Introduction
The literature is a book review of the title “Better: A surgeon’s notes on performance” by Dr. Atul Gawande. Dr. Gawande is a surgeon and accomplished writer of several books which provide essential information and insights into medical and nursing practice. In the book “Better: A surgeon’s notes on performance,” Dr. Gawande analyzes how doctors seek to close the gap between their greatest intentions and best performance despite insurmountable difficulties. The book delivers messages to readers through specific examples by the author and an investigation of the medical profession. Therefore, the book review highlights the main messages of Dr. Gawande’s book “Better: A surgeon’s notes on performance” and how the literature in the book is relevant to my nursing practice as a registered nurse practicing home-based care.
Main messages in the book
In the book “Better: A surgeon’s notes on performance,” Dr. Gawande examines how doctors attempt to bridge the gap between their ideals and their actual performance in the face of seemingly impossible obstacles. The author provides personal experiences to put across messages in the book. Dr. Gawande categorizes his personal experiences into three core requirements of diligence, doing right, and ingenuity, which are critical for successful performance in medicine (Gawande, 2007). First, in the diligence requirement, the author highlights three distinct examples where diligence is necessary for successful medical therapy. The author mentions that areas such as the World health handing polio outbreak in rural India, US military medics endeavors to save the lives of soldiers in Iraq who had been gravely injured, and infection-control specialists work to ensure hand washing to prevent hospital-acquired illnesses from spreading (Gawande, 2007). Dr. Gawande discusses the military medical advancements that have resulted in a drop in battlefield deaths, devotion to the task at hand, and the necessity of paying appropriate attention to avoid error and prevail over obstacles. Consequently, the examples demonstrate obsessive diligence by clinicians for successful science performance.
Secondly, in the requirement of doing right, Dr. Gawande discusses several compelling issues, including litigation against health care providers in the United States (Gawande, 2007). The author notes that litigation results in unsatisfying solutions necessitating more productive ways of compensation. Additionally, the book touches on a controversial topic of the role of doctors in the executions sanctioned by the state due to ethical dilemmas resulting from the lethal injections for executions (Gawande, 2007). Dr. Gawande concludes that the ethical issues involved in the practice are complex hence the need to follow moral persuasions of doing right.
In the core requirement of ingenuity for successful medical and nursing practice, Dr. Gawande notes in the book that ingenuity is more about character and less about superior intelligence (Gawande, 2007). The author highlights the obsessive nature of healthcare professionals to achieve excellence during medical practice. Hence, medical professionals need ingenuity to provide better healthcare to patients. In conclusion, the book investigates variances in clinical practice standards and encourages everyone involved in health care to assume the “positive deviant” role. “Better: A surgeon’s notes on performance” opens a window into the often-closed realm of medical performance. Gawande’s refusal to flinch in the face of controversy has resulted in a crucial text for both patients and doctors to benefit society.
Relevance of the book to my nursing practice
The book “Better: A surgeon’s notes on performance” is essential and relevant to my nursing practice as a registered nurse undertaking home healthcare. Dr. Gawande notes the importance of hand-washing and infection-control specialists’ work of ensuring hand washing prevents hospital-acquired illnesses from spreading (Gawande, 2007). The literature is relevant to my nursing practice handling patients at home since I educate home-based patients on the benefits of hand-washing and proper sanitation to avoid re-infection or spreading of diseases. Notably, hand washing is a long age hospital procedure and controlled practice for all medical professionals to curb infections by stopping the transmission of germs from patient to patient, patient to medical professionals, and medical professionals to the patient (Damilare, 2020). Thus, the literature from the book equips me with skills and evidence from specialists on maintaining the cleanliness of patients’ homes to avoid the spreading and re-infection of infectious diseases.
The book also enlightens me on the core requirements to ensure better and more successful home-based nursing practice (Gawande, 2007). The literature highlights that diligence is essential in the nursing practice. In this context, I have learned to be persistent and careful when managing patients at home. The diligence requirement teaches me devotion to the task at hand and the necessity of paying appropriate attention to avoid error and prevail over obstacles while managing patients. Further, the literature in the book highlights the necessity of doing right (Gawande, 2007). As a registered nurse, I draw lessons such as observing ethical principles and the code of ethics of registered nurses. Nurses’ code of ethics includes commitment, maintaining trust, preserving human dignity, autonomy, and confidentiality. Therefore, the book emphasizes observing nurses’ established code of ethics while practicing home-based care. Lastly, the requirement of ingenuity from the book is relevant in my nursing practice as it emphasizes character. Therefore, during my home-based nursing practice, I will uphold positive character such as compassion, empathy, commitment, and caring.
Conclusion
In conclusion, this essay is a book review of “Better: A surgeon’s notes on performance” by Dr. Atul Gawande where the author examines how doctors attempt to reduce the gap between their highest aspirations and their best actual performance in the face of obstacles. In the book, Dr. Gawande highlights the core requirements for better and successful performance of the medical practice which are diligence, doing right, and ingenuity. Lastly, the essentials of diligence, doing right, and ingenuity, are relevant to my home-based nursing practice as the literature equips and educates me on the required elements for successful nursing practice.
References
Damilare, O. K. (2020). Hand washing: an essential infection control practice. International Journal of Caring Sciences, 13(1), 776-780.
Gawande, A. (2007). Better: a surgeon’s notes on performance. Picador Publishers Edition.