What You Said
Ken Cohn led a consulting project that made collaboration between the medical staff and administration possible. Leaders from each department in the hospital presented to the Medical Advisory Panel which was composed of a broad representation from the medical staff. The result of this structured dialogue was four major clinical initiatives of importance to the majority of the medical staff, which were endorsed by the administration and approved by the board of directors.
Robert Schott, M.D.
Co-chair of the Medical Advisory Panel and Chairman of Cardiology
Sutter Medical Center Sacramento
The dance of the blind reflex prevents participants from seeing the enabling role they play in the conditions they deplore. With their carefully edited cases and analyses, Dr. Cohn and Mr. Fellows have skillfully addressed the elephant in the room— subjects that everyone else tiptoes around. I look forward to making their book available to my second-year graduate students in my capstone course.
Leonard H. Friedman, PhD
Professor and Director, Department of Health Services, Management, and Leadership, The George Washington University
Sometimes it feels like we still live in a wild-west habitat of hospital–physician relations. This book showcases stories and insights that can help any healthcare organization depersonalize differences to improve care. Each chapter offers key insights that help us move closer to relationships that best help those we serve— our patients and families.
Ruth W. Brinkley
President/CEO Carondelet Health Network
As a surgeon, department chair emeritus, and board member, I have lived through the challenges that Dr. Cohn describes in his book. Collaboration sounds simple, but is rarely easy. Dr. Cohn's book, as usual, is clear, succinct and on point. I hope this book will help to improve honest interaction among physicians, administrators, nurses and board members and ultimately promote improved care for our communities.
Dean Milos, MD, SCMD
Practicing Surgeon & Board Member
Chapter 14 is a very successful story in a situation that most seasoned healthcare administrators have been a part of in their careers. The distinguishing characteristic that makes this chapter different from other books on this subject is that the “sidebars” read like well thought out “recipes for success” and allow the reader immediate access to these tools and techniques for their own situations.
The stakes are very high when the knowledge and skills of all team members are not optimal; and fortunately, this situation had a “burning platform” that did not cause harm to the patients. The information in this chapter about the cost of staff and physician turnover and the correlation between quality and staff turnover is well-written.
Ms. Erin Yale
Children's Hospital of Wisconsin
Finally, a book that tells the truth about how the lack of collaboration undermines our nation’s medical centers and how true collaboration, as opposed to disguised control, can save us time, expense and needless lives lost. Implementing just one of the strategies described in this book can make a tremendous difference for physicians, facilities and most importantly, patients.
Mark F. Weiss
Healthcare Attorney
Advisory Law Group
Getting It Done provides some applicable “real-world” scenarios of what happens on the front lines. While technology may help advance the capability of providing healthcare, it does not negate the use of old-fashioned but affirmative positive communication and collaboration.
Colleen Stukenberg MSN, RN, CMSRN, CCDS
Clinical Documentation Management Professional
Author, Successful Collaboration in Healthcare: A Guide for Physicians, Nurses, and Clinical Documentation Specialists
21st century healthcare leaders need to move beyond strategies and tactics that have worked in the past. They need to adapt to changes using new skills which include actively listening and learning from one another. Reading the stories in this book gives me hope that it will happen during my lifetime. These stories profile leaders who have adapted to create new and innovative models and structures.
Michele M. Molden
EVP, Chief Transformation Officer
Piedmont Healthcare
To improve performance and safety is a goal shared by all teams in all hospitals. However, the “human” element is often the “elephant in the room” which is invisible despite being in plain sight of all involved in dysfunctional hospital units. Dysfunction may start from a single individual, but it spreads faster than C. difficile, rapidly crippling the normal function and risking patient well being and safety. A model intervention, developed by the experienced teams described in this book, that can be rapidly implemented is a boon to hospital care, administration and most importantly, patient safety.
Jimmie C. Holland, MD
Wayne E. Chapman Chair in Psychiatric Oncology
Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
Actions speak louder than words, and Getting It Done is all about taking action. Cohn and Fellows demonstrate impact through action by providing thought-provoking, real life examples of what our health system could be if we effectively collaborate and align stakeholder incentives to meet our shared goals. With the noise level on health reform rapidly on the rise, this book could not have been timelier.
Gautam Gulati, MD, MBA, MPH
Founder & Chief Idea Experimenter
Gulati Group
This book has the best chance of any for improving how hospitals operate. For the first time, physicians and hospital leaders have a collaborative, evidence-based approach to delivering greater care at lower cost. From the administrative level to the way care is delivered this book enables hospitals to make a huge cultural shift toward consistently better care. The authors have created actionable, tested clinical and administrative strategies and procedures drawn directly from the experience research of medical and healthcare leaders from across the country. As a former Wall Street Journal reporter who covered healthcare and who has spent the past eight years researching and crafting collaborative strategies and communication I believe the book is so practical and well-researched that it can unite hospitals around a common vision and, more importantly, collective action.
Kare Anderson, Leader, Collaborative Strategies
Center for the Edge, Deloitte