Patients Come Second by Paul Spiegelman & Britt Berrett - Book review

Patients Come Second

Leading Change by Changing the Way You Lead

By: Paul Spiegelman, Britt Berrett

Published: March 19, 2013
Format: Hardcover, 208 pages
ISBN-10: 0988842807
ISBN-13: 978-0988842809
Publisher: An Inc. Original











"Providers must care about patients and one another - only then will we see the essential changes our health care system requires", write founder and CEO of The Beryl Companies, Paul Spiegelman; and president of Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas, Britt Berrett, in their provocative and change oriented book Patients Come Second: Leading Change by Changing the Way You Lead. The authors describe how leaders in the health care industry must take the bold step to transform the industry to one focused on the patient to one that engages health care employees as well.

Paul Spiegelman (photo left) and Britt Berrett recognize that health care employees, at every level and area of responsibility, care deeply about their patients. The authors point out, however, that more than simply focusing on patients, there must also be a transition toward engaging health care workers to ensure a more effective system.

The authors present a compelling if paradoxical case, that deepening the engagement levels of employees within the health care industry, will also create an improved overall patient experience. To achieve this transformation, the authors propose a complete change in the health care industry leadership and employee engagement model.

Britt Berrett (photo left) and Paul Spiegelman understand that the best way to improve the patient experience is to increase the level of engagement on the part of health care staff. While that concept is gaining real traction in other industries, it has lagged in health care because of both the traditional focus on patients, as well as the well intentioned but non-engagement building methods of adding more beds or purchasing the latest in medical technology.

Investment in their employees is the real solution for hospitals and other health car providers. The authors offer guidance in this new direction, and present the new form of leadership necessary to achieve this change in thinking, vision, and in action. The authors consider the following principles to make the necessary change in direction:

* What does come first?
* Changing how we lead
* Fun matters
* Do we really care
* Outside the four walls
* No whiners, losers, or jerks
* Why measure
* It ain't about the money
* Committing to a lifetime of learning
* The higher power that drives us

For me, the power of the book is how Paul Spiegelman and Britt Berrett combine a comprehensive framework for transforming the entire focus of the health care industry, with the necessary strategies and techniques for making that change effectively. The principles offered in the book go far beyond the health care industry as well. While the authors utilize the health care sector as the main example, the concepts are universally applicable to other industries and sectors.

The book is about leadership, employee engagement, and facilitating effective change. Those ideas are illustrated in the book with real world examples from health care, but the examples also underline how the strategies are useful elsewhere. In any industry, an engaged workforce creates an even greater customer experience. Counter-intuitively, the customer develops a deeper and more lasting relationship with a company that has engaged employees. In the often very life and death situations found in the health care world, the principles of employee engagement are magnified and are even more visible.

I highly recommend the clear and concise book Patients Come Second: Leading Change by Changing the Way You Lead by Paul Spiegelman and Britt Berrett, to any leaders in any industry who are seeking a readily applicable guide to improving leadership, engaging their employees, and creating a superior customer experience. This book will increase your employee engagement levels, awhile establishing and nurturing happy and lifelong customers.