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Dr. George Bartley

Mayo as metaphor

Dear Readers,

If you were asked to describe Mayo Clinic, what image or metaphor would you use?

For many years, Mayo has been depicted by three shields, representing clinical practice, research, and education. You'll see the logo at the entrance of our campus, on our letterhead and business cards, and featured on alumni neckties (which my wife finds sartorially boring). I'm fine with the fashion — regimental ties with a button-down shirt make for easy early morning decision-making — but have never been particularly fond of the symbolism. That's because shields are used for defense. Disease needs to be attacked head-on, proactively, with relentless determination. Since I don't see our three-shield logo being replaced by spears, swords,or catapults anytime soon, however, let's consider some other metaphors.

Mayo Clinic as a national entity is occasionally represented by a triangle that connects our campuses in Rochester, Phoenix, and Jacksonville. Inevitably, the original Rochester site is referred to by some as the cornerstone or the mother ship, and the southern practices as satellites or offspring (although the "kids" are now 20 years old). But such a metaphor leaves out the Mayo Health System, a network of clinics and hospitals in Minnesota, Iowa, and Wisconsin that comprises more than 700 physicians and about 12,000 employees. The Health System focus is more on primary and secondary care than the complex specialty care featured at the three main campuses, and it adds another important dimension to the overall picture of Mayo. So our two-dimensional triangle should more accurately be a three-dimensional, four-sided pyramid — perhaps with Rochester as the foundational base.

Consider also that some people first encounter Mayo Clinic not in a doctor's office but through the mail with one of our health information newsletters, brochures, or books.Others find Mayo online through mayo clinic.org or mayoclinic.com, both of which are reliable sources of medical information. The Mayo Clinic Proceedings medical journal has the third largest circulation of its type in the world.More than 3,000 students, residents and fellows experience Mayo each year through the multiple faces of education: the SURF (Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship) program, Mayo Medical School, dozens of training programs for allied health personnel, and the country's largest school of graduate medical education. Others come to Mayo Clinic to work in our numerous research laboratories. Many persons benefit from Mayo Clinic expertise indirectly, for instance, if their home physician or regional hospital sends a blood test to one of our reference laboratories or a biopsy specimen to one of our pathologists for a second opinion. The lives of many are improved by technology developed at Mayo Clinic and commercialized through Mayo Medical Ventures.

If all these activities are added to our Mayo pyramid, the structure transforms into a polyhedron. I like that image because with each additional facet the sharp edges between sides diminish and the structure increasingly resembles a sphere — which ideally is smooth and seamless. So that's the metaphor I would choose: a many-sided entity that interacts with the world in myriad ways. At the center, though, is the core value that we strive to honor with all that we do: "the needs of the patient come first."

Sincerely,

George B. Bartley, M.D.
Chief Executive Officer