WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT THIS BOOK
Trzeciak and Mazzarelli have aggregated a definitive look into how health care workers and patients alike can produce better outcomes and feel happier through adversityall through implementing compassionate behavior. Compassionomics shows that by focusing the lens through which the brain perceives reality, lives can be changed for the better. This is a must-read for health care leaders looking to implement lasting cultural change, health care employees wanting to change patients lives, and consumers who need to take charge of their health care experiences.
Shawn Achor, New York Times bestselling author of Big Potential and The Happiness Advantage
Health care must evolve from treating diseases to caring for people and their families. This is much more than a semantic difference. In the Health Transformation Alliance, our experience with more than 4 million people clearly validates what Dr. Trzeciak and Dr. Mazzarelli so eloquently argue compassion and empathy are essential to better health care. Caregivers who practice these principles encourage people to take ownership of their health carea result that fosters better health outcomes. I hope this book catalyzes a compassionate revolution in our health care system.
Robert E. Andrews, CEO of the Health Transformation Alliance
In Compassionomics, Drs. Trzeciak and Mazzarelli conclusively demonstrate that the power of compassion in medicine is undeniable. Well-researched and comprehensive, the book will be a valuable tool for anyone with a desire to reestablish the primacy of compassion in health care.
Rana Awdish, MD, FCCP, author of In Shock: My Journey from Death to Recovery and the Redemptive Power of Hope
The health care professionals of today are constantly challenged by moral choices, whether from organizational pressure, societal expectations, or their own personal code. Under all of the mounting pressure, one constant guiding principleto do no harmdrives us to do whatever we can for the benefit of the patient. Compassionomics provides the evidence that one simple tool, compassion, can affect not only the outcomes for our patients, but also the financial health of our organizations and the well-being of our providers.
Donald M. Berwick, MD, MPP, president emeritus and senior fellow of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement and former administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
It is easy for hospitalsand thereby physiciansto believe that focusing on volume, rather than quality, will drive results. No one, however, comes into healthcare with this idea in mind; it is a byproduct of an age where systems are stretched thin on time, talent, and resources. Physicians want and needto practice in environments that emphasize focus on outcomes and experience. They wantand needto know that their work makes a difference. With meticulous research, Compassionomics blends these ideas that physicians can feel proud about their work and produce high-quality outcomes for patients. By focusing on compassionate care, Drs. Trzeciak and Mazzarelli provide a simple, but effective, roadmap toward positively affecting both physician burnout and patient engagement. Compassionomics can help restore the hope for everyone in health care that they can have a positive, meaningful career that is driven by human connection, not numbers.
Robert Bessler, MD, founder, chairman and CEO of Sound Physicians
Today, in these challenging times, we often bear the burden of the pace of change and complexity of care. This book offers so many ways to think about compassion: for patients and families, for your team and colleagues, and for yourself. I cant think of a more important path than compassion to get to the Institute for Healthcare Improvements Triple Aimbetter health, better and safer care, and lower costs. This is the best book Ive read in years.
Maureen Bisognano, president emerita and senior fellow of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement
The foundation for providing sustainable, quality care is simple: compassion. If we want to keep healthy people out of hospitals, support the most vulnerable of patients or those with long-term issues, and lower health care costs, compassion must be at the heart of all these interactions. Drs. Trzeciak and Mazzarrellis deep dive into the data that support this fact is second to none. In Compassionomics, they have built the thorough and inspiring case for anyone who wasnt already convinced that compassion was essential to health care and empowered those who are firm believers.
Jeffrey Brenner, MD, senior vice president of integrated health and human services at UnitedHealthcare Community & State and MacArthur Fellow
It goes without saying that compassion is a crucial element for healers and healing. Except that we dont have enough emphasis on compassion in todays health care system. This dearth of compassion in training and practice makes Compassionomics timely, important, and vital. Whether you are a clinician, administrator, or a health care patient (i.e., all of us), its message is a call to action for true change in the way we deliver and receive care.
Arthur Caplan, PhD, Drs. William F. and Virginia Connolly Mitty professor and head of the Division of Medical Ethics at the NYU School of Medicine
Hope is central to progress in health care. And hope is a byproduct of compassion. In Compassionomics, Drs. Trzeciak and Mazzarelli provide not only compelling evidence of how simple acts of compassion positively affect patient outcomes, but they also demonstrate that compassionate care improves the experience of those who work in healthcare. Instilling compassion throughout the delivery of health care will enable the health care industry to advance into the future.
David L. Cohen, businessman, attorney, and chairman of the board of trustees of the University of Pennsylvania
This well-researched book on such an important topic will be welcome news to all those who strive daily in the front lines of health care provision. They know well the importance of compassion and its effect on outcomes and overall well-beingnot just for patients but for the providers themselves. With it we win, without it we struggle. This is also a directive to leaders to include compassion as a key criteria in recruitment and promotion. My congratulations to the authors for bringing it center stage.
Michael J. Dowling, president and CEO of Northwell Health
My mentor for compassionate care was my physician father, the co-founder of HCA Healthcare. As he frequently said, Its not bricks and mortar and equipment that make a hospital. It is the warmth and compassion and attitude of good employees that leads to quality care. Trzeciak and Mazzarellis findings not only provide us with data to show how compassionate care achieves measurable improvement to patient outcomes, but also shows gains in fiscal health and employee satisfaction. Those of us in health care owe it to our patients to review the facts, implement the solutions, and make the essential personal connections that can change health. This book is a vital step forward in transforming health care as we know it.
Senator William H. Frist, MD, heart transplant surgeon and former Republican Senate majority leader
Compassionomics is a very important book for everyone engaged in health care, including physicians and nurses, health care administrators, educators, and especially patients and their families. It documents the impressive and growing evidence base that supports the critical role that compassionate care plays in shaping outcomes in clinical practice. From ancient times, scholars have described both the art and the science of the practice of medicine.
