7 Books To Read If Want To Know More About Healthcare

Healthcare as an organization represents so much more than medicine. The healthcare system is about providing quality care and safety to patients, but from policy, law, treatment, and more. But trying to understand it all can be overwhelming. We’ve compiled a list of 7 books to understand health care, the history, leadership, and what’s next.

 Note: The list includes three honorable mentions.

Becoming the change: Leadership behavior strategies for continuous improvement in healthcare by Jouhn Toussaint, MD and Kim Barnas

Good leadership in healthcare matters. For the system to flourish, have outstanding leadership that cares, empowers, and listens to those around them. Being a leader in healthcare requires knowledge and transformation. As a leader, you strive to transform your organization into compassion, empathy, and quality care to patients and staff. The book walks the reader through leadership, how to improve skills as a leader, and examples of leadership behavior in healthcare. 

This Side of Doctoring: Reflections from Women in Medicine by Eliza Lo Chin

“This Side of Doctoring” explores over a hundred female physicians’ history and experiences from the 19-century.

Eliza Lo Chin shares the experiences women in medicine faced during the 19-century and includes stories from physicians like Harriet Hunt. She created a safe place to practice for women and children with no medical training. The book comprises women from all walks of life and how they changed the face of medicine and performed modern health care.

An American Sickness: How Healthcare Became Big Business and How You Can Take It Back by Elizabeth Rosenthal

It’s no secret healthcare in America has become a business. In only a few decades, the medical system has changed to a for-profit business where patients and community members find it challenging to access proper and quality care. An “American Sickness” explores the traditional healthcare system, how healthcare developed into a profitable business, the changing relationship between medical staff and patients, and how to reset healthcare back to health care. 

Medicaid Politics and Policy by Judith D. Moore and David G. Smith

If you’re a new healthcare professional who wants to understand Medicaid and all it encompasses, check out “Medicaid Politics and Policy.” The book gives a comprehensive review of Medicaid, walking the reader through Medicaid and welfare, breaking down politics and policy from the Affordable Care Act to the future of Medicaid, including the prominent health insurance issues in the U.S.

Complications: A Surgeon’s Notes on an Imperfect Science by Dr. Atul Gawande

As a surgeon, writer, and public health leader, Dr. Atul Gawande’s books and research on endocrinology are a favorite among healthcare professionals. In Complications, Gawande shares real-life cases and the limits of medicine and understanding human identity. This includes the emotional toll medicine takes on doctors, and how doctors deal with life and death daily.

Medical Bondage: Race, Gender, and the Origins of American Gynecology by Deirdre Cooper

Medical Bondage explores race, reproductive justice, and healthcare., including how physicians denied predominately Black and immigrant women’s autonomy over their bodies and the use of slaves for medical experimentation. It Includes first-hand accounts of women subject to medical experiments and Dr. James Marion Sims’ (father of gynecology) role in those experiments.

The Illness Narratives: Suffering, Healing, and the Human Condition by Arthur Kleinman

For people interested in health care and healing, check out the “Illness Narrative,” a book that explores how modern medicine treats patients and putting care back in healthcare. Psychiatrist and anthropologist Arthur Kleinman shares decades of clinical cases on treating chronic illness and the experiences of patients in medicine, plus how to bridge the gap between patient and healthcare professionals.

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Honorary Mentions

• The Cancer Journals By Audre Lorde includes journal entries, personal and political reflections, and follows the activist and author on her experience coping with breast cancer and redefining healing.
• Killing the Black Body: Race, Reproduction and the Meaning of Liberty by reproductive activist Dorothy Roberts *Highly Recommended* for those interested in social and reproductive justice or maternal health in the U.S.
• Check out Gawande’s The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right. The book is a checklist of the everyday life of a surgeon.

What did you think about these healthcare books? Have you read any books on the list or have your own recommendations? Let us know in the comments. 

Are you looking for more healthcare books? Check out our 6 Must-Read Books in 2020 for Healthcare Professionals list while you’re here!