Healthcare systems worldwide are built on the idea that healthcare is a universal right and everyone deserves to have adequate healthcare. Problems begin when the costs of healthcare become unaffordable for many of the patients who direly need healthcare. Another issue is the quality of the healthcare provided because, in many developing nations, healthcare is not given at the same standard as that of more developed nations. The problems with healthcare do not end here either. Due to the rising costs of living, inflation and the general problem of hospitals being short-staffed and overcrowded and doctors routinely making mistakes that can often prove to be fatal, healthcare is in dire need of change. The current status quo, especially in countries such as the United States, shows that a revolution of sorts Is needed if things are to get better. In this blog, we will be taking a look at books about healthcare system system that challenge the status quo and shine a light on many of its flaws.
This term refers to doctors, hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, and the various institutions responsible for providing medical care to people. The healthcare system in the United States is a trillion-dollar industry and is one of the largest sectors, economically speaking. The United States spends a lot of money on the sector. However, there are many inefficiencies, as the books we will be showcasing below will explain. The fact of the matter is that the healthcare industry, as important as it is for saving lives, has become a profit-motivated institution due to the capitalistic society that we live in. This is why books about healthcare system system go into great detail in describing the various fraudulent practices conducted by the healthcare industry.
1. Vanilla Ice Cream‚ Strawberry Smoothies‚ and Lots of Drugs By Richard Caits
This book is about the journey of a man whose mother had gotten horribly ill, leading to hospitalization. The book provides a glimpse into her life before her passing, as well as the journey of the author trying to provide her with the care that she needed. The book gives a look into the tumultuous and complex world of the healthcare system.
2. The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer By Siddhartha Mukherjee
This book looks into the birth of cancer, it’s history and how its affected humanity for more than five thousand years. As well as steps taken to try to find a cure for it. Cancer is one of those diseases that humanity has had to struggle with for so long, and its effects have been disastrous for the people afflicted by it.
3. Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance By Atul Gawande
This book takes a look at the lives of doctors as they try to prevent horrible disasters from unfolding, and they often find it difficult to do so due to the complexities of the problems that they face.
4. The Innovator's Prescription: A Disruptive Solution for Health Care By Clayton M. Christensen
This book argues that the healthcare system in the US is in desperate need for reform and that steps need to be taken urgently. Much of the citizens in the US are unable to afford the healthcare needed.
5. The Creative Destruction of Medicine: How the Digital Revolution Will Create Better Health Care By Eric J. Topol
This book makes the argument that if consumers demand for a revolution of the healthcare system, then it is easily within reach and can make a massive difference in the lives of patients, driving the costs of healthcare down and improving the outcomes.
6. The Social Transformation of American Medicine: The Rise of a Sovereign Profession and the Making of a Vast Industry By Paul Starr
This book chronicles the history of the American healthcare system, how it started out being a very financially insecure institution at the start to now being a trillion-dollar industry run by corporations.
7. How Doctors Think By Jerome Groopman
This book looks into the mindsets of doctors who are often filled with stress and are unable to make the right decisions at crucial points, leading to mistakes that can often be fatal. The book shines a light on the thought processes behind doctors when they are under pressure to perform.
8. Bad Pharma: How Drug Companies Mislead Doctors and Harm Patients By Ben Goldacre
This book looks into how the medicines that doctors prescribe are selected based on flawed test studies, and many of the drugs are pushed by pharmaceutical companies that engage in fraudulent practices that mislead doctors and focus only on profit motives.
9. Redefining Health Care: Creating Value-Based Competition on Results
Redefining Healthcare is a book that looks into the problems of the healthcare industry and seeks to provide solutions. The book argues that the healthcare industry competes for the wrong things and focuses more on a profit motive rather than providing the right treatments.
10. Do No Harm: Stories of Life, Death and Brain Surgery By Henry Mash
This book looks into stories of doctors providing surgery and how it is potentially wrong. The book provides an insight into the lives of brain surgeons, what they are thinking of when providing surgery, and how they feel when things go wrong or when they succeed.
Hopefully, these books about healthcare system proved to be informative for you, and you were able to find a book that was able to show you why healthcare is fundamentally flawed and a change is in order.