Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance

Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance

by Atul Gawande (Author)

Synopsis

The struggle to perform well is universal, but nowhere is this drive to do better more important than in medicine. In his new book, Atul Gawande explores grippingly how doctors strive to close the gap between best intentions and best performance in the face of obstacles that sometimes seem insurmountable. His vivid stories take us to battlefield surgical tents in Iraq, to a polio outbreak in India, and to malpractice courtrooms around the country. He discusses the ethical dilemmas of doctors' participation in lethal injections, examines the influence of money on modern medicine, and recounts the astoundingly contentious history of hand-washing. And he gives a brutally honest insight into life as a practising surgeon. Unflinching but compassionate, Gawande's investigation into medical professionals and their progression from good to great provides a detailed blueprint for success that can be used by people in every area of human endeavour.

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More Information

Format: Hardcover
Pages: 273
Edition: Main
Publisher: Profile Books Ltd
Published: 31 May 2007

ISBN 10: 1861978979
ISBN 13: 9781861978974

Media Reviews
I found I had been gripping the book so hard that my fingers hurt... it calls to mind one of the great classics of medical literature, Mikhail Bulgakov's A Country Doctor's Notebook. Few modern authors can stand that comparison, but Gawande can. * Sunday Times *
A fascinating study. * Irish Tatler *
...this wise and often profound book should be an inspiration to doctors all over the world. * Sunday Times *
Author Bio
Atul Gawande is a staff writer on The New Yorker; was an adviser to President Clinton on American health policies; teaches surgery at Harvard Medical School; and uses his knife and scalpel in Boston hospitals. He has lectured in the UK and was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford. He is married with three children.