New Book: There’s a Snake on My Head!

Communicating when people are anxious

My friend Mindy Spigel has just published her new book There’s a Snake on My Head! Strategies for Alleviating Fear and Anxiety in Healthcare.

Mindy brilliantly addresses an underappreciated and unaddressed problem in healthcare. Any patient who is struggling with fear and anxiety, as almost all patients are, might not understand what caregivers are telling them because they’re obsessed with the snake of anxiety.

But it’s not just healthcare. The challenge – and the strategies Mindy shares – apply to a teacher trying to reach an anxiety-ridden student or a parent trying to get through to an anxious and frightened child.

In Part 1, Mindy shares 6 practical strategies for helping patients and families alleviate fear and anxiety so they can pay attention to what they are being told.

In Part 2, she reminds us that our colleagues have their own fears and anxieties and offers suggestions to enhance communication within the team.

Mindy is one of many people I’ve encouraged to write a book. She is one of the few who has actually published. Her book is now available on Amazon, where it has a 5.0 reader rating, at this link.

When you buy the book, you can also download as a free gift the poster shown above depicting the 3 things every patient most wants: Keep me informed, keep me safe, keep me comfortable.

In an appendix, Mindy shares the story of how I nominated my nurse Shelly Lacy for a DAISY Award for having helped me cope with the snake on my head when I was an inpatient at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. She won the Award – but it was not for doing anything she learned in nursing school or that was in the nurse’s job description – it was for going above that basic standard and thinking like an owner.

Culture of Ownership Leadership Academy – November 9-11

In a Culture of Ownership people take initiative to get things done that need to be done, the way Mindy applied a Proceed Until Apprehended attitude to finishing – and now promoting – her book.

In a Culture of Ownership people go above and beyond, the way Shelly did in caring for me when I was hospitalized, because they know that while management is a job description, leadership is a life decision.

The Culture of Ownership Leadership Academy (COLAcademy) is a unique event in which 24 people from 12 organizations learn principles for building a Culture of Ownership and how they can apply to their own operation. It’s a 3-I event – Intensive, Immersive, and Interactive. 

Download the Informational Flyer

And then Proceed Until Apprehended – tell your CEO that you and a colleague need to be there!