INTERNAL BLEEDING: The Truth Behind America's Terrifying Epidemic of Medical Mistakes  enlarge Authors: Robert M. Wachter, Kaveh Shojania Publisher: Rugged Land Category: Book List Price: $26.95 Buy New: $12.95 as of 11/20/2009 23:16 PST details You Save: $14.00 (52%) New (26) Used (16) from $9.48 Seller: buzylady Rating: 19 reviews Sales Rank: 164163 Media: Hardcover Edition: 1 Pages: 460 Number Of Items: 1 Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.6 Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.4 x 1.5 ISBN: 1590710738 Dewey Decimal Number: 610 EAN: 9781590710739 ASIN: 1590710738 Publication Date: May 10, 2005 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Tell A Friend Add to Wishlist Features:   •  ISBN13: 9781590710739   •  Condition: NEW   •  Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.   •  Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices Also Available In:   •  Hardcover - Internal Bleeding: The Truth Behind America's Terrifying Epidemic of Medical Mistakes Accessories: Airborne Effervescent Health Formula, Original Orange, 10 Tablets (Pack of 3) RESPeRATE Blood Pressure Lowering Device Similar Items: Understanding Patient Safety (LANGE Clinical Medicine) Wall of Silence: The Untold Story of the Medical Mistakes that Kill and Injure Millions of Americans The DOs: Osteopathic Medicine in America Improving Healthcare with Control Charts: Basic and Advanced SPC Methods and Case Studies To Err Is Human: Building a Safer Health System Editorial Reviews: Amazon.com 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 Product Description 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. Customer Reviews: Showing reviews 1-5 of 19 1 2 3 4 Next » "Culture Eats Strategy For Lunch."   May 27, 2008 Robert I. Hedges 1 out of 1 found this review helpful "Internal Bleeding" is a good primer on medical culture. The authors focus on the issues related to medical errors. The book is largely well written, but occasionally the authors resort to hyperbole to make points; terms like "crisis" and "epidemic" are occasionally warranted, but their overuse tends to occlude important nuances within the issues discussed. I was particularly interested in the analogies the authors made to the aerospace field, and found the cultural comparisons insightful. The discussion of the space shuttle accidents (pp. 49-51) are a proper indictment of NASA management, and makes the argument that in medicine and aerospace as well, taking routinely good outcomes as positive reinforcement of perceived infallibility is asking for disaster. ("NASA had forgotten how to be afraid.") On pp. 88-89 the authors discuss the differences between "slips" and "mistakes" and include a valuable commentary on trapping errors, much like the latest iteration of aviation training attempts to trap errors with "Threat and Error Management". The authors provide excellent commentary on the makings of master diagnosticians, hypothesis testing, and the applicability of Bayes' theorem to medical reasoning on pp. 110-112 and p.117. This section provides an excellent view into the minds of doctors as they make challenging evaluations in complex cases: although not specifically stated at this point, similar thought processes are used in other highly skilled, tightly-coupled professions, such as aviation. The authors also explain why overreliance on automation and underreliance on physician wisdom is certain to result in bad medicine, despite the utility of computer systems in medicine. ("Any doctor who could be replaced by a computer should be.") The authors return to their aviation subtext on p.147 in their discussion of pilot selection versus medical school selection; the conclusion reached is that the real-world evaluations given to pilot candidates would be a much better template for medical school applicants than what is currently used. On pp.156-157 the authors discuss doctors as being psychological perfectionists, and provide examples from other professions which tend to validate their hypothesis. The crux of the discussion is the intolerance for mistakes within the profession and within the psyche of individual surgeons, a trait common to pilots. Furthering the discussion of error-intolerance is a discussion (p. 176; p. 366) of one of the most common types of errors in both aviation and medicine: communications and the handoff error, a theme that is common throughout the remainder of the book. The authors make clear that while pilots are lauded for soliciting input from others (it wasn't always so), surgeons are known for being exceedingly inflexible (p. 191; p.222) to the detriment of the patient. When coupled with communication issues and power-distance problems, inflexibility is not a desirable trait in a surgeon. On pp. 222-224 there is an informative discussion of the roles of communications in both medical and aviation errors, concluding with a recounting of the worst aviation accident in history at Tenerife, which was caused largely by communication problems. All of chapter 20 is laudable as it really distills the culture of safety concept down to the essentials. Notably, pp. 348-349 discusses the potential usefulness of Failure Mode and Effects Analysis, a longstanding aviation tool, in medicine, while p. 351 serves to recap the aviation safety from a historical vantage point. Finally, the authors detail one of the most potentially beneficial changes that could be made in American healthcare (pp. 342-343) where they discuss the advantages of a no fault system of compensation for victims of bad healthcare. This book is really a study of safety systems in a hospital environment, with relevant discussions of other germane industries (especially aviation) throughout. It is not a dry, academic tome; it is quite accessible to anyone who is interested in healthcare in the US. I recommend the book for safety professionals in any field, to physicians and medical professionals, and to anyone else with an interest in curbing errors in medicine. No book is perfect, but "Internal Bleeding" does cover the most salient points in the dialogue that is taking place (or should be taking place) in hospitals across the country. A Must Read for All Medical Employees   March 30, 2007 Imber Coppinger (Athens, Ohio) 1 out of 1 found this review helpful This is a top notch book required for all our first year medical students. It will change the way you think about medical mistakes. Guarenteed to save lives . . .Not only that, but it reads like a thriller novel, so you get all the benifit while it feels like you're goofing off! Dr. Imber Coppinger, 15 years in medicine Internal Bleeding   March 13, 2007 Debra Howard 1 out of 1 found this review helpful Excellent book for both the medical field and lay people alike. Great ideas for improving health care in the USA. self-serving doctors write book   July 9, 2004 steve (nyc) 11 out of 42 found this review helpful Why their way is the best way. I suggest you read What your doctor Won't Tell You. This is a gutsy non self-serving and tell all book that will help you get through our terrible health system Interesting, well researched, and well written   June 9, 2004 12 out of 25 found this review helpful A fantstic read for everyone- patients and doctors alike! Showing reviews 1-5 of 19 1 2 3 4 Next » Advertisement

Certain content that appears on this site comes from Amazon Services, LLC. This content is provided "as is" and is subject to change or removal at any time. The Student Doctor Network and the SDN Logo are registered trademarks of CRG, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. Donations are tax-deductible to the full extent provided by law.