Fred Lee’s If Disney Ran Your Hospital: 9 1/2 Things You Would Do Differently is an older book, but this is my first read of it. I was skeptical at first because “Disney” is so far from my thinking in regards to healthcare administration. Thus, my interest increased.

I was pleasantly surprised to learn how many of Disney’s values and practices are transferrable to hospitals including exceptional customer service – which is really more about transforming a person’s experience, changing concepts of patient satisfaction and measuring for improvement, welcoming a culture of employee dissatisfaction which leads to continuous improvement, encouraging imagination to change perspectives leading to increased teamwork, and removing the “how trap” which often stalls progress.

Fred Lee shares many stories of hospitals changing culture and, most importantly, care. Numerous stories include nursing and nurses as his wife is, or was at the time of authorship, a director of nursing.

Overall, this was a good book; give it a chance and add another perspective about healthcare culture and service to your own viewpoint.