"This book answers 'why not' and 'how to' for health care accreditation bodies, quality experts, and frontline professionals, moving the reader from timely information, to inspiration, and through patient-centered action with practical tools and potent case studies." Paul vanOstenberg, DDS, MS, vice president, Accreditation and Standards, Joint Commission International "This superb guide from Planetree illustrates that providing high-quality, high-value, patient-centered health care is not a theoretical ideal. The case studies make clear that these goals are attainable; they are being achieved by leading health care organizations worldwide, and there is a clear road map for getting there right here in this book." Susan Dentzer, senior policy adviser to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation "At IHI, we follow the principle, 'all teach, all learn' the idea that everyone, everywhere has something to teach, and something to learn. This remarkable and indispensable guide is as pure an example of this principle as I've come across." Maureen Bisognano, president and chief executive officer, Institute for Healthcare Improvement "The International Society for Quality in Health Care's mission is to inspire, promote, and support continuous improvement in the quality and safety of health care worldwide. It is in this spirit that we welcome this new book on patient-centered care. As in their previous work, the authors demonstrate just how critical it is to develop an organizational culture that puts patients first." Peter Carter, chief executive officer, International Society for Quality in Health Care

The second edition of Putting Patients First showcases what Planetree facilities and the Planetree organization have learned about the commitments, conditions, practices, and policies that are needed to do more than give lip service to being--patient-centered.--It should be read by every student, nurse, physician, administrator, trustee, policy maker, and lay person who is committed to creating healing environments, holding facilities accountable for their rhetoric, and truly reforming health care.

This practical book provides effective, time-efficient strategies for initiating and continuing productive conversations about weight that can be incorporated into any practice setting. It will benefit all clinicians—advanced practice nurses, physician assistants, physicians—from students to experienced providers, whether they provide obesity treatment or refer to those who do. This guide addresses the numerous barriers that clinicians encounter when they contemplate or attempt conversations about weight and provides strategies to reduce and overcome these barriers. It guides clinicians step-by-step through the concepts and skills needed to have conversations that lead to improved health. Each chapter provides useful tools and information about how to move the conversation forward in a respectful, skillful manner. Real life clinical scenarios provide examples of short, productive conversations that incorporate the tools into clinical practice. Many clinicians recognize the importance of discussing weight with their patients yet feel unprepared to do so. Most did not learn about obesity or how to talk about it in their clinical educational programs and have little access to continuing education. Without the knowledge and skills to start a productive conversation, many avoid the topic. This avoidance has a negative impact on the health of those with obesity and pre-obesity. Given that obesity treatment improves outcomes, it is imperative that clinicians are skilled at discussing weight with knowledge and sensitivity. This book meets that gap.

Do you feel like something big is missing from your life? Do you feel trapped, bored, stuck in a meaningless routine? It may be you think you're too ordinary to ever do something special. Perhaps you're afraid that if you try, you'll fail. The startling truth is this: Just about anyone can do great things, can live a life that's remarkable, purposeful, excellent, and yes, even heroic. If you want to be a hero, you can be. How? That's what this book is all about. Will you choose to do it? Will you decide to journey heroically, instead of spending your life merely marking time? If so, this is the book for you. Welcome to your heroic journey.

"This book answers 'why not' and 'how to' for health care accreditation bodies, quality experts, and frontline professionals, moving the reader from timely information, to inspiration, and through patient-centered action with practical tools and potent case studies." Paul vanOstenberg, DDS, MS, vice president, Accreditation and Standards, Joint Commission International "This superb guide from Planetree illustrates that providing high-quality, high-value, patient-centered health care is not a theoretical ideal. The case studies make clear that these goals are attainable; they are being achieved by leading health care organizations worldwide, and there is a clear road map for getting there right here in this book." Susan Dentzer, senior policy adviser to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation "At IHI, we follow the principle, 'all teach, all learn' the idea that everyone, everywhere has something to teach, and something to learn. This remarkable and indispensable guide is as pure an example of this principle as I've come across." Maureen Bisognano, president and chief executive officer, Institute for Healthcare Improvement "The International Society for Quality in Health Care's mission is to inspire, promote, and support continuous improvement in the quality and safety of health care worldwide. It is in this spirit that we welcome this new book on patient-centered care. As in their previous work, the authors demonstrate just how critical it is to develop an organizational culture that puts patients first." Peter Carter, chief executive officer, International Society for Quality in Health Care

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The award-winning book that inspired an Apple Original series from Apple TV+ • A landmark investigation of patient deaths at a New Orleans hospital ravaged by Hurricane Katrina—and the suspenseful portrayal of the quest for truth and justice—from a Pulitzer Prize–winning physician and reporter “An amazing tale, as inexorable as a Greek tragedy and as gripping as a whodunit.”—Dallas Morning News After Hurricane Katrina struck and power failed, amid rising floodwaters and heat, exhausted staff at Memorial Medical Center designated certain patients last for rescue. Months later, a doctor and two nurses were arrested and accused of injecting some of those patients with life-ending drugs. Five Days at Memorial, the culmination of six years of reporting by Pulitzer Prize winner Sheri Fink, unspools the mystery, bringing us inside a hospital fighting for its life and into the most charged questions in health care: which patients should be prioritized, and can health care professionals ever be excused for hastening death? Transforming our understanding of human nature in crisis, Five Days at Memorial exposes the hidden dilemmas of end-of-life care and reveals how ill-prepared we are for large-scale disasters—and how we can do better. ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The New York Times Book Review • ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: Chicago Tribune, Seattle Times, Entertainment Weekly, Christian Science Monitor, Kansas City Star WINNER: National Book Critics Circle Award, J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize, PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award, Los Angeles Times Book Prize, Ridenhour Book Prize, American Medical Writers Association Medical Book Award, National Association of Science Writers Science in Society Award

A brilliant and courageous doctor reveals, in gripping accounts of true cases, the power and limits of modern medicine. Sometimes in medicine the only way to know what is truly going on in a patient is to operate, to look inside with one's own eyes. This book is exploratory surgery on medicine itself, laying bare a science not in its idealized form but as it actually is -- complicated, perplexing, and profoundly human. Atul Gawande offers an unflinching view from the scalpel's edge, where science is ambiguous, information is limited, the stakes are high, yet decisions must be made. In dramatic and revealing stories of patients and doctors, he explores how deadly mistakes occur and why good surgeons go bad. He also shows us what happens when medicine comes up against the inexplicable: an architect with incapacitating back pain for which there is no physical cause; a young woman with nausea that won't go away; a television newscaster whose blushing is so severe that she cannot do her job. Gawande offers a richly detailed portrait of the people and the science, even as he tackles the paradoxes and imperfections inherent in caring for human lives. At once tough-minded and humane, Complications is a new kind of medical writing, nuanced and lucid, unafraid to confront the conflicts and uncertainties that lie at the heart of modern medicine, yet always alive to the possibilities of wisdom in this extraordinary endeavor. Complications is a 2002 National Book Award Finalist for Nonfiction.

For decades, the manufacturing industry has employed the Toyota Production System the most powerful production method in the world to reduce waste, improve quality, reduce defects and increase worker productivity. In 2001, Virginia Mason Medical Center, an integrated healthcare delivery system in Seattle, Washington set out to achieve its compe

This title was first published in 2002: This field guide assesses two views of human error - the old view, in which human error becomes the cause of an incident or accident, or the new view, in which human error is merely a symptom of deeper trouble within the system. The two parts of this guide concentrate on each view, leading towards an appreciation of the new view, in which human error is the starting point of an investigation, rather than its conclusion. The second part of this guide focuses on the circumstances which unfold around people, which causes their assessments and actions to change accordingly. It shows how to "reverse engineer" human error, which, like any other componant, needs to be put back together in a mishap investigation.

Physicians who care for patients with life-threatening illnesses face daunting communication challenges. Patients and family members can react to difficult news with sadness, distress, anger, or denial. This book defines the specific communication tasks involved in talking with patients with life-threatening illnesses and their families. Topics include delivering bad news, transition to palliative care, discussing goals of advance-care planning and do-not-resuscitate orders, existential and spiritual issues, family conferences, medical futility, and other conflicts at the end of life. Drs Anthony Back, Robert Arnold, and James Tulsky bring together empirical research as well as their own experience to provide a roadmap through difficult conversations about life-threatening issues. The book offers both a theoretical framework and practical conversational tools that the practising physician and clinician can use to improve communication skills, increase satisfaction, and protect themselves from burnout.