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Hospital: Man, Woman, Birth, Death, Infinity, Plus Red Tape, Bad Behavior, Money, God andDiversity on Steroids By Julie Salamon ( Penguin Press HC, The )
Release Date: 2008-05-15
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Product Description
A bestselling author and award winning journalist follows a year in the life of a big urban hospital, painting a revealing portrait of how medical care is delivered in America today
Most people agree that there are complicated issues at play in the delivery of health care today, but those issues may not always be what we think they are. In 2005, Maimonides Hospital in Brooklyn, New York, unveiled a new state-of-theart, multimillion-dollar cancer center. Determined to understand the whole spectrum of factors that determine what kind of medical care people receive in this country, bestselling author Julie Salamon spent one year tracking the progress of the center and getting to know the characters who make the hospital run. Located in a community where sixty-seven different languages are spoken, Maimonides is a case study for the particular kinds of concerns that arise in institutions that serve an increasingly multicultural American demographic. Granted an astonishing “warts and all” level of access by the hospital higher-ups, Salamon followed the doctors, patients, administrators, nurses, ambulance drivers, cooks, and cleaning staff. She explored not just the action on the ground—what happens between doctors and patients—but also the financial, ethical, technological, sociological, and cultural matters that the hospital community encounters every day.
Drawing on her skills as interviewer, observer, and social critic, Salamon presents the story of modern medicine, uniquely viewed from the vantage point of those who make it run. She draws out the internal and external political machinations that exist between doctors and staff as well as between hospital and community. And she grounds the science and emotion of medical drama in the financial realities of operating a huge, private institution that must contend with issues like adapting to the specific needs of immigrant groups that make up a large and growing portion of our society.
Salamon exposes struggles of both the profound and humdrum variety. There are bitter internal feuds, warm personal connections, comedy, egoism, greed, love, and loss. There are rabbinic edicts to contend with as well as imams and herbalists and local politicians. There are system foul-ups that keep blood test results from being delivered on time, careless record keepers, shortages of everything except forms to fill, recalcitrant and greedy insurance reimbursement systems, and the surprising difficulty of getting doctors to wash their hands.
This is the dynamic universe of small and large concerns and personalities that, taken together, determine the nature of our care and assume the utmost importance. As Martin Payson—chairman of the board at Maimonides and ex-Time-Warner vice chairman—puts it: “Hospitals have a lot in common with the movie business. You’ve got your talent, entrepreneurs, ambition, ego stroking, the business versus the creative part. The big difference is that in the hospital you don’t get second takes. Movies are make-believe. This is real life.”
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 a glimpse into our healthcare system
A great read. not only does this book give us an insiders look at healthcare in new york, but also shows us the struggles of new immigrants, and the problems that are facing our hospitals dealing with different languages and cultures. I think Ms. Salamom is a gifted writer and at the end of the day, you really beleive that everyone is trying to do the right thing, inspite of the red tape, bad behavior, money god and yes, diversity on steroids. Kudos to maimonides for allowing this to happen and giving us this wonderful opportunity to learn something new.
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 hard to read
Although I was fascinated by the subject - having had relatives in the hospital, and I know many of the people mentioned, I found the book very hard to read.
There was no unifying theme, the book jumped from one subject to another. There was not a compelling narrative nor story line.
I was very disappointed!!
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Boring ( davidpoage )
Do not buy this book. It makes patients look like a mass of whining, ungrateful people. Everyone from doctors to administration to hospital workers range from cynical to dissatisfied. Based on this book I would never go to this hospital.
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BORING ( nwerle )
Ive read lots of tales of doctors, nurses, patients
but this was the most boring book I have read. There was no color, hardly any case studies, no real examination of how the hospital works,
or doesnt work, and beyond brief description of the polyglot neighborhoods, devoid of human interest. The cover was interesting.
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Understanding Health Care, or trying to.... ( hol-com )
"Hospital" is an excellent discussion of contemporary health care and the multiplicity of competing needs that must be addressed if there is any hope of the system being effective. Because of its size and cultural diversity, Maimonides Medical Center provides a microcosm of what is good and not so good about the way this country provides both care and treatment. There is no simple, inexpensive or universally applicable solution to the rather tenuously controlled chaos and Julie Salamon does an excellent job of making this an experiential lesson for the reader. One of the things that stands out is the genuine desire on the part of the majority of health care workers, regardless of their job, to bring some measure of healing to the people they serve. It also tells the story of the patients and their families as individuals you care about rather than generic cases to be dispatched; which makes treatment decisions both easier and more difficult to make. This book clearly points out that there is far more to a person than their technical skills or their diagnosis and that the greatest danger is failing to at least attempt to see the multiple facets of self and others. It puts a human face on an institution that is often judged as being uncaring and opens the door for a serious and collaborative response to the we all face today.
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