Internal Bleeding: The Truth Behind America's Terrifying Epidemic of Medical Mistakes - Hardcover

Robert M. Wachter; Kaveh G. Shojania

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1590710738 ISBN 13: 9781590710739

Publisher: Rugged Land, 2005

Synopsis

This updated edition includes the latest findings on patient safety by two of the foremost authorities on medical mistakes.
Two dynamic physician-professors investigate (and re-investigate) the rampant errors endemic to modern medical care and suggest ways to prevent hospitals and doctors from inadvertently killing their patients. Emerging from these compelling stories and provocative insights is a powerful case for change–by policymakers, hospitals, doctors, nurses, and even patients and their families. Wachter & Shojania underscore the depth and breadth of dangers in medical care; more important, they suggest basic safety procedures and hard-nosed remedies that could make erratic systems fail-safe and save countless lives.

About this title

Review:

With a mix of horrifying medical accidents and warmly logical problem solving, Internal Bleeding provides a serious, if graphic, look at an industry where a simple mistake can lead directly to death. Happily, authors (both are medical doctors) Robert Wachter and Kaveh Shojania have as many practical solutions as they have tragic errors. Generally based on updated systems and protocols in processes like computerized prescription writing and physically initialing specific body parts to be operated on, their solutions are both sympathetic and angry. Pointing out impatient, overworked or generally stubborn doctors and nurses that are resistant to changing procedures, they also are quick to detail the overwhelming combination of low funds and the drive for profit that keep hospitals from always providing the optimum working (and healing) conditions. Most helpful to nervous patients (and you'll almost certainly be nervous after reading this) is a short chapter offering advice on how to insure you're well informed on all aspects of your health care. While the language--and solutions--presented are often complex, the knowledgeable, personal slant provided by both authors lends a new perspective to the continuing debate between abstract policies and daily practices in health care. --Jill Lightner

From the Back Cover:

""Internal Bleeding is utterly compelling. Dramatic and unflinching, it gives us both the stories of what really happens when things go wrong in medicine and the research that explains what needs to be done. The writing is clear. The ideas are startling. And the tale is important. Wachter and Shojania have written a book that matters." -Atul Gawande, bestselling author of "Complications
""Internal Bleeding is ER meets "Fast Food Nation. By pulling back the curtain to show us the hidden world of doctors and nurses, it paints a remarkable and unforgettable picture of how medical mistakes happen, and what must be done to cure this modern epidemic. It is a fascinating and essential read for both patients and medical professionals." --David Kessler, M.D., J.D., Commissioner of the United States Food and Drug Administration, 1990-1997.
"The authors have achieved something quite special. The lay reader will journey inside the complex world of medical care today and gain an understanding of the strengths, weaknesses and humanity behind the headlines about medical errors. For any healthcare professional laboring every day to make what they do for patients better and safer, this book is invaluable. It is full of insights, learning and guidance that will help them create and keep the 'culture of safety' that hospitals must achieve for patients in spite of shrinking resources and increasingly complex technology. Read this book." --Dick Davidson, President, American Hospital Association
"Health care could be far, far safer than it is today, but not without widespread public understanding of the nature and extent of its risks. Which brings us to "Internal Bleeding-a disciplined, vivid, responsible, and appropriately disturbing exploration of the problems, and the possibilities, in patient safety. Read it, and then demand-and expect-a safer health care system." --Don Berwick, M.D., President, Institute for Healthcare Improvement

About this edition

• Publisher: Rugged Land
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 1590710738
• ISBN 13: 9781590710739
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 441