Advance Praise
for The Nun and the Bureaucrat: How They Found an Unlikely Cure for
America's Sick Hospitals
...the companion book to the documentary, Good News...How Hospitals Heal Themselves
How hospitals heal themselves
by Cal Thomas - Tribune Media Services, Tuesday, June 20, 2006
Is there anyone in America who doesn’t know that our hospitals are in trouble, along with the rest of the health care system?
Three reports released last week by the Institute of Medicine confirm that. As The Washington Post summarized it, “Emergency medical care in the United States is on the verge of collapse.”
The PBS documentary, titled “Good News: How Hospitals Heal Themselves,” shows how St. Joseph’s hospital in St. Charles, Mo., adopted “systems thinking,” dramatically improving its emergency care.
Read the complete article
"If you think that hospital care cannot be significantly improved in quality and cost, you have another think coming. Read this book."
- Russell Ackoff, Professor Emeritus, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. Author, Ackoff’s Best, Re-creating the Corporation, and Redesigning Society (with Sheldon Roven)
"This book describes the kind of leadership that's essential for making our hospitals safe and patient friendly and at the same time cutting costs by driving out waste. And that is leadership that employs systems thinking to realize an inspiring vision. Read this book to learn how two leaders educated and transformed their hospitals. They show the way that others can and should follow."
- Michael Maccoby, MD, Anthropologist, psychoanalyst and consultant on leadership, strategy and organization. Author, The Gamesman; Why Work?: Motivating the New Work Force; and the Productive Narcissist: The Promise and Perils of Visionary Leadership.
"Most of us realize that living and doing daily work requires us to depend on other people and predictable work processes. Taking those understandings into health care and the work of improving it is a complex undertaking. These authors have created an inviting introduction to health care as a system. In the midst of widespread recognition that we must improve our health care, they offer a starting point for creating the changes we need. Their attention to the insightful people making these changes happen allows us to learn from what's working. They have seen what is hard to see at first: health care as a system. Their writing is clear and inviting. In short, this is a welcome addition to the public conversation. Read it, share it and tell your elected officials about what you now understand needs to be encouraged to make health care better."
- Paul Batalden, M.D., Professor, Dartmouth Medical School
"This book gives me hope that we can make similar improvements at many hospitals around the country."
-- Kenneth H. Cohn, MD, MBA, Cambridge Management Group. Author: Better Communication for Better Care: Mastering Physician-Administrator Collaboration, and Collaborate for Success: Breakthrough Strategies for Engaging Physicians, Nurses, and Hospital Executives
How hospitals heal themselves
by Cal Thomas - Tribune Media Services, Tuesday, June 20, 2006
Is there anyone in America who doesn’t know that our hospitals are in trouble, along with the rest of the health care system?
Three reports released last week by the Institute of Medicine confirm that. As The Washington Post summarized it, “Emergency medical care in the United States is on the verge of collapse.”
The PBS documentary, titled “Good News: How Hospitals Heal Themselves,” shows how St. Joseph’s hospital in St. Charles, Mo., adopted “systems thinking,” dramatically improving its emergency care.
Read the complete article
- Russell Ackoff, Professor Emeritus, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. Author, Ackoff’s Best, Re-creating the Corporation, and Redesigning Society (with Sheldon Roven)
- Michael Maccoby, MD, Anthropologist, psychoanalyst and consultant on leadership, strategy and organization. Author, The Gamesman; Why Work?: Motivating the New Work Force; and the Productive Narcissist: The Promise and Perils of Visionary Leadership.
- Paul Batalden, M.D., Professor, Dartmouth Medical School
-- Kenneth H. Cohn, MD, MBA, Cambridge Management Group. Author: Better Communication for Better Care: Mastering Physician-Administrator Collaboration, and Collaborate for Success: Breakthrough Strategies for Engaging Physicians, Nurses, and Hospital Executives