Explores the efforts of physicians to close the gap between best intentions and best performance in the face of insurmountable obstacles, discussing such topics as the ethical considerations of lethal injections, malpractice, and surgical errors.
fascinating discussion on improving surgical practices, possibly applicable to fields (including software, I'm not kidding)
5 stars
I read the author's Pulitzer Prize winning book Being Mortal and found this work similarly fascinating, and probably with lessons applicable to other fields on how to systematically improve practices. Of course the stakes are high in medicine, in particular, surgery, so the message is more compelling delivered with the author's humility and honest self-doubt (not something you often see doctors express).
Gawande is an excellent writer with no shortage of stories in a highly respected field. I've enjoyed two of his other books before this and have another in the queue.
Better covers three core requirements for success in medicine: ingenuity, doing right, and diligence. These core requirements are the framework to Gawande's stories, but a minor gripe is that I felt they were too loosely correlated. I often forgot which requirement we were discussing during his lengthy stories on where he stands on c-sections, malpractice lawsuits, or capital punishment. He seemed adamant about getting an ethical point across, and I would forget how or why we were talking about them in the first place. It was great to see foreshadowing for The Checklist Manifesto in here, which he published two years later. Gawande is already praising the power of systems in Better, saying "Success requires making a hundred small steps …
Gawande is an excellent writer with no shortage of stories in a highly respected field. I've enjoyed two of his other books before this and have another in the queue.
Better covers three core requirements for success in medicine: ingenuity, doing right, and diligence. These core requirements are the framework to Gawande's stories, but a minor gripe is that I felt they were too loosely correlated. I often forgot which requirement we were discussing during his lengthy stories on where he stands on c-sections, malpractice lawsuits, or capital punishment. He seemed adamant about getting an ethical point across, and I would forget how or why we were talking about them in the first place. It was great to see foreshadowing for The Checklist Manifesto in here, which he published two years later. Gawande is already praising the power of systems in Better, saying "Success requires making a hundred small steps go right. One after the other, no slip ups, no goofs, everyone pitching in."
The book concludes with five suggestions for how one might make a worthy difference. It's great advice, but probably not anything new to you. Still, it's nice to have a surgeon-approved list of general aspirations. They are (paraphrased): - Go off script. Make human connections. - Don't complain. - Record data on things you're interested in. - Write. - Be flexible and open to change.
I read this mostly on my bus commute. This was a very interesting book. I like Dr. Gawande's writing style of posing a story, giving stats, smaller stories, making his point, and then wrapping up the initial story.
