Book Reviews - Reece's Pieces - Occasional Notes and Comments

I. Schools of Thought


Source


Fixing American Healthcare: Wonkonians, Gekkonians, and the Grand Unification Theory of Health Care, Publisher or Perish Publishers, 2007


“Government regulators, politicians, public health officers, political liberals (wonks, in other words) espouse the Wonkonian school of thought.”


“The insurance industry, healthcare executives, many physicians, and most free market proponents espouse the Gekkonian school of thought, named for Gordon Gekko, the character in the movie Wall Street, who said greed is good. “


Note


It’s hard to choose between those who make money at the expense of patients and those who exercise power by spending other people’s money.


Comment

Would you rather be an idealistic Wonk,
Or an realistic Gekko who’s not a Monk?
Would you rather rule from top-down,
Or wear a mercenary merchant’s crown?
Either way you’ll learn from the school of hard Knonks.


II. Faith in Doctors

Source Grooks, “My Faith in Doctors,” Piet Hein

“My faith in doctors is immense.
Just one thing spoils it;
their pretenceof authorized
omniscience.”


Note


An English, American, and Russian surgeon are boasting of their greatest deeds. The English says he performed a brain transplant on a mute who has never stop talking since. The American claims he performed a heart lung transplant without anesthesia. The Russian says, “I did a tonsillectomy.” “What’s so great about that,” chimed in the other two. “Well,” said the Russian, “in my country people are afraid to open their mouth, so I had to approach it in a different direction.” The moral is” no miracles among follow professionals, please.


Comment


Two cheers for my fellow physicians,
Why not three cheers for clinical magicians?
Because no matter how resolute.
Nothing is ever absolute,
Under all conditions.


III. Generalists and Specialists


Source: “Too Many Specialists, Not Enough Primary Care Doctors, Worry Health System Experts, ” Newspaper headline


Note


Edward DeBono, MD, a world class expert on thinking based on London, once wrote that there are two kinds of thinkers - those who survey the landscape laterally and those that dig ever and ever deeper vertical holes. At the bottom of each hole, you will find a world-class expert. The problem is: the holes don’t connect.


Comment


There are those of us who are generalists.
More of us consider ourselves specialists.
Generalists think laterally,
Specialists think vertically,
As for me, I think bilaterally.