Frequently Asked
Twelve answers.
One protocol.
The questions below are the ones that come up most often in the first consultation. Reading them will not replace the conversation, but it will often shorten it. If the answer you need is not here, the contact page is the next stop.
The Protocol
01 What exactly is the SCOTT Protocol?
A five-principle methodology adapted from high-reliability industries. Each letter stands for a discipline: Self-awareness, Consistent monitoring, Oversight, Tenacity, Taking action. Together they form a personal operating system designed to reduce preventable health failure to as close to zero as the body allows.
02 Who is it designed for?
Adults who refuse to outsource their own reliability. It is especially suited to executives, physicians, founders, high-responsibility parents, and families managing a parent with complex disease. If you already run a serious operation in another part of your life, the protocol will feel familiar.
03 Is this a replacement for my physician?
No. It is a replacement for the gap between your physicians. Your cardiologist sees your heart, your endocrinologist sees your glucose, your orthopedist sees your joints. None of them sees the operation. You do. The protocol helps you run it.
Evidence
01 Where does the methodology come from?
High Reliability Organization research originated in the study of nuclear power plants, naval aviation, and air-traffic control. The foundational scholarship is Karl Weick and Kathleen Sutcliffe, Managing the Unexpected. Application to healthcare safety began with work from the Institute for Healthcare Improvement and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Dr. Scott has adapted the clinical literature for personal use.
02 Is this protocol clinically validated?
Each of the five principles corresponds to an evidence-based practice in primary-care medicine: shared decision-making, continuity of care, second-opinion protocols, treatment adherence, and preventive screening. Those practices are individually validated by decades of research. The contribution of the SCOTT Protocol is to assemble them into a single, memorable, daily discipline.
Getting Started
01 How do I begin?
Read the Protocol page and the Framework page in that order. Then take the first thirty-minute call with Dr. Scott. The call is free, confidential, and diagnostic. If the protocol is right for you she will say so. If something else is a better fit, she will say that too.
02 What does it cost?
The public material on this site is free. One-to-one consultative work with Dr. Scott is priced by engagement, generally structured as a retainer through Scott Health Advisory. The introductory conversation costs nothing but thirty minutes.
03 Can organizations adopt it?
Yes. The protocol has been delivered as a keynote, a half-day workshop, and a multi-session leadership program for corporate and physician audiences. Inquire through the contact page for a tailored engagement.
Scope
01 Is this medical advice?
No. The content on this site is informational and educational. It is not a substitute for the independent medical judgment of your physician. For active medical emergencies, call 911.
02 How is this different from executive wellness coaching?
Executive wellness coaching, which Dr. Scott offers through executivewellnesscoach.com, is a relational practice focused on performance, stress, and behavior change. The SCOTT Protocol is a structural discipline focused on preventing the medical events that derail a career. Many clients use both. The two sites are companions, not competitors.
03 Does the protocol apply if I am already sick?
Absolutely. The principles adapt to any stage of illness. Self-awareness becomes knowing your exact diagnosis and its trajectory. Monitoring becomes tracking the markers your specialist cares about. Oversight becomes insisting on a coordinated care team. Tenacity becomes refusing the story that nothing more is possible. Action becomes doing the next small right thing, every day.
04 Will this work for my aging parent?
It will. Many of Dr. Scott's private engagements begin there. The protocol is particularly valuable when a family is coordinating care for a parent with multiple specialists, multiple medications, and multiple care transitions. Running that operation without a framework is how avoidable events occur.