Since I wrote my paradigm shift essay on the shift from physician centered models in healthcare to patient-centered care and autonomy, I thought it would be interesting to do my TED talk on autonomy: why people crave autonomy specifically in the workforce and what benefits come from implementing autonomy in the workforce.

I will start off talking about the Self-Determination theory which states the basic needs for satisfaction in a human being: autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Before I relate the Self-Determination theory to work-life, I will delve deeper into the science of autonomy and talk about why so many people want it. I will end my TED talk by talking about the benefits which arise from autonomy at work (engagement) and how such a basic principle of life can lead to a more successful and satisfactory performance at work.

My audience is perfect for this TED talk as we are all college students who will sooner or later obtain either internships or jobs. In addition, everyone always talks to us about what we want to do in life career-wise—whether we want to do engineering or medicine or business—but nobody ever talks to us about what happens after we actually land the job of our dreams. People go into their careers motivated and usually happy but if certain needs aren’t met (specifically autonomy, competence, and relatedness), their motivation can dwindle and their job may start to feel like actual work instead of something they’ve always wanted to do.

I will add logos and ethos to my presentation by explaining how Google has taken implemented a much more autonomic approach in their company and has thus had better outcomes in products and software’s. In addition to logos and ethos, I will strike a chord with my audience and show them the three needs people need to have met in order to stay motivated and happy at work. I will use examples that we can all relate to and add in visual aids respectively. I won’t have many numbers or statistics to show throughout my TED talk so my audience will be more easily engaged and attentive. My visual aids will be charts or diagrams showing certain relationships between autonomy and other variables such as engagement and overall satisfaction.

Denzel Washington delivered a very powerful and motivational speech for the students of the University of Pennsylvania. He utilized logos, personal anecdotes and humor to appeal to the audience’s emotions, as well as good organization in order to preview his speech and give the audience an idea of what is to come. He also addressed his audience throughout the speech and invited them to fail through his use of rhetoric. His main point was that failure is necessary in order to learn and succeed.

The one area which Denzel Washington could have improved in was eye contact with the audience. Towards the end of the speech, he read almost directly off of his paper. Otherwise, his speech was very well performed and delivered well overall. He spoke fluidly, and conversationally while using hand gestures to emphasize his main points. He kept his speech extremely engaging and not monotonous at all.

Denzel started his speech by describing famous people who have failed prior to succeeding. He described how Thomas Edison conducted 1000 failed experiments but nobody knows that that because the 1001 experiment created the lightbulb. He talked about how Reggie Jackson struck out 2600 times in his baseball career but nobody remembered the strike-outs. People only remembered the home runs. Denzel then went on to describe how every failure is one step closer to success both in the cases of famous people like Thomas Edison or even his own self.

He appealed to his audience’s emotions extremely well by taking into consideration their age and the point they are at in their lives. As young adults, it is sometimes very hard to wrap your head around the fact that you will fail and that no matter how much training or schooling you have gone through, you will still lose, suck, or embarrass yourself at something. He gave anecdotal evidence of the many times he has failed through his acting career and used a sense of humor to keep the audience members engaged and interested. Denzel also talked about the story of ghosts representing unfulfilled potential, ideas never acted upon and talents never used. He went on and asked the audience members how many ghosts will be around them once their time comes? This was not only a call for action but a way of appealing to their emotions and their hopes for the future. Denzel was ultimately encouraging the recent graduates to always maximize their potential and never give up on anything they are passionate about. He wanted the graduates to do something with their dreams and talents throughout their lives instead of bringing empty aspirations to the graves with them.

Furthermore, Denzel Washington’s preview was very effective in his speech; “You have to take risks and I want to talk to you about why that’s so important. I have three reasons.” He laid out his reasons really clearly throughout his speech and expanded on why he chose those reasons to talk about. By using anecdotal evidence of those reasons, his argument was effective and appealing.

For my paradigm shift essay, I would like to explore the change in patient engagement in healthcare. There has been a huge decrease in physician centered models and an increase in patient-centered care. Healthcare providers have been trying to focus their attention more on the relationships they have with their patients and their patients’ satisfaction and overall outcome as opposed to the institutional needs of a healthcare system.

There are many reasons why this paradigm shift has occurred. First off, less people are becoming general practitioners and more people are specializing in certain branches of medicine. When a person has a problem or an illness now, they oftentimes have to consult a multitude of doctors as opposed to just one (Bardes). This in turn doesn’t allow for any kind of patient-provider relationship to form, detracting away from the effectiveness of the treatment or course of action. After all, the three things patients want from their healthcare providers are a personal relationship, communication, and empathy (Rickert). While this is only one of the reasons this shift has taken place, there are many other contributing factors as well: some indirect, some direct.  

My goal is to address the following questions in my essay:

• How has technology played a role in this paradigm shift?
• How has the lack of primary care physicians led to a decrease in quality of care and relationships between patients and providers?
• How have Urgent Cares impacted the paradigm shift?
• How has the implementation of HCAHPS affected the way hospitals approach healthcare and patient centration?

Preparing for the speech was successful and right up my alley. However, public speaking and delivery have always gotten the best of me.

I think that in terms of my outline and structure, I did a decent job organizing my speech in an understandable way; I started off discussing civicness first and and then broke it down into rhetorical features and ideologies, tying everything together. My transitions and preview were pretty good so I think that helped my audience stick with me even when I lost my words or circled around too much.  

In terms of content, I could have spoken about less rhetorical features/ideologies but delved deeper into them and analyzed them more meticulously. I found it difficult to capture my audience with the video ad since I was unable to show them the full ad and really point out specific moments of it that I was referring to throughout my speech. If I could go back, I would probably pick a poster in order to give my audience a better idea of what I am talking about in my speech.

When it came down to the actual delivery, I definitely could have improved in that aspect of the presentation. I was extremely nervous and lost my train of thought a couple of times, forgetting some key points I had gone over in my outline. I think if I had spent more time rehearsing in front of a larger crowd instead of by myself or solely with another person, my delivery would have been more fluid, conversational in nature, and my nerves would have gone down.

Overall, I think for my first extemporaneous speech, I did a decent job explaining my content, speaking in the allotted time, and organizing my speech in order to help my audience understand what I was talking about. My nerves were the one thing that hindered my message and caused me to repeat myself and speak less fluidly than I would have liked. However, that is something I can work on. Atleast now I know what area I have to focus more on when it’s time for my next speech or oral presentation.