If Disney Ran Your Hospital: 9 1/2 Things You Would Do Differently [Paperback]

Fred Lee (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 30, 2004

Using examples from his work with Disney and as a senior-level hospital executive, author Fred Lee challenges the assumptions that have defined customer service in healthcare. In this unique book, he focuses on the similarities between Disney and hospitals - both provide an "experience," not just a service. It shows how hospitals can emulate the strategies that earn Disney the trust and loyalty of their guests and employees.

The book explains why standard service excellence initiatives in healthcare have not led to high patient satisfaction and loyalty, and it provides 9 1/2 principles that will help hospitals gain the competitive advantage that comes from being seen as "the best" by their own employees, consumers, and community.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 216 pages
• Publisher: Second River Healthcare (May 30, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0974386014
• ISBN-13: 978-0974386010
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,541 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #3 in Books > Medical Books > Administration & Medicine Economics > Hospital Administration

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

123 of 126 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars wow!, April 11, 2005

By 

hospitaltony "www.hospitalimpact.org" (Chicago, IL United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: If Disney Ran Your Hospital: 9 1/2 Things You Would Do Differently (Paperback)

Like many Disney rides, you have to wait a bit to get this book on amazon (I purchased mine directly from the publisher). But it's worth the wait. I attended the ACHE Conference in 3/2005 where the book was named the "2005 Book of the Year."

Fred Lee has written a fantastic book in "If Disney Ran Your Hospital." Not only is it a well-written book (Lee uses memorable examples, stories, and graphs to illustrate his points), but also he has chosen an outstanding topic. We need more books like this - learning from the best from other industries. Lee effectively builds the bridge, taking Disney corporate realities and turning them into approaches and strategies that hospital leaders can easily digest and apply in their hospitals.

Some of the concepts definitely stretch my current mindset on customer service (and after reading the book, you might even stop using that term). Lee talks about why perceptions are more important than reality, patient loyalty is more important than satisfaction, courtesy is more important than efficiency, and experience is more important than service. He also spends some time addressing the shortfalls of patient satisfaction surveys and competitive incentives for employees. All for the sake of his true focus of the book: to "bring out the best behaviors in workers and provide the best emotional experience for patients."

For those that are experts in services marketing or world-class hotel corporate culture, some of the concepts will be old news. Nonetheless, the way Lee specifically applies these concepts to the hospital setting is truly magical and novel.

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Insightful Book, December 15, 2006

By 

Charles E. Stimler (Queens, New York) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: If Disney Ran Your Hospital: 9 1/2 Things You Would Do Differently (Paperback)

I agree with everyone else about how good this book is. I have been working full time in quality improvement for 12 years, and I was expecting just a rehashing of the same old theories that I have become too accustomed to hearing about. To my surprise, the book was fresh and deep and I literally learned something new on every single page - It is 216 pages long and at $27 that's about 13 cents per insight; a real bargain, I think. Oh, and remarkably it's also quite an easy read due to the excellent stories and intuitive presentation (but you may want to slow down a bit to let the lessons sink in).

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Book on the Disney Approach...Period, February 14, 2007

By 

Keith Bower (Katy, TX) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: If Disney Ran Your Hospital: 9 1/2 Things You Would Do Differently (Paperback)

"But I'm not in the hospital business." Neither am I. But I am a Disney Institute alumnus and an avid practitioner of the Disney Approach to People Management, Quality Service, and Loyalty; and I've found "If Disney Ran Your Hospital" more helpful than anything else in print. I think you will, too. Here's why. A number of books explain the principles and practices that drive Disney. Most are helpful, and one, "Be Our Guest" by the Disney Institute, is indispensable. But Fred Lee does one thing better than anyone else: he models how to transfer those principles to another industry. That's what he did at the Disney Institute and that's what he will help you do in your business. Granted, his applications come from healthcare. But along the way Fred Lee demonstrates how to translate and apply the Disney Approach outside of the Disney setting, and that's what's so helpful--he provides an example that the rest of us can follow. If you're interested in benchmarking the Disney Approach, you need this book. One more thing: Fred Lee can write. "If Disney Ran Your Hospital" is the best book on the Disney Approach...period.