadelphia, PA

DR. LIESE: Bob?

DR. CARR: As the corporate medical director of a global corporation, I think I echo a lot of Michael's comments. I'd like to focus a little bit, though, on perhaps what lessons we've had within our company and what I might not have heard as much.

I think over the last two days we've really [?]. I was amazed at the variety of approaches, the depth at which we actually do know at the individual level on health issues, and yet at the lack of research on a lot of other issues.

But what I thought I didn't hear a lot of, in a population health or in an occupational health setting, is how does one reduce the exposure and the efforts which the medical departments can make in terms of reducing travel or reworking the work process to perhaps reduce the stressors and the connectivity issues that constantly keep pressure on while we're traveling.

So I think the lessons that we've learned that are up there on the screen are that it is a systems approach, and it's one that both looks at the individual interventions and identification of risk factors at the individual level, but as a physician in a corporation, how do I leverage the resources and the policies and processes of the organization to change a culture of significant travel to one of managed travel? And what is my role at senior management level to make the business case for perhaps re-looking at the way we do business that would reduce the overall exposure?

And so some of the other areas that we would focus on are to break it up into simple pieces, which is always good, and, again, to focus on what areas that we can work in each one of these areas of individual and organizational.

And one final slide which I think I'll focus on is our ability to get our CEO—and I think what I would like to take from this conference is all of the individual interventions and corporate management processes and working with our senior management at actually rethinking why we move people into different work environments, and fully cost-justifying and cost—through cost/benefit analyses or through justifications processes the whole work environment.

I also am amazed at, I think, the breadth of approaches and the different kinds of corporations that were presented here, inter government agencies as well as state and academic centers. And I've learned tremendously, and I think I'd like to thank Bernhard and the entire World Bank for really being the catalyst for this. And as I go out now, I have a whole slew of cards and new network of colleagues who I can rely on, and hopefully they can rely on some of the practices that we're doing at SmithKline Beecham.

So thank you, Bernhard.

[APPLAUSE]

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