Management In Health Care Systems (1984)

Health care system has suffered from poor management from the beginning, yet the traditional management text books offer little help by focusing on management for sales and profits which are totally foreign to the medical environment. The books usually deal with the business problems whereas the medical care system is a bureaucracy and should be understood as such.

In this book, the author refocuses traditional management information in the form of material which will be of use to the medical community. There is no discussion of sales, markets, profit and loss, etc. in the traditional sense. Each discussion has been based on medical and hospital procedure and the activity of the health care system.

The book looks closely on topics such as standards, controls, and feedback because these are subjects which are not often well-understood and which often make the difference between success and failure in management. The author has also treated the subject of planning in greater detail because this is such a vital element of the medical system.

Because the same references often apply to many areas of discussion, the author has deliberately cited the reference once and provide an extensive bibliography of general references. Each reference is selected to deal with the topic in general rather than with individual ideas.