A Lean guide to Transforming Healthcare: How to Implement Lean Principles in Hospitals, Medical Offices, Clinics, and Other Healthcare Organizations

Book Description

Most Americans, when pressed, have a vague sense of how they would like to die. They may imagine a quick and painless end or a gentle passing away during sleep. Some may wish for time to prepare and make peace with themselves, their friends, and their families. Others would prefer not to know what's coming, a swift, clean break. Yet all fear that the reality will be painful and prolonged; all fear the loss of control that could accompany dying.

That fear is justified. It is also historically unprecedented. In the past thirty years, the advent of medical technology capable of sustaining life without restoring health, the expectation that a critically ill person need not die, and the conviction that medicine should routinely thwart death have significantly changed where, when, and how Americans die and put us all in the position of doing something about death.

In a penetrating and revelatory study, medical anthropologist Sharon R. Kaufman examines the powerful center of those changes -- the hospital, where most Americans die today. In the hospital world, the deep, irresolvable tension between the urge to extend life at all costs and the desire to allow "letting go" is rarely acknowledged, yet it underlies everything that happens there among patients, families, and health professionals. Over the course of two years, Kaufman observed and interviewed critically ill patients, their families, doctors, nurses, and other hospital staff at three community hospitals. In...And a Time to Die, her research places us at the heart of that science-driven yet fractured and often irrational world of health care delivery, where empathetic yet frustrated, hard-working yet constrained professionals both respond to and create the anxieties and often inchoate expectations of patients and families, who must make "decisions" they are ill-prepared to make.

Filled with actual conversations between patients and doctors, families and hospital staff,...And a Time to Die clearly and carefully exposes the reasons for complicated questions about medical care at the end of life: for example, why "heroic" treatment so often overrides "humane" care; why patients and families are ambivalent about choosing death though they claim to want control; what constitutes quality of life and life itself; and, ultimately, why a "good" death is so elusive.

In elegant, compelling prose, Kaufman links the experiences of patients and families, the work of hospital staff, and the ramifications of institutional bureaucracy to show the invisible power of the hospital system itself -- its rules, mandates, and daily activity -- in shaping death and our individual experience of it.

...And a Time to Die is a provocative, illuminating, and necessary read for anyone working in or navigating the health care system today, providing a much-needed road map to the disorienting territory of the hospital, where we all are asked to make life-and-death choices.

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"Most Americans, when pressed, have a vague sense of how they would like to die. They may imagine a quick and painless end or a gentle passing away during sleep. Some may wish for time to prepare and make peace with themselves, their friends, and their families. Others would prefer not to know what's coming, a swift, clean break. Yet all fear that the reality will be painful and prolonged; all fear the loss of control that could accompany dying. That fear is justified. It is also historically unprecedented. In the past thirty years, the advent of medical technology capable of sustaining life without restoring health, the expectation that a critically ill person need not die, and the conviction that medicine should routinely thwart death have significantly changed where, when, and how Americans die and put us all in the position of doing something about death. In a penetrating and revelatory study, medical anthropologist Sharon R. Kaufman examines the powerful center of those changes -- the hospital, where most Americans die today. In the hospital world, the deep, irresolvable tension between the urge to extend life at all costs and the desire to allow ""letting go"" is rarely acknowledged, yet it underlies everything that happens there among patients, families, and health professionals. Over the course of two years, Kaufman observed and interviewed critically ill patients, their families, doctors, nurses, and other hospital staff at three community hospitals. In...And a Time to Die, her research places us at the heart of that science-driven yet fractured and often irrational world of health care delivery, where empathetic yet frustrated, hard-working yet constrained professionals both respond to and create the anxieties and often inchoate expectations of patients and families, who must make ""decisions"" they are ill-prepared to make. Filled with actual conversations between patients and doctors, families and hospital staff,...And a Time to Die clearly and carefully exposes the reasons for complicated questions about medical care at the end of life: for example, why ""heroic"" treatment so often overrides ""humane"" care; why patients and families are ambivalent about choosing death though they claim to want control; what constitutes quality of life and life itself; and, ultimately, why a ""good"" death is so elusive. In elegant, compelling prose, Kaufman links the experiences of patients and families, the work of hospital staff, and the ramifications of institutional bureaucracy to show the invisible power of the hospital system itself -- its rules, mandates, and daily activity -- in shaping death and our individual experience of it. ...And a Time to Die is a provocative, illuminating, and necessary read for anyone working in or navigating the health care system today, providing a much-needed road map to the disorienting territory of the hospital, where we all are asked to make life-and-death choices. "

Customer Reviews:

Be informed.......2006-09-29

Think you or your parent don't need a health care proxy? Think again, and use Sharon Kaufman's AND A TIME TO DIE to help you realize just how important it is to determine the direction you want your life to take at its conclusion, and to have someone who understands your wishes and can speak for you.

It's not a pleasant subject, but it's one that healthcare professionals deal with every day. I can certainly agree that the cases depicted here are unvarnished in their presentations, completely accurate. I've watched some of these same scenarios play out over and over again--only the patients are different.

The text maintains a certain distance from the patients and their families. There is not the in-depth interviews and emotional content of some other books of this type. However, I appreciated stepping back from the patient in order to see how the system had succeeded or failed in each case.

The author does a good job at showing just how we arrived at this current state of affairs, and why dying in America has become driven by treatments rather than by compassion. Medicare reimbursement is at the heart of some of the problem for the elderly.

If you want to change the system, to have compassion for the dying, to practice better medicine, or even to have a peaceful end for yourself when that time comes, this is a good place to start in understanding how we've come to this place, and to think about what we can do to create change.

One of the most valuable books I've read this year.......2006-07-21

I am a medical ethicist, and as I read Kaufman's "And a Time to Die" I found myself thinking back to the hospital case consultations I've been involved in. Her observations and conclusions helped me to piece together a much more detailed picture of what's really going on in those situations. Her discussion of pathways, time pressures, reimbursement concerns, and the use of language all ring true. Those who are familiar with hospital settings will recognize much of what Kaufman has observed (a fact that another reviewer objects to), but I believe that she is able to take a "bird's eye view" of these issues in a way that organizes and extends our understanding.
This book is a must-read for families who are facing end-of-life decisions, and for those in the health professions who try to help families through this process.

Circles, But Never Lands.......2006-05-22

The author of this book goes inside the modern American hospital system as an anthropologist, and reports what takes place there when the system is confronted with a terminally ill patient. She examines what cultural imperatives are being brought to bear there to make this an increasingly problematic and decidedly "unnatural" process.

You will get a few definite insights from this book. The author includes interviews with a variety of patients and their families. And she sits in on hospital conferences as all the people treating and speaking on behalf of a dying patient wrestle with the problem of what measures to take to prolong the patient's life, or less euphemistically, to prolong his dying.

There is also an interesting chapter on specialty care units that are either attached to some hospitals or that are hospital owned, but exist in their own removed compounds. These units maintain patients who only survive with the aid of artificial/mechanical aids. Some of them are in a vegetative state. Some are conscious to varying degrees. Most of the public still isn't aware of the existence of these adjunct facilities, despite the movie Coma - which featured a sinister version of such a high-tech "warehousing" center. The actuality, as Kaufman describes it, is infinitely more benign. The staff at these institutions sincerely care for their patients.

A few good summary points emerge from Kaufman's treatise. Insurance has largely shaped our medical care system by mandating that hospitals treat specific conditions in order to justify a patient's stay there. So generic old age can't be attended to. A patient must receive a diagnosis of something like "superlobar emphysema" and must be put on the pathway of aggressive treatment for that condition, if the hospital expects to be compensated.

Another point: Our system of so-called choice makes it difficult for the dying and their families. People don't know "what to want" in these life-and-death situations. The onus is on them to say when to pull the plug. Choice has replaced nature.

Kaufman explains how our far-reaching, albeit still limited, control over nature has left us without any way to anchor moral decisions. Whereas we could once let a person die "naturally," now we have transformed and become nature, so the decision can't be left outside ourselves. This is perhaps the main thesis of the whole book, and should have been stated at its beginning to orient the reader a little better.

In general, this book is five times longer than it needs to be. It's like a bird that circles and circles, riding the lofty currents of air, without ever swooping down to make a catch. At the end of the book's 300+ pages, we really don't know much more than when we started. Most of what Kaufman writes in between interviews is abstract and obvious.

Kaufman might have considered going beyond her passive role of anthropologist, and might have envisioned some more substantial solutions to the problem of medicalized dying if she had incorporated the works of philosophers such as Ivan Illich (author of Medical Nemesis) in her thinking. Illich approached the problem of our entire medical care system as a problem of glut and hubris. Just as we demand too many goods in this society, so we demand too many services. We insist on being serviced to the hilt, and institutions abound to sell us service, service, service. These institutions then take on a life of their own, and there's nothing any of us can do, client or provider alike, but go along for the ride. Kaufman's need to maintain cordial relations with hospital staff and patient families in order to conduct her research may explain some of her lack of critical perspective in this regard though.

As it is, her book is worth reading as rehearsal for what each one of us might face some day. But I would speed-read it, in order to avoid prolonging the process.

A powerful book for students, caregivers, and families dealing with end of life stages.......2006-03-27

This is an excellent book about a difficult subject: The ambivalent attitudes and approaches to dying in the culture of US hospital settings. Sharon Kaufman is professor of medical anthropology at the University of California, San Francisco.

Kaufman observed that time was the factor which most influenced many of the interactions and experiences of the participants in the drama of dealing with serious health challenges. Institutional pressures on the staff demanded that care be provided in the most efficient and economic manner. The staff were constantly faced with decisions around the timing of interventions and the pacing of the therapies and their effects and consequences. Staff had to deal with obstacles to the most efficient provision of care and with the timing of death. Patients were often unconscious, leaving relatives to have to make extremely important and difficult decisions - ones that they would have to live with for the rest of their lives, and ones that might set them in conflict with other family members who could not be present at the time.

The control that modern medicine has over the timing of death brings the patients, staff and families into discussions and negotiations over physical, psychological, relationship, moral, ethical and religious issues and concerns. When there is no living will/ directive, an urgent situation is created in which decisions of major consequences must be taken.

Much suffering seemed incredibly unnecessary, like octogenarians with living wills discovered after the fact, or aggressive surgeries on debilitated and chronically ill people who had not a fighting chance of surviving these insults.

This powerful book should be read by every student and caregiver dealing with seriously ill patients, and by families with people who are approaching the last stages of their lives. It would make an excellent focus for caregiver discussion groups.

Sobering examination of the "end of life" issues many of us are likely to face.......2005-07-28

"And A Time To Die" is definitely not light summer reading. Instead, it is a serious and revealing look at the way people die in this country. Fifty years ago most people died at home. For a whole host of reasons detailed in this book this is no longer the case. The simple fact is that most folks find themselves ill-prepared when faced with life and death decisions involving themselves or close family members. Author Sharon R. Kaufman has done us all a great service. "And A Time To Die" brings the reader up to speed on the issues, the terminology, the technology and the players involved in various end of life scenarios. Just what is meant by the term "persistant vegetative state"? What are the advantages and drawbacks of CPR? Is hospice care really a better alternative to a conventional hospital for many of these patients? What happens when the patients wishes are at odds with the wishes of the family? And just what role does religion play in the life and death decisions people are forced to make? These issues and a great many others are presented in clear, concise and easy to understand language.
Sharon Kaufman, a professor of medical anthropology at the University of California, spent two full years observing and interviewing terminally ill patients and their families. She also spent considerable time speaking with doctors, nurses and hospital staff who must struggle with these issues on a daily basis. She presents the stories of 27 patients who find themselves in ICU's (intensive care units) or in other specialized hospital units. To be honest, a good many of these stories are downright disturbing. One cannot imagine what many of these patients and their families are forced to endure. And what is so frustrating is that the structural deficiencies of the American health care system are largely responsible for so many of these problems. Reading this book will surely convince you that there is so much that needs to change.
Admittedly the issues are complex and the subject matter is not particularly pleasant. But as a practical matter, it is extremely important for people to get up to speed on many of these issues. I can only conclude that I found "And A Time To Die" to be a very worthwhile use of my time. I would wholeheartedly recommend this book to you as well.

The Berenstain Bears Visit the Dentist (First Time Books(R))

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Great, great book to read before taking a child to the dentist for the first time!
Wonderful!
More than excellent
Another great book!
my first bernstein bear book

The Berenstain Bears Visit the Dentist (First Time Books(R))
Stan Berenstain , and Jan Berenstain
Manufacturer: Random House Books for Young Readers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0394848365
Release Date: 1981-10-12

Book Description

Sister Bear watches Dr. Bearson fill Brother Bear's small cavity. Then it's her turn in the chair to have a dangling baby tooth removed. An entertaining story for preschoolers of a cheerful and informative visit to a dentist.

Customer Reviews:

Great, great book to read before taking a child to the dentist for the first time!.......2005-12-30

Grab this book - this one should be in every library! It's a great hit at our house because in places, it's quite funny! Sister wakes up one morning with a loose tooth and thus, talks funny! The words are spelled as such so my little one gets quite the chuckle out of how sister says certain "s" words! Anyway, sister spends the entire day wiggling her loose tooth until it's time to take brother to the dentist for his checkup. The dentist finds that brother has a cavity and lets sister stand over the chair and watch while he fills brother's tooth. Brother does try to torment sister quite a bit about how the dentist is going to "yank our her loose tooth," so she is somewhat timid to get into the chair. However, she does and while she is busy asking questions and looking at the dentist's "yanker," the dentist feels her tooth in a cloth, wiggles it around and out it comes! Sister had no idea it even happened! She's pretty excited and thrilled about all of it and was very glad that brother was wrong about the yanker! She gets a dime from the tooth fairy and was very excited!

This book does an excellent job in describing what happens when you go to the dentist. It's great for getting rid of those little jitters and it really is accurate. Great job and I highly recommend it!

Wonderful!.......2005-12-15

The world lost a real gem of a writer when Stan Berenstain passed on November 29. Together, Berenstain and his wife, Jan, and eventually their two sons, created books featuring lovable but flawed characters who tackle just about every real issue that faces families.

Going to the dentist is something that most kids (and adults!) fear. And why not? It's invasive, uncomfortable, and sometimes painful to have someone poking around in your mouth with metal objects. However, it's necessary, and having a healthy attitude about it will promote lifelong oral health. This book is a great place to start if you're looking to help alleviate your child's fear about going to the dentist. It'll help open up a dialogue about your kid's fears and help you to explain why the dentist is so important. Wonderful!

More than excellent.......2004-06-10

This book helped me get through life and showed me the true path to spiritual enlightenment.

Another great book!.......2003-11-08

i love it,so does my son! he will be making his first trip to the dentist soon-ad at 29m old we need all the help we can get!

the only part that is questionable is how Sister gets her loose tooth pulled.It even gave me the willies!

my first bernstein bear book.......2003-10-16

I was 6 years old in 1989 when my mom bought me this book. I've been hooked ever since.

The Berenstain Bears Go to the Doctor (First Time Books(R))

Average customer rating:

good doctor book
Wonderful!
Not All Doctors Are Bad.
Check-up
Book review for The Berenstain Bears Go To The Doctor

The Berenstain Bears Go to the Doctor (First Time Books(R))
Stan Berenstain , and Jan Berenstain
Manufacturer: Random House Books for Young Readers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0394848357
Release Date: 1981-10-12

Book Description

It's time for a routine check-up with Dr. Gert Grizzly. Sister Bear is brave about her booster shot, and Brother Bear is fine, but--achoo!--is that Papa Bear sneezing? "A light-hearted approach to the subject with straightforward information."--Appraisal.

Customer Reviews:

good doctor book.......2006-11-03

This book was the favorite book for my young children (now grown) when we
were preparing for doctor visits. It is still beloved by my retarded son
who is now 31, and I have bought many copies for him through the years. It
covers all the important topics: anticipation (dread), waiting room, routine
exams, and possible shots. All of this is with pictures and words.

Wonderful!.......2005-12-15

The world lost a real gem of a writer when Stan Berenstain passed on November 29. Together, Berenstain and his wife, Jan, and eventually their two sons, created books featuring lovable but flawed characters who tackle just about every real issue that faces families.

All kids have fears of the doctor, and why shouldn't they? Most doctor's visits for young kids involve lots of uncomfortable poking and prodding, and, more often than not, shots. Yikes! However, going to the doctor is still necessary, we all have to do it. This book will help open a dialogue to let your child discuss their fears, and let you discuss why visiting the doctor is so important. Kids will enjoy the gentle humor and honest portrayal of a doctor's visit (yep, Sister Bear has to get a shot!) and the consequences when you don't go to the doctor (Papa gets sick). A great conversation starter!

Not All Doctors Are Bad........2002-09-12

Most children are afraid of going to the doctor (well a lot of adults are, too, but for completely different reasons). When the word doctor is mentioned to kids images of needles, blood, bandages, and strange looking objects come to mind. Reading THE BERENSTAIN BEARS GO TO THE DOCTOR may help relieve some of the fears that children have when they know they are going to the doctor.

In the story, Brother and Sister Bear have to go to Dr. Gert Grizzly to have a checkup. Brother isn't too bothered by the whole thing, but Sister is a bit worried. The next day Sister is able to help out some frightened younger cubs while she is in the waiting room and sets an example for all the children to follow.

Overall, a delightful little book that helps relieve children's fears of going to the doctor and gives them a broader perspective about life.

Check-up.......2001-07-21

Its the cubs time for their first check-up. Sister is VERy nervous, but both of them are worried because they thing that they might get a shot.

It is a good book to read to your kids if they are going to be going for their first check-up or anytime.

Book review for The Berenstain Bears Go To The Doctor.......1999-12-02

The berenstain Bears Go To The Doctor is a great book.I especially like how it has the cubs (brother and sister) going to the doctor for a check-up. They ended up not finding anything wrong with them and getting a shot anyway so they don't get sick. It turns out that papa, whose convises them that he never gets sick, gets sick. This is a really good book and fun to read. I would recommend this book to anyone.

Creating the New American Hospital: A Time for Greatness (Jossey Bass/Aha Press Series)

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He's the "Jack Welch" of the Hospital Industry
It's Not Too Late to Create a New American Hospital

Creating the New American Hospital: A Time for Greatness (Jossey Bass/Aha Press Series)
V. Clayton Sherman
Manufacturer: Jossey-Bass
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1555425143

Book Description

Transforming the American Hospital

Provides an exciting, values-centered approach to leading organizational change that produces rapid and lasting results.
--Coyla Anderson, executive vice president, operations, Holy Cross Health System

At a time when the health care industry is going through a crisis--closures, layoffs, soaring costs, dissatisfied customers, and increased turnover--some hospitals have dramatically improved quality, productivity, and profitability. How?

They have met the challenges of operating in today's health care environment through a complete, revolutionary transformation in how hospitals are managed. This book offers health care leaders an in-depth picture of how this new hospital operates and presents detailed, proven guidance for undertaking the transition.

Customer Reviews:

He's the "Jack Welch" of the Hospital Industry.......2001-11-19

I've been in hospital middle-management for more than 20 years. Very early in this book, Sherman states that the reason why hospitals fail is because of bad management. Not the government, not the insurance companies, not the high cost of technology. He offers a terrific approach and identifies the need to totally change how hospitals are run, based on seven Key Result Areas. His principles are quite similar to those of Jack Welch - the importance of great people, integrity, and "the customer is king". This should be required reading for every CEO and department head in every American hospital.

It's Not Too Late to Create a New American Hospital.......2000-12-28

V. Clayton Sherman has written a wonderful dissertation about how the hospital system in this country is run. He also gives a wonderful blueprint of how to correct one of the most mismanaged businesses in the country. The hospital system today is struggling under HEAVY regulatory and monetary restrictions. But if these regulations had been in place from the beginning, like the banking industry, the participants wouldn't be running around like "chickens with their heads cut off" to fulfill "minimum standards" of Joint Commission and other like entites. What the industry desperately needs is a complete overhaul. Mr. Sherman gives the plan to follow in redoing the management of this industry, by throwing out the antiquated notions of management, and starting from the ground up to rebuild on a customer satisfaction driven premise. He sites Wal-Mart and how Sam Walton's idea of keeping the customer number one would work well in the hospital too....but this would require some different rules and some very different thinking. I strongly feel this should be REQUIRED reading for ALL hospital management!

Health Care Strategy for Uncertain Times

Average customer rating:

Excellent Overview of Strategic Planning
A practical guide to strategy development
Excellent Set of Tools
An Excellent Resource
An "A-ha" Experience

Health Care Strategy for Uncertain Times

Manufacturer: Jossey-Bass
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0787955051

Book Description

An AHA Press/Jossey-Bass Publication

Learn to reconceptualize strategy development in today's uncertain environment. This book introduces three specific techniques--scenario planning, decision analysis, and game theory-- that have been developed in the corporate world and tailored to the unique needs of the health care industry. The book also shares practical implementation approaches, presents numerous real life case studies and lessons learned, and provides guidelines for reducing financial risks during plan implementation.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent Overview of Strategic Planning.......2002-08-20

This book is an extremely readable overview of strategic planning in healthcare today. The chapters build on each other very well, and leave the reader with an excellent picture of the whys and hows of development of strategic vision relative to the position and capabilities of the organization. The section on strategic intent is particularly useful. The tables and figures are useful, clear, and easy to understand. Each chapter ends with "Lessons Learned", a useful summary and reminder of the chapter contents. I recommend this book as both a primer and refresher for those interested in healthcare stategic planning.

A practical guide to strategy development.......2002-02-04

It is clear when reading Health Care Strategy for Uncertain Times that the authors have significant experience in strategy development in the healthcare arena. The book clearly outlines a process for strategy development and points out common pitfalls along the way (e.g. mistaking data for information, focusing on experience rather than skills when choosing members of the strategy development team, etc.). Furthermore, the book describes useful tools for addressing uncertainty (i.e. decision-analysis, scenario planning and game theory) and provides a framework for determining when a specific tool will prove useful.

Perhaps what makes the book most valuable, however, is what it does not include. There are no claims of sure-fire solutions that are, unfortunately, so common in contemporary strategy literature. The authors correctly realize that cookie-cutter solutions offer no long term benefit to the reader (and most likely no short term benefit either). Rather the authors have created a guide to building a strategy development process that, once developed, will be applicable to any situation.

Excellent Set of Tools.......2001-12-11

This book proposed a variety of tools that are incredibly helpful in moving a management team (and leadership team) along in thinking about the strategies that the organization is undertaking. It is also helpful in looking at the tacit strategies undertaken by not making decisive moves. The material proposes a broad range of ways to engage the strategic framework, given the market driven changes that befall the healthcare providers. Marion Jennings, Susie Krentz and the JRK team are impressive thought leaders that generously share their 'lessons learned' in this very useful book.

An Excellent Resource.......2001-05-18

This book is an excellent resource for strategic planners looking for new approaches. The authors' experience comes through with numerous practical ideas for developing strategies that can be implemented effectively. When I read their examples, I felt like they were talking about my organization! I highly recommend this book.

An "A-ha" Experience.......2001-02-08

This is a book that is to the point and as I read, I kept thinking "A-ha" that makes sense. HEALTH CARE STRATEGY FOR UNCERTAIN TIMES is a must read for anyone interested in surviving and thriving in today's volatile health care market. The book's editor addresses the differences between data and information, the importance of external, internal and environmemtal assessments, the need for decision analysis along with financial planning that supports the organization's strategies and the importance of contigency planning? After reading this book, I felt energized as I began to realize, that there are tools and methods for moving an organization beyond planning and into decision making and implementation. The reality of decision making in uncertain times is that an inability to act will result in your organization not being able to obtain its full potential and achieve its mission. HEALTH CARE STRATEGY FOR UNCERTAIN TIMES can and will help decision-makers better understand the process of positioning health care organizations for success.

House Calls: How We Can All Heal the World One Visit At a Time

Average customer rating:

Dr. Adams brings back the personal touch we deserve and need
Holistic Humor for Health and Healing
Changing the World by changing yourself
Dr. Adams is inspiring
Doesn't work well to change my feelings.

House Calls: How We Can All Heal the World One Visit At a Time
Patch Adams
Manufacturer: ROBERT D. REED PUBLISHERS
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1885003188

Customer Reviews:

Dr. Adams brings back the personal touch we deserve and need.......2006-12-17

Reviewed by Debra Gaynor for Reader Views (12/06)

Medicine became depersonalized when it became a business that no longer made house calls. The shift from a service oriented, patient first, one on one house call to the patient going to the doctor, took out a precious part of the healing process. In its place is an institutional concept where the patient comes second to business. "I think that the loss of the house call has been the biggest blow to the art of medicine in this century. Not only has the patient lost this precious attention, but the physician has not found a replacement for the lost intimacy."

"Extensive studies have found that, over long periods of time, nourishing elements--such as love, humor, wonder, curiosity, passion, forgiveness, giving, sharing, hope, enthusiasm, and joy--stimulate the immune system. They help our bodies fight infection, stimulate natural killer cells that fight cancer, and affect the general way we care about and for ourselves and others." Anger, resentment, guilt, loneliness, fear and boredom have the opposite affect. It is not the negative emotions that cause the problems. It is when we hold on to those emotions for long periods of time. "We must express each emotion as it comes up, but should not nurture or prolong the emotions that may hurt us."

Dr. Adams describes this book as a "visitor's kit." He's right that's just what this is. He realizes that the "kit" can and should be used for more than hospital visits; he suggests prisons, nursing homes or "any place people may be suffering and wishing they were elsewhere."

Among the things Dr. Adams discusses are faith, love, humor, curiosity and hope. The information presented in this book has meant much to me. I spend much time visiting in nursing homes. When I first began to make these visits I found it very difficult, I didn't know what to say or how to act. Soon I began to see not a patient but a person. I came to realize that they were people that needed a friendly touch, someone to address them by name and someone to smile at them. My visits are no longer something I dread. The residents and I truly enjoy visiting together.

"House Calls" is a wonderful book and Dr. Adams is a talented writer as well as doctor. It is written in an easy to understand manner and does not talk down to laymen, in fact it is pleasant reading. The cartoons by Jerry Van Amerongen left me laughing and add much to the text. The print is a good size and easy to read. It is with great pleasure that I highly recommend this book to everyone, physicians, nurses, and all humans. Dr. Adams' book should be required reading to all those in the health care industry. I'm glad I read this book I will be much more prepared by having my "visitor's kit."

Holistic Humor for Health and Healing .......2006-12-06

In this wacky book, Patch Adams joins forces with Jerry Van Amerongen to give the reader a practical guide in introducing laughter into the healing process. The book is divided into three sections. The first section is filled with thoughts on being well. Dr. Adams provides instruction on being healthy and then provides some action steps to assimilate faith, humor, curiosity, relaxation, passion, exercise, nutrition, friendship, service, and other positive values into your daily life. These guidelines are cleverly illustrated by Jerry Van Amerongen with one panel cartoons that bring home the message of the suggestion and motivate the reader to take action. Amerongen is the creator of the Ballard Street syndicated cartoon strip.
Section two follows the same format but offers suggestions on what the reader can do to make a visit in the hospital, to shut-ins, or someone in the community, beneficial and enjoyable for both parties. These steps are thoughtful, often neglected and easy to carry out. Again the impact of the action steps are enhanced and impacted through the humor of Jerry's cartoon illustrations.
Suggestions are also offered on how to be a good hospital patient, from gaining understanding by asking questions regarding your treatment, careful listening to instructions, and reflection on your life and what you have done and want to accomplish in the future. Van Amerongen's humor helps the readers accept the situation and are then motivated to make the most of their circumstances.
The third section deals with special concerns when visiting, children, teenagers, the elderly, mentally ill, disabled, and dying patients. These helpful suggestions make the impact of your visit pleasurable for the patient, the caregivers, and yourself. The cartoons help the reader visualize the words of the text.
Adams has also provided a very comprehensive bibliography entitled "A Booklover's Search for Understanding and Ideas."
Combining Patch Adams' philosophy of laughter in healing with Jerry Van Amerongen's humor was a stroke of brilliance. The combination has made this book an enjoyable read, and produced in this reader, many smiles, some chuckles, and hearty laughs. It also gave me a new sensitivity to the importance of "healing the world one visit at a time."

Changing the World by changing yourself.......2004-07-23

This book is a practical guide on bringing the Gesundheit! vision into your own community. An easy enjoyable read, it offers suggestions on how to begin a life of joyful service by visiting folks in your own community. It offers an immensely practical love strategy. You can change your world!

Dr. Adams is inspiring.......2004-02-13

People perceive barriers of all types. It is not uncommon to hear, "I don't have the time", "I don't have the money", and "I don't know how". Take the most basic context of Dr. Adams which is to help another person. Help can be listening, holding a hand, or laughing with someone. It doesn't mean one has to spend a great deal of time or money. Turn off the television and help your neighbor weed her flower bed. Take an hour away from having your artificial nails manicured and volunteer somewhere. I enjoy reading his inspired words and can only hope his visions become reality during my lifetime.

Doesn't work well to change my feelings........2000-03-19

From my experience, these kind of healing books don't work well to change my feelings and attitudes. They do have temporary effects, but do not last long. This book also was not the execption. There are many "Things To Do" which I should do right now to change my life. But I don't and can't do these "Things". Always when I read such kind of books, I am firm about trying to do these "Things". But I don't take a whim for reading these kind of books again and thus lose an opportunity to do good "Things" entirely. I think volunteering for building GESUNDHEIT INSTITUTE in WEST VIRGINIA and meeting PATCH ADAMS is much more effective than reading this book.

Pastoral Prayers for the Hospital Visit (Just in Time!)

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Pastoral Prayers for the Hospital Visit (Just in Time!)

Manufacturer: Abingdon Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0687496586

Time to See the Doctor (First-Time Stories)

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Time to See the Doctor (First-Time Stories)
Heather Maisner
Manufacturer: Kingfisher
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0753457377

Book Description

This charming new picture book series of heartwarming stories and illustrations will help prepare young children for new situations. The First-Time Stories series stars six-year-old Amy and her little brother, Ben, wholike all preschool childrenhave mixed feelings about first-time experiences. These gentle, warmly illustrated stories present a positive message about change and growing up. A must-have addition to every young family's library. Ben has an earache, but he's too scared to let the doctor check him. When Amy volunteers to be examined and gets a sticker for being brave, Ben decides that maybe the doctor isn't so scary, after all!

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A memoir about effects of a complex man's life, AIDS death

Hospital Time
Amy Hoffman , and Amy Hoffman
Manufacturer: Duke University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0822319209

Book Description

Hospital Time is a memoir about friendship, family, and caregiving in the age of AIDS. Amy Hoffman, a writer, lesbian activist, and former editor of Gay Community News, chronicles with fury and unflinching honesty her experience serving as primary caretaker for her friend and colleague, Mike Riegle, who died from AIDS-related complications in 1992. Hoffman neither idealizes nor deifies Riegle, whom she portrays as a brilliant man, devoted prison rights activist, and very difficult friend.
Hoffman became central to Riegle’s caregiving when he asked her to be his health-care proxy, and although she willingly chose to do this, she explores her conflicting feelings about herself in this role and about her involvement with Riegle and his grueling struggle with hospitalization, illness, and, finally, death. She tells of the waves of grief that echoed throughout her life, awakening memories of other losses, entering her dreams and fantasies, and altering her relationships with friends, family, and even total strangers.
Hoffman’s memoir gives voice to the psychological and emotional havoc AIDS creates for those in the difficult role of caring for the terminally ill and it gives recognition to the role that lesbians continue to play in the AIDS emergency. A foreword by Urvashi Vaid, former executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, offers a meditation on the politics of AIDS and the role of family in the lives of lesbians and gay men.

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A memoir about effects of a complex man's life, AIDS death.......1998-06-06

The author, Amy Hoffman, writes about her friend, activist Mike Riegle, with whom she shared a long history of activism in the gay community and elsewhere. When Mike became increasingly debilitated by AIDS, Hoffman agreed to serve as the person to make health care decisions for him, and spent much time helping him negotiate his illness, along with other friends in the gay and lesbian community. I thought this book was great on my first reading of it, but a second reading really revealed to me the concise and intelligent way in which Hoffman artfully delivers the complex and painful truths and ambivalencies of her life and the lives of others. One theme explored in this memoir are the importance of the "created" family of friends in the gay and lesbian world, and how this family is often illegitimized when the "real" family shows up for a crisis...or a funeral. Another has to do with the real difficulties in loving other people,despite your pledges to them, especially when they are demanding and irrational--and they are dying, and you feel that you should be acting like a saint! I found this book particularly meaningful, having recently lost a dear (and complex and difficult)friend to AIDS, and working with feelings of guilt at not having done enough for him, but I think other readers would also enjoy it for many reasons, including its caustic wit, well-articulated rage, innovative narrative structure, and relevance to lesbian and gay lives. I recommend that you buy this unique, original, and affecting book, and encourage the author to keep on writing!

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