Permission to Care: Building a Healthcare Culture That Thrives in Chaos
by Cory Jenks
Why You'll Love This
A pharmacist who moonlights as an improv comedian argues that 'yes, and' might be the most underused skill in modern healthcare.
- Great if you want: practical tools for reconnecting with your purpose in healthcare
- The experience: brisk and conversational — reads more like a mentor talk than a textbook
- The writing: Jenks blends self-deprecating humor with genuine clinical insight, keeping it grounded
- Skip if: you work outside healthcare — the lens stays narrow throughout
About This Book
Healthcare workers are burning out not because they care too little, but because the system makes it harder and harder to care at all. Pharmacist and improv comedian Cory Jenks writes for the clinician who still believes meaningful connection with patients is possible — and who needs a practical, honest framework for making it happen inside an industry that seems designed to prevent it. Drawing on his own stumbles as a credentialed professional who was technically competent but humanly disconnected, Jenks argues that the chaos of modern healthcare isn't the enemy of great care — it's the training ground for it.
What sets this book apart is the unlikely marriage of improv comedy principles and clinical practice, handled with enough specificity that it never feels like a gimmick. Jenks writes with self-deprecating warmth and moves between personal story and actionable insight without losing momentum. The structure is tight and the tone stays honest — this isn't cheerleading, it's a working professional thinking clearly on the page about what actually changes culture. Readers will finish it with concrete tools and, more importantly, a restored sense of why the work matters.