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Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance
by: Atul Gawande |
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Binding: Paperback Dewey Decimal Number: 616 EAN: 9780312427658 Edition: First Edition ISBN: 0312427654 Label: Picador Manufacturer: Picador Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 288 Publication Date: January 22, 2008 Publisher: Picador Release Date: January 22, 2008 Studio: Picador
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| Customer Reviews | ||
  - Closing the gap between intentions and outcomes.Dr Gawande may have written this book specifically about improved practice in medicine, but many of the points he makes are valid in other fields of human endeavour. Dr Atul has provided eleven essays around the themes of Diligence, Doing Right and Ingenuity. The question posed in the introduction, and explored throughout the book, is ` ..having accepted the responsibility, how one does such work well.' The topics of the essays are: Under the heading of `Diligence', Dr Gawande writes about the importance of handwashing, attempting to eradicate poliomyelitis, and the treatment of casualties of war. Under `Doing Right', Dr Gawande addresses the use of chaperones during medical examinations, medical malpractice, income earned by doctors, the roles of doctors in capital punishment, and issues around aggressive medical treatment. Under `Ingenuity', Dr Gawande covers medical intervention in the process of birth, excellence in treatment for cystic fibrosis, and medical care in India. Finally, Dr Gawande offers suggestions to medical students (and others) about making a difference by becoming `positive deviants'. In summary, the answer to the question posed by Dr Gawande could well be the following `Do what is right and do it now' (Dr Virginia Apgar, as quoted on Page 186). This is well written book which, while it draws on examples in the field of medicine, contains lessons for each of us who strive to make a difference. Technology provides many solutions and enables advances in areas previously thought impossible. But it is human ingenuity that underpins technological advance, and sometimes it is simple human practices that have the biggest impact. I recommend this book to those who are interested in striving for excellence more generally. Jennifer Cameron-Smith Rating:  - "When the stakes are our lives...we want no one to settle for average."Atul Gawande, in "Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance," asks, "What does it take to be good at something in which failure is so easy?" When someone's well-being is at stake, is mere competence enough? The author maintains that a great deal more is needed "to enable every human being to lead a life as long and free of frailty as science will allow." With so much on the line, knowledge is not enough. To do their best, doctors should be conscientious, technically proficient, morally scrupulous, resourceful, and compassionate. The author examines "three core requirements for success in medicine": diligence (attention to detail and avoidance of errors), "to do right," and ingenuity ("thinking anew"). Is a doctor willing to look at a difficult situation in a new light? Can she confront her failures, learn from them, and change? Dr. Gawande presents specific examples of medical professionals meeting a variety of challenges and, in the process, transforming medical care and saving lives. In this elegantly written book, the author makes the abstract real. He does not merely focus on dramatic events; he also demonstrates how the seemingly mundane can be crucial. One example centers on infection control. Deborah Yokoe, an infectious disease specialist and Susan Marino, a microbiologist, have done their utmost to reduce the spread of infection in their Boston-based hospital. Two million Americans acquire infections every year during their hospital stays and thousands die as a result. One way to cut down on infection in hospitals is for clinicians to carefully and consistently wash their hands. Yokoe and Marino have tried everything to get doctors and nurses to wash. They have posted warning signs, installed new sinks in convenient locations, given rewards to the units with the best rates of compliance, and even issued hygiene report cards. Nothing has worked. Doctors and nurses simply do not take the time to wash their hands as much as they should. As a result, the rates of infection in the hospital remain higher than they should be. Two other individuals in Pennsylvania, however, came up with innovations that actually made a difference. Peter Perreiah, an industrial engineer, devised an ingenious system that made each hospital room function like a mini-operating room. Jon Lloyd, a surgeon and colleague of Perreiah, promoted the idea of "positive deviance--the idea of building on capabilities people already had rather than telling them how they had to change." By inviting the staff to come up with their own solutions rather than imposing rules from above, "the norms began to shift." One year into the experiment, infection rates dropped precipitously. Gawande demonstrates time and again that when people rack their brains to come up with answers, they can solve seemingly intractable medical problems. The author's account of the Herculean efforts expended to eradicate polio in India and to save the lives of wounded soldiers in Iraq are fascinating and impressive. Equally engrossing are the sections dealing with best practices in obstetrics and effective treatments for cystic fibrosis. Dr. Gawande's remarks concerning how far physicians should go to keep their patients alive raise intriguing questions without offering facile answers. "In the face of uncertainty, wisdom is to err on the side of pushing, to not give up. But you have to be ready to recognize when pushing is only ego....You have to be ready to recognize when the pushing can turn to harm." The author believes that medical decisions should always be based on the best interests of the patient, and fruitless suffering should be avoided. This is a tough call and wise doctors will not hesitate to consult with their colleagues to get other opinions. My one quibble is that Gawande's segments focusing on doctors' income, malpractice, and the ethics of physician-assisted executions do not fit comfortably in a work about enhancing medical performance. The bottom line is that "arriving at meaningful solutions is an inevitably slow and difficult process." Common to all successful initiatives is the willingness to face challenges with a determination to do whatever it takes to find remedies. Atul Gawande is a thoughtful and intelligent writer; his graceful prose makes "Better" an absolute pleasure to read. We can only hope that Dr. Gawande's colleagues will pick up on his admirable enthusiasm for behaving more responsibly, creatively, and diligently. Rating: - Becoming better? More art than scienceGawande's essays contain honest observations of the conflicting roles that the medical profession play in the life and death of individuals and populations. He also asks seemingly obvious questions about why things are done in medicine and public health despite clear evidence that there are simple changes that can radically improve patients' health outcomes. There are no clear answers naturally, but the narratives provoke much thought. What is really striking is the humility in his advice about being a positive deviance through simple principles of diligence, doing right, and ingenuity. His suggestions to fellow doctors and medical students to ask an unexpected questions, not complaining, measure and write about one's experience, and adopting best practices continually are underpinned by the recognition of medicine more as art than science. That there is always uncertainty in how human beings respond to the best of care in the medical setting. That much is unknown, and even more is unknown about what the profession does not yet know. Perhaps a healthy dose of scepticisim, coupled with a dash of irreverence for sacred cows, and continually asking "Why not?" in medicine, may be what is needed to "do right". In Better, the anecdotes show just how unpredictable and irrational human behaviour can be despite the best of intentions. How surgeons who are obsessively sterile in the confines of an operating field ironically seem to blatantly disregard their own obsession once they are out of the OT. Stories about communities who reject the life-saving (and tragedy-preventing) public health measures to ring-fence polio outbreaks with vaccinations. A fascinating (and fast) read. Rating: - Positive devianceAtul Gawande's collection of essays reflect on medicine in an amazingly even-handed way, considering the author is a surgeon. Rather than a defense of medical care, the author explores several controversial issues affecting health care and manages to not only see the various aspects of each issue, but to examine them in such a way the reader's mind is opened. Divided into 3 main sections, each a virtue that contributes to the development of modern medicine: diligence, doing right, and ingenuity. I was grabbed immediately by the first chapter regarding hand washing. Yes, hand washing! As an obsessive hand washer myself, I found the statistics regarding health care professionals and hand washing to be astonishing! And in the face of overwhelming evidence favoring hand washing, its pretty amazing that everyone is not donning exam gloves for everyday tasks. On the contrary, the cavalier attitude demonstrated by doctors and nurses towards hand washing would make a great psychology study. But luckily for us, there are people out there that not only appreciate the value of frequent washing, but took the extra step to figure out how to make it happen. I must apologize for not making this sound more interesting, because it truly is. While I found every chapter fascinating, I was particularly intrigued by the study of cystic fibrosis centers, and the description of medical care in India. In each chapter, we meet people who use their knowledge and skills to BE better. I especially appreciate Gawande's advice on becoming better, a 5 step program for improvement, or how to be a positive deviant. 1. Ask an unscripted question. 2. Don't complain. 3. Count something. 4. Write something. 5. Change. When are our efforts enough? Why do we always have to be better? Because we have not eradicated disease. We have not eliminated mistakes. We have not erased social inequities. Read about the people who are dedicating their lives to making things better. It will make you want to be better as well. Highly recommended to health care professionals and patients alike. Rating: - "Becoming a positive deviant"In any human endeavor, variations of performance create a bell curve and most participants are average or below average. Dr. Atul Gawande explores the challenge of practicing medicine and striving to be a "positive deviant" on that curve. Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance explores the pursuit of perfection in several areas of medical practice. Athletes, he writes, teach us a lot about "the value of perseverance, of hard work and practice, of precision. But success in medicine has dimensions that cannot be found on a playing field. For one, lives are on the line." (p. 4) Several chapters of this book appeared first as articles in periodicals. Though the book follows a fascinating theme, do not expect it to be as well-integrated as Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science. The overall message is the dialectic between strict adherence to practices known to work (hand-washing) and an inspired ingenuity. How to achieve both? There is much interesting material here: the WHO campaign to eliminate polio, the history of Cesarian sections in obstetrics, the ethics of assisting in the death chamber, the story behind longer life span for cystic fibrosis patients. These and other chapters are tied together by the quest for improvement of outcomes. The afterword encapsulates Dr. Gawande's advice to medical students on making a difference in people's lives, and it alone is worth the price of the book. "It often seems safest to do what everyone else is doing ..." he writes in closing. "But a doctor must not let that happen--nor should anyone who takes on risk and responsibility in society." Altogether this is an informative and thought-provoking book with lessons that go beyond the specifics of medical practice. Linda Bulger, 2008 |
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