Joy in Medicine?

Eve Shapiro, in this important book, has contributed two very meaningful insights. First, she has relayed the stories of 100 health professionals in their own words and has given us all a framework within which we can make sense of their stories. Second, she has engaged two powerful currents-burnout within health care and the worst public health challenge in a century-and has given us a reason for hope. This is a book all health professionals, as well as those in the public who care about their welfare, should read. John R. Ball, MD, JD, MACP Executive Vice President, Emeritus, American College of Physicians Former Chair, Mission Health System, Asheville, NC In Joy in Medicine?, Eve Shapiro provides unique and valuable insights into understanding the challenge of clinician burnout. We will not fix the myriad problems in healthcare without a deep understanding of what contributes to both joy and burnout. Her in-depth interviews with clinicians provide insights that every healthcare leader needs to understand if they are serious about being part of the solution, rather than part of the problem. Paul DeChant, MD, MBA Author, Executive Coach, and Prior CEO, Sutter Gould Medical Foundation A growing body of research about the physician/caregiver experience identifies the causes, consequences, and remedies for physician burnout and the factors most highly related to physician joy and fulfillment. While this research is certainly informative, in my view, in Joy in Medicine? What 100 Healthcare Professionals Have to Say about Job Satisfaction, Dissatisfaction, Burnout, and Joy, Eve Shapiro's narrative approach, using firsthand interviews that illuminate real people in real settings, yields rich, qualitative information that has a much greater potential to impact physicians, teams, and organizations. Those she interviewed share their stories-about highs and lows in their careers, their frustrations and stresses, their joys and satisfaction-and they offer advice to others who seek fulfillment in the practice of medicine. Stories are like pollen. They engage and persuade. They move people to action. They spark conversations with ourselves and others. The stories shared in Eve's book have that power. Individuals and organizations can use this book to understand and support caregivers and to identify and pursue improvement initiatives in our quest to achieve human-centered care and a gratifying caregiver experience. Wendy Leebov, Ed.D. Author, Creator of Language of Caring www.languageofcaring.org Eve's Shapiro's book, Joy in Medicine?, is a call to action to save lives: lives of patients and families, and lives of physicians, nurses, and all stakeholders inside (and outside) the traditional healthcare system. Eve interviews 100 men and women who work in the healthcare industry in our country today. She listens to understand, she reflects, and she shares their wisdom and insight (and her own) with the reader. Joy in Medicine? will teach healthcare leaders, people on the front lines of healthcare, patients and families, and communities what must be done to achieve betterment and bring joy back into medicine. Thomas H. Dahlborg, MSHSM President, Dahlborg Healthcare Leadership Group (DHLG) Director Health Care, Global Listening Centre Board (India)