Escape Fire: Designs for the Future of Health Care
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Book Overview
Spanning a decade (1992-2002), these speeches echo the theme that our health care system needs fundamental change and a revolutionary new design. Throughout the book, Berwick identifies innovations and ideas from a number of surprising sources--a girls' soccer team, a sinking ship, and the safety standards at NASA. Escape Fire takes its title from the 1949 Mann Gulch tragedy in which thirteen young firefighters were trapped in a wildfire on a Montana hillside. The firefighter's leader, Wag Dodge, devised a creative solution for avoiding the encroaching fire. He burned a patch of grass and lay down in the middle of the scorched earth. His team refused to join him, and most perished in the fire. Dodge survived. Berwick applies the lessons learned from the catastrophe to our ailing health care system--we must not let ingrained processes obstruct life-saving innovation. Not content to simply define the problems with our flawed system, Berwick outlines new designs and suggests practical tools for change: name the problem, build on success, take leaps of faith, look outside of the medical field, set aims, understand systems, make action lists, and--the most fundamental of all--never lose sight of the patient as the central figure.
Format:Hardcover
Language:English
ISBN:0787972177
ISBN13:9780787972172
Release Date:December 2003
Publisher:Jossey-Bass
Length:315 Pages
Weight:1.30 lbs.
Dimensions:1.2" x 6.3" x 9.1"
Customer Reviews
3 ratings
Outstanding book
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 14 years ago
I have just reread this wonderful collection of speeches in honor of the nomination of the author to head Medicare and Medicaid. I want to give a copy to everyone I know that works in health care as well as recommend it as one of the most interesting and moving books I can remember reading. The tying in of real life with the ongoing issues in providing quality health care in the U.S. makes this enjoyable to read, I would think, for anyone but particularly for those of us who have worked in and thought about our health care "system" over the years.
Remarkable, inspiring, and wonderful but occassionally painful to read.
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 19 years ago
A wonderful book told with humility, intelligence, warmth, anger and knowledge. It presents the text of Don Berwick's annual talks at IHI's (Institute for Healthcare Improvement) National Healthcare Forum. This is a highly reccommended read if you work in healthcare. I don't know what others will think about this book.
Outstanding
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 20 years ago
Escape Fire is collection of compelling speeches by one of America's leading crusaders for health care quality and patient safety - Don Berwick, MD, founder and president of the Boston-based Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI.org). Each year, IHI hosts the National Forum on Quality Improvement in Health Care. The influential annual event draws 4,000 health care leaders from around the world in person and 6,000 via satellite. In many ways, Dr. Berwick's keynote lectures set the tone for quality improvement efforts across the US. With an effective blend of common sense, real-life stories, persuasive metaphors, and out-of-the-box thinking, Dr. Berwick's presentations make for fascinating reading for anyone interested in improving America's $1.7 trillion health care system.
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