Week 31: July 31

"The Florence Prescription: From Accountability to Ownership" by Joe Tye with Dick Schwab and forward by Charles S. Lauer

If you think this book is about the history and perseverance of Miss Florence Nightengale or is a motivating book on how to stay positive while working in healthcare, you were sadly mistken.

I received this book when I started my job 4 years ago and just now decided to actually read it as it was my last week there and I did have this goal to read 52 books in one year. But I was disappointed within the first 10 pages and I can tell you, I was left with no excitement to get out there and be the best healthcare professional I could be!

No offense to Tye and Schwab, but putting a fantasy spin on a make believe hospital to try to motivate your workers will only leave them feeling like you think they are children that can't do their jobs. Yes, the book had some good points such as how there should be no caste system in the hospital (which there is) and how all employees should feel like they have an ownership in the workings of the hospital. It's all a very nice idea but rarely gets truly promoted.

I strongly recommend not giving this book to your employees with the hope that it will change their outlook. In these instances I feel like the true success stories are what make employees buy into the concept. Keep to those folks! And above all else, no matter what book you throw at your workers, no matter how many motivational speakers you have, what gets people changing is to SEE it in their leaders. Not the talk, but the action. This will get the ball rolling more than anything else I feel like.