In every community there are certain individuals (the "Positive Deviants") whose special practices/ strategies/ behaviors enable them to find better solutions to prevalent community problems than their neighbors who have access to the same resources. Positive deviance is a culturally appropriate development approach that is tailored to the specific community in which it is used.
The Positive Deviance Initiative (PDI) has been using the PD approach to address various and disparate issues, such as Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) eradication, Malnutrition, Education, Prevention of Girl Trafficking, Prevention of Female Genital Cutting, Business, Health Care, Public Health, and Law. Visit our projects page and our archives page to read some stories about PD projects and activities around the world.
New Stories
Albert Einstein Healthcare Network proudly announced that its SMASH initiative has won two prestigious awards from The Hospital Healthssystem Association of Pennsylvania (HAP).
For more information, on the story, please visit their website.
The video shows Jasper Palmer showing how to safely remove a gown after it has been exposed to MRSA (Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus). Jasper has shared his technique with doctors, nurses, infectious disease experts, etc at the Albert Einstein Hospital (Philadelphia, PA) which is currently implementing a positive deveiance MRSA-eradication program. Jasper's technique has been widely promoted throughout the hosptial and is referred to as the "Palmer Method"!
The quote below is from Cathy Reynolds (Quality Manager at Albert Einstein Hospital)
"While observing hand hygiene practices on one of the nursing units, I saw our Jasper arrive to pick up a patient. He was a bit down the hall from me but I could hear him talking to a PCA in a room across the hall who had just disposed of an isolation gown, a bit sloppy for Jasper's liking I guess. I could hear him saying "There's a way to do
that so there is not so much trash." After hearing him explain, she said "I don't understand." With that, he took a short break from his duties and grabbed an isolation gown saying "OK, isolation gown removal, here we go" and proceeded to demonstrate his "method" right there in the hallway.