30 pages • 1 hour read
Atul GawandeBetter: A Surgeon’s Notes on Performance
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2007A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Essay Topics
One of Atul Gawande’s goals in Better is to humanize both doctors and the medical profession. How does he do this? Give specific examples from the text that highlight the “human factor” that is inherent in medicine.
Innovation is a key to success in any industry, and the medical profession is no exception. However, innovation is often met with skepticism in medicine, at least at first. Why do you think this happens? What are some examples from the text that demonstrate how difficult it is to enact change in the medical profession?
According to Gawande, what are the main characteristics of a good doctor? Why does he believe these things are necessary to practice medicine well?
One of the major issues in modern medicine is the business side of the medical profession. Gawande refers to this as an adversarial system. How is this true or false? How have doctors tried to improve the system for both patients and themselves?
How is Gawande’s understanding of acceptance different from resignation? Provide examples from the text that highlight the differences between these two concepts.
In Chapter 7, “The Doctors of the Death Chamber,” Gawande discusses the moral dilemma faced by doctors who are asked to be present during or take part in state-sanctioned executions. Why is this a conflict of interest for doctors? What role do you think doctors should play in these situations?
What is positive deviance? How is this theme highlighted in Better?
In Chapter 3, “Casualties of War,” Gawande discusses how doctors now have greater abilities to save lives. However, patients are now faced with challenging rehabilitations and quality-of-life issues. Should a person’s life be saved if that life will entail immense hardship? Does Gawande believe that the medical industry puts too much emphasis on displaying the skills of doctors, instead of understanding the unique situations of patients?
Gawande argues that the success of doctors should be ranked so that the public can gauge the quality of the care in one medical practice versus another. Why does Gawande believe that metrics for ranking doctors are important? What are some examples he offers for how scoring medical performance helped to change medicine for the better?
One of the central themes in Better is whether medicine should be a craft or an industry. How are these two approaches to practicing medicine different? What are some examples from the text that highlight these differences?
Related Titles
By Atul Gawande
