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Product Description:
National Bestseller The struggle to perform well is universal: each of us faces fatigue, limited resources, and imperfect abilities in whatever we do. But nowhere is this drive to do better more important than in medicine, where lives may be on the line with any decision. Atul Gawande, the New York Times bestselling author of Complications, examines, in riveting accounts of medical failure and triumph, how success is achieved in this complex and risk-filled profession. At once unflinching and compassionate, Better is an exhilarating journey, narrated by "arguably the best nonfiction doctor-writer around" (Salon.com).
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Average Rating : 
Rating :  - Fascinating. Must read. Classic.
A fascinating and quick read, in each section there are plenty of inspiring stores about doctors making a difference. Dr. Atul Gawande, a general surgeon at Brigham and Women's Hospital and staff writer for the New Yorker has keen observation and insight to make single stories demonstrate not only the failings of our healthcare system but also the solutions to them because of individuals asking questions on how to do better. Ultimately, one of the questions he asks is how can doctors and hospitals be positive deviants? How does one become a positive deviant or an outlier that pushes beyond convention and advances patient care to new levels?
He gives examples of how over four million children need to be vaccinated in Northern/Southern India in three days to prevent a large polio outbreak. An immunization rate of less than 90 percent would be considered a failure.
Dr. Gawande talked about the evolution of obstetrics. After a damaging report in 1933, the specialty consequently committed itself to standardizing childbirth ensuring that with the new medical knowledge that it was applied consistently and routinely throughout the country. As a result maternal death in childbirth fell 90 percent from one in 150 in the 1930s to one in 2000 by 1950s. With continued innovations and the commitment to do better, the chance of a woman dying in childbirth is less than one in 10,000 today.
There are plenty of amazing examples that you don't have to be a doctor to relate on how truly inspirational these individuals are in times when the stakes could not be higher - life or death.
As a practicing family doctor, I believe that our healthcare system can do better in providing all of us the best care consistently and routinely across the country. Although his book is easily a classic and should be required reading for all future doctors, sadly I think true healthcare reform and improvement are years away. I wrote the book Stay Healthy, Live Longer, Spend Wisely: Making Intelligent Choices in America's Healthcare System specifically so everyone has the information they need to get the best care today. Until our healthcare system improves to its full potential as Dr. Gawande challenges us to do, unfortunately will always remain benefiting those who are insiders and harming those who are not. The real question is which one are you?
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