Walk on Water: Inside an Elite Pediatric Surgical Unit
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Manufacturer: Viking Adult
Written By: Michael Ruhlman
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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 617.98092
EAN: 9780670032013
ISBN: 0670032018
Label: Viking Adult
Manufacturer: Viking Adult
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 352
Publication Date: 2003-04-14
Publisher: Viking Adult
Release Date: 2003-04-14
Studio: Viking Adult
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Editorial Reviews for Walk on Water: Inside an Elite Pediatric Surgical Unit
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Michael Ruhlman is fascinated by people at work-especially those in pursuit of perfection. The Soul of a Chef and Wooden Boats have established him as a deft chronicler of unique cultural microcosms. Now, in Walk on Water, he documents life in the most intense environment yet-a pediatric heart center specializing in neonatal open-heart surgery. The precision needed for such delicate surgery puts "soul-crushing, diamond-making stress" on physicians and nurses every time they operate.
The colorful focus of Ruhlman's narrative is the Cleveland Clinic's world-renowned, idiosyncratic Dr. Roger Mee-a virtuoso within a very select surgical specialty and a mine of information on statistics, ethics, and medical politics. A riveting glimpse into the heart and mind of a man in whose hands literally rests a young baby's life on a daily basis, Walk on Water explores controversial topics-from questionable referral patterns by cardiologists to physicians who are punished for doing what's best for their patients to physicians who don't do what's best for their patients-and breaks the taboo on subjects not often written about.
Walk on Water is a must for all readers of serious nonfiction that will also have health professionals and the media paying rapt attention.
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Consumer reviews:
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Customer Rating:  
Summary: Great read
Comment: The book was well written. A must read for anyone having to deal with pediatric heart problems. My daughter is a cardiac surgeon and verified that it is accurate. My only complaint was that the print was misaligned and located close to the binding on a lot of the pages which made reading very annoying.
Customer Rating:
Summary: amazing and eye-opening
Comment: My daughter was born with a heart defect in 2007. She had had one open-heart surgery by the time I was introduced by word-of-mouth to this book. I can't say how important it was to me as a parent to read this book. It gives an insider's view of the world of congenital heart surgery and if you are a parent who wants to know what doctors really think and do, you have to read this - if you are a parent who wants to put all of your faith in the perfection of doctors, then don't read it. My family is very grateful that things have turned out well for my daughter, who is now 15 months, and can't thank her healthcare team enough... but if she needs another surgery, we are going to go to one of the surgeons mentioned in the book. We'll fly her to another state - whatever it takes to get the very best care for her. I hope if you are looking at this book because someone you love has a heart defect, that things turn out well for you, too. What a living nightmare. Read the book.
Customer Rating:
Summary: No divine powers, just attention to detail
Comment: Roger Mee, the surgeon profiled in this very well-researched and well-written book, would be the first to tell you that he possesses no divine powers. As he stresses, and author Ruhlman emphasizes, the craft of surgery is in attention to detail. An interesting contrast is drawn between Mee, who strikes the reader as very down-to-earth, and a brilliant but difficult intern, who (after this book was published) took his own life.
The book also contains excellent portraits of Mee's surgical nurse, the difficulties facing anesthesiologists when working with 5-pound neonates, and is very sensitive to the awful, gut-wrenching torment suffered by the new parents, who would rather be anywhere than inside a pediatric ICU.
Ruhlman is at his best when writing about how difficult it is to do things right, as in his other great book "Wooden Boats."
Customer Rating:
Summary: What it means to be the best
Comment: Imagine opening a newborn baby's chest and holding his plum-sized heart in your hands, confident that you can repair it and give the child a healthy life.
Meet Dr. Roger Mee, one of the world's top pediatric heart surgeons. Dr. Mee and his team at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio do just that, two or three times a day, five or six days a week. Author Michael Ruhlman spent a year as an embedded observer in this center of excellence, exploring an elite surgical specialty and the professionals who devote themselves to perfecting it.
"Walk on Water: Inside an Elite Pediatric Surgical Unit" is the wonderful product of that year, and you won't find a more fascinating or inspiring story. Ruhlman gives us a satisfying mix of history, anatomy, biography, and personal interest.
The unit specializes in the repair of congenital heart defects. Each chapter starts with a case or an individual, suffering from or exemplifying some condition. Then the author catalogues the development of treatment options for that condition. Finally, he returns to the clinical setting to finish the story.
Ruhlman discusses medical politics and the story behind outcome statistics. What is the impact on a unit's statistics when that unit is a referral center for the sickest babies? How can a patient -- or a parent -- know the importance of the BEST care versus GOOD care? Thorny questions are raised.
But this is first and foremost the story of New Zealand-born Dr. Mee and his team, and the huge demands they make on themselves every day for the sake of these babies who got an unlucky draw -- at least, unlucky until they come under Dr. Mee's care.
"Walk on Water" is action-packed and sensitively written. If you are interested in medical non-fiction, you WILL be stunned by this book. It's a completely absorbing read and I highly recommend it.
Linda Bulger, 2008
Customer Rating:
Summary: amazing!
Comment: I recently became a pediatric cardiac intensive care nurse. I never really understood what it was like to be a family, or cardiac surgeon until reading this book. It is so amazing that someone could write such as informational insiring book, that has no health background. It makes me proud to be a nurse for this type of unit.
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More Information on Walk on Water: Inside an Elite Pediatric Surgical Unit
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Walk on Water: Inside an Elite Pediatric Surgical Unit. A dramatic narrative of the life of a surgical team specializing in the repair of babies' and children's malformed hearts. more
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His newest book is called Walk on Water - Inside an Elite Pediatric Surgical Unit. It's a study of a Cleveland Clinic team that performs open heart operations on infants.