Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 16-20 of 100
 Complications is better, better is still very good January 28, 2009
Thomas Mcshane
Gawande is a witty, practical, intelligent, and interesting writer who can relate and sympathize well with a wide range of people. On top of this, he is an innovator (see the recent article on [..] that describes his new protocols being applied in hospitals and drastically eliminating serious errors). I'm sure many professional writers wish they had half his talent. I think his first book Complications was better because it had more interesting stories and I was captivated about his admittance and depiction of MDs as fallible humans. With that said, Better is still a five-star read. My favorite part and the most valuable take away from this book is his last chapter, "For Performance" with five suggestions that everyone can use to better themselves, and as as result, better the world around them.
Wow - from start to finish! January 17, 2009
Sandi B (Peoria, IL USA)
Even better than his first book, Dr. Gawande bravely speaks out about the very real aspect of human fallibility in our health care system and his quest to eliminate errors in medicine. Quite frankly, I can't remember which of his first two books, "Complications" or "Better" the discussion about 'pre-flight' style check lists for surgical teams was mentioned in - because I read both of his books back to back in one day, but the idea is catching on and showing staggering statistical success. Dr. Gawande's frank writing style is threaded through with human compassion and is quite pleasurable to read. I highly recommend both of his books!
Even "Better" than Complications January 5, 2009
urrugby (Washington, DC USA)
Insightful, well-written, and goes beyond the limited scope of "Complications" to include medicine outside the walls of U.S. hospitals.
How A Local Hospital Reduces The Spread of Bacteria December 12, 2008
Kelly J. Jadon (Florida)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
From: www.BasilAndSpice.com
Author & Book Views On A Healthy Life!
Book Review: Better by Atul Gawande, MD
Dr. Atul Gawande, General Surgeon at Brigham and Women's Hospital--Boston, Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School, Staff Writer for The New Yorker, and Best-Selling author of Better writes about the importance of washing hands and how to actually cut the spread of potential lethal disease. He states that approximately two million Americans pick up an infection while in the hospital. Of these, ninety thousand will die from that same infection. Possible attacks come from rotavirus, Norwalk virus, Pseudomonas bacteria, resistant Klebsiella, MRSA-- methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, and VRE-- vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus--the last two frequently causing pneumonias, wound and bloodstream infections.
Admittedly, Dr. Gawande recognizes that studies show nurses and doctors do not wash their hands frequently enough, up to 50% of the time. Recalling the lesson taught by obstetrician Ignac Semmelweis, he points out the cause of childbed fever (puerperal fever) was the lack of washing hands. In 1847, 600 of 3,000 mothers delivering babies in Semmelweis's Viennese hospital, died from the bacteria Streptococcus, which leads to childbed fever. After instigating a wash up with chlorine and a nail brush for doctors and nurses, between patients, the death rate fell from 20% to 1%. Even though this procedure offered sufficient proof of success, doctors elsewhere declined to institute the hand washing. They simply could not believe that they themselves were making their patients sick.
Recently, a surgeon named Jon Lloyd hit on an idea from the Save the Children program: Positive Defiance, or building upon capabilities people already have, rather than making them change their behaviors. After meeting with small groups (from kitchen worker and janitor to nurses, doctors, and even patients) in a trial Pittsburgh hospital, and instilling the staff's ideas, change was made. For example, they themselves decided where to best place new hand-gel dispensers. By empowering the employees, they worked together toward a common goal. The result at the end of one year, "the entire hospital saw its MRSA wound infection rates drop to zero."
Dr. Gawande continues with news that The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Jewish Healthcare Foundation are beginning to implement this initiative in ten more hospitals across the United States. To this point, no other idea has worked.
This is an excellent book.
5 Stars
Atul Probes Deeply November 12, 2008
Patricia Harrelson (Jamestown, Ca USA)
Atul Gwande's "Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance" is a collection of essays that probe skillfully and poignantly into the depths of medical ethics and the performance of doctors. He is a fine researcher and an astute observer who carefully delineates many facets of each issue that he explores, be it washing hands, malpractice concerns, or the Apgar score.
As a non-fiction writer, I was acutely aware of how adept Gawande is at using narrative to illustrate and discuss complex moral and ethical issues. He does not skirt controversial notions such as what happens to the soldiers who have been saved from grave injury on the battlefield and come home limbless and with horribly scared faces? Or why hospitals avoid publicizing the results of their effectiveness in treating certain conditions?
At the end of his book, he makes five suggestions about how doctors might make a worthy difference. All of these suggestions make sense for anyone wanting to make a difference. I'm only going to mention one that hits close to home: He says, "write something. . . it makes no difference if you write five paragraphs for a blog, a paper for a professional journal, or a poem for a reading group. Just write."
Let me add, just read Gwande's "Better."
Showing reviews 16-20 of 100
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