Foreword
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 October 2009
Summary
Reading for the first time the hard-hitting case studies in this important book took me back to my days as a young school teacher in Delaware. On Monday nights, I'd watch the hospital drama “Ben Casey.” As the show opened, a wise old voice would intone “man, woman, birth, death, infinity.” On screen, an anonymous right hand holding a stubby piece of chalk drew the universal symbol for each word on a classroom blackboard. Shot in black and white, the show was gritty and real, and it made Ben Casey's County General Hospital seem like a metaphor for the world the rest of us lived in.
In fact, hospitals once were perceived as a much more integral part of the community than they are today. And this image has been reinforced for decades by our popular culture. In the 1970s, we had kindly Marcus Welby, MD, treating patients at, appropriately, Hope Memorial. In the 1980s, hard-luck patients were warmly welcomed at city-owned St. Elsewhere.
These dramas showed hometown American hospitals as the public saw them – life-saving, compassionate and participating partners in their community. Week after week, the familiar characters showed us how the life and death consequences of healthcare bind us in a very special relationship to the people and institutions that care for us. The shows were huge hits because they validated the real-world experiences of ordinary people when they went to the hospital.
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- Management Mistakes in HealthcareIdentification, Correction, and Prevention, pp. xi - xivPublisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2004