Search Results for: medical

Authors: Anthony A. Miller, Albert F. Simon and Rachel A. Carson Publisher:  McGraw-Hill – 494 pages Book Review by:  Nano Khilnani This book is a study aid and practical guide for those individuals preparing to pass the Physician Assistant National Certification and Recertification Examination. It comes with a practice CD attached on the inside cover of the book. This nearly 500-page guide contains 1300 practice questions, correct answers to each, and explanations on why they are the correct ones. The questions are presented in the same multiple-choice format as seen in the national examination, which are the “one best answer – single item” questions. In that national exam, you are given a question and you have to pick the best answer to that question. The better your knowledge and understanding of that particular medical specialty, the more likely you are to pick the right answer. Be sure to read the Introduction of this book. It explains to you how to get the most from the book It explains to you the basics and structure of the exam and how to answer each question. Not only does it give you the correct answer to each question, it also explains to you why it is the correct one. It also gives you sources of in-depth information on that area of medicine that you can tap into, to further your knowledge. This...

Authors: Bahadir Inozu, Dan Chauncey, Vicki Kamataris and Charles Mount Publisher: McGraw-Hill – 319 pages Book Review by:  Nano Khilnani This is an excellent, one-of-a-kind book. It is the only book I know of on business that introduces the use of three outstanding management strategies – Lean, Six Sigma and Constraints Management – to maximize customer (and patient or client) satisfaction, minimize cost, and boost employee morale. Applied to healthcare, this integrated approach having the three components named above, and already being used in U.S. hospitals, helps managers identify the top problems in a given organization, analyze them, and provide effective solutions that have been proven to be successful elsewhere. As some of you may know, the Six Sigma system originated in the 1970s. It applied to manufacturing and business processes. Its goal was to minimize defects in products as well as to apply high standards in other business operations so that a company would have higher revenues and lower costs, without sacrificing certain requirements. In manufacturing the Six Sigma ideal is to have almost zero defects in products (99.99966% of defect-free products) that a company makes, or just 3.4 defects per million products. It utilizes the DMAIC process to maximize product quality and improve company performance. According to Wikipedia, the DMAIC project methodology has five phases: Define the problem, the voice of the customer, and the project goals,...

Authors:  Neil Baum, MD and Gretchen Henkel Publisher: Jones and Bartlett – 574 pages Book Review by:  Nano Khilnani This is the 4th edition of a book that was first published 16 years ago. That it has been around for so long and that it has been updated three times gives you an idea how valuable and useful it is to you, the doctor or manager of a medical practice. This is no doubt a comprehensive work, covering many aspects of a physician practice, from “Giving Your Practice a Checkup” thru surveys of your patients and peers to “Identifying Your Moments of Truth” (positive, negative or neutral patients’ impressions of your practice) to “Marketing On 10 Minutes a Day” by doing more than expected for key patients to “Need More Patients? Brochures Are the Cure.” And these four names of chapters are only in the first part or “Pillar” of the book.  There’s much, much more. This book has been written for you the doctor (or his-her office manager) by a practicing physician to help you retain patients, keep them happy and satisfied, and acquire new ones.  It can be read and easily understood by any non-doctor, such as the wife of a doctor or a manager who handles the non-medical, particularly the business aspects, of a practice.  It does not contain medical terminology. More than a quarter of...

Edited by: Paul B. Hoffman and Frankie Perry Publisher: Cambridge University Press – 255 pages Book Review by:  Sonu Chandiram This book presents seven case studies of healthcare management mistakes as real life events that occurred at healthcare organizations. Healthcare expert comment on those mistakes and what should have been done to prevent them, as well as what steps should have been taken to produce better results. The editors of this book – Paul B. Hoffmann and Frankie Perry – who have both served as directors of hospitals, state that healthcare managers should view mistakes as learning opportunities. The material in this book some of those mistakes for the benefit of those who lead hospitals, their doctors and others affiliated with them, as well as patients, their families and communities. Paul B. Hoffman is affiliated with Provenance Health Partners which provides consulting services to hospitals and other healthcare systems. Among other positions he has held, he has served as Executive Director of Emory University Hospital in Atlanta and Director of Stanford University Hospital and Clinics. Frankie Perry is on the faculty of the University of New Mexico and as Executive Director of the Chairman’s Society in Atlanta, which provides education and training to chairmen and members of boards at hospitals and other healthcare entities. She has served as Assistant Medical Director of Hurley Medical Center in Flint, Michigan. She...

Authors: Thom A. Mayer and Robert J. Cates Publisher: Health Administration Press -120 pages Book Review by: Paiso Jamakar A practical and sensible thesis is what this book is mainly about: take the lead in providing caring service to patients, have all members of the staffs of health care institutions learn to do that, and you not only make the patients happy, but you also make the employees happy. Easily said, but has common-sense advice been applied anywhere and shown to be a success? The answer is a resounding “yes”! One of the principal reasons for its success is that this type of service applicable to patients has been designed and structured as a course which has been taught to and implemented by thousands of people employed in the health care profession. As a matter of fact, the creators of this program – the Survival Skills course – and the author of book, Drs. Thom A. Mayer and Robert J. Cates (who have more than 26 years experience in providing health care) write: “Not only did customer service scores improve dramatically following the implementation of the Survival Skills concept but they have stayed at industry-levels since that time and have continued to improve.” The authors also report that “the Survival Skills course has been taught at hundreds of hospitals with thousands of participants, resulting in dramatic improvements in their...