Taking one for quality and safety

I want to try to provoke some sympathy from my gentle and caring readers by demonstrating that serving on the Quality and Safety Day jury yesterday at Jeroen Bosch hospital was hazardous duty.  As the jury convened to compare our individual rankings and reach a consensus, Kees Smulders, director of quality and safety, showed up with this plateful of Bossche bolls (one for each judge.)  The Bosch ball is a profiterole type of pastry the size of a softball, filled up fresh whipped cream, and covered with dark chocolate.

I could try to make an argument that this delicacy has great nutritional value.  After all, it contains at least three of the food groups--grain, dairy, and, er, chocolate.  But I fear you might see through that characterization.  The truth is that this is an outrageous dessert or snack, loaded with calories and fat.

So, I approached the challenge gingerly, knowing that I would have the will power to take just a bite or two.  I got off to a good start.

But there is a problem.  There is something about the mixture of the three flavors and textures that is absolutely irresistible.  The time-space continuum is disrupted, you lose consciousness, and in the blink of an eye, the thing practically disappears!

I awoke in the nick of time and stopped at this point.  One of my fellow judges, though, couldn't resist and cleaned his plate (below).  This just shows you how dangerous it can be to be involved in pursuing quality and safety improvements in the health care field:  A total lack of mindfulness takes hold if you let your guard down even for a moment.