Empathy and the Practice of Medicine

Empathy and the Practice of Medicine
Author: Howard Marget Spiro
Publisher: Yale University Press
Total Pages: 230
Release: 1993-01-01
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 9780300066708

The book - which includes essays by physicians, philosophers, and a nurse - is divided into three parts: one deals with how empathy is weakened or lost during the course of medical education and suggests how to remedy this; another describes the historical and philosophical origins of empathy and provides arguments for and against it; and a third section offers compelling accounts of how physicians' empathy for their patients has affected their own lives and the lives of those in their care. We hear, for example, from a physician working in a hospice who relates the ways that the staff try to listen and respond to the needs of the dying; a scientist who interviews candidates for medical school and tells how qualities of empathy are undervalued by selection committees; a nurse who considers what nursing can teach physicians about empathy; another physician who ponders whether the desire to be empathic can hinder the detachment necessary for objective care; and several contributors who show how literature and art can help physicians to develop empathy.

What Doctors Feel

What Doctors Feel
Author: Danielle Ofri, MD
Publisher: Beacon Press
Total Pages: 267
Release: 2013-06-04
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 0807073334

“A fascinating journey into the heart and mind of a physician” that explores the doctor-patient relationship, the flaws in our health care system, and how doctors’ emotions impact medical care (Boston Globe) While much has been written about the minds and methods of the medical professionals who save our lives, precious little has been said about their emotions. Physicians are assumed to be objective, rational beings, easily able to detach as they guide patients and families through some of life’s most challenging moments. But understanding doctors’ emotional responses to the life-and-death dramas of everyday practice can make all the difference on giving and getting the best medical care. Digging deep into the lives of doctors, Dr. Danielle Ofri examines the daunting range of emotions—shame, anger, empathy, frustration, hope, pride, occasionally despair, and sometimes even love—that permeate the contemporary doctor-patient connection. Drawing on scientific studies, including some surprising research, Dr. Ofri offers up an unflinching look at the impact of emotions on health care. Dr. Ofri takes us into the swirling heart of patient care, telling stories of caregivers caught up and occasionally torn down by the whirlwind life of doctoring. She admits to the humiliation of an error that nearly killed one of her patients. She mourns when a beloved patient is denied a heart transplant. She tells the riveting stories of an intern traumatized when she is forced to let a newborn die in her arms, and of a doctor whose daily glass of wine to handle the frustrations of the ER escalates into a destructive addiction. Ofri also reveals that doctors cope through gallows humor, find hope in impossible situations, and surrender to ecstatic happiness when they triumph over illness.

Public Health and the Risk Factor

Public Health and the Risk Factor
Author: William G. Rothstein
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
Total Pages: 480
Release: 2003
Genre: Health & Fitness
ISBN: 1580461271

A risk factor is anything that increases the risk of disease in an individual.

The Principles and Practice of Narrative Medicine

The Principles and Practice of Narrative Medicine
Author: Rita Charon
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 361
Release: 2017
Genre: History
ISBN: 0199360197

The Principles and Practice of Narrative Medicine articulates the ideas, methods, and practices of narrative medicine. Written by the originators of the field, this book provides the authoritative starting place for any clinicians or scholars committed to learning of and eventually teaching or practicing narrative medicine.

How Doctors Think

How Doctors Think
Author: Kathryn Montgomery
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 258
Release: 2006
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 0195187121

"Although physicians make use of science, this book argues that medicine is not itself a science, but rather an interpretive practice that relies heavily on clinical reasoning." "In How Doctors Think, Kathryn Montgomery contends that assuming medicine is strictly a science can have adverse effects. She suggests these can be significantly reduced by recognizing the vital role of clinical judgment."--BOOK JACKET.

Start Your Own Medical Practice

Start Your Own Medical Practice
Author: Marlene M. Coleman
Publisher: Sourcebooks, Inc.
Total Pages: 274
Release: 2006-12-01
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 157248795X

After years of school and maybe even after some years of practice, you are ready to do it on your own. Running a profitable business takes more than just being a great doctor. Start Your Own Medical Practice provides you with the knowledge to be both a great doctor and a successful business owner. Whether you are looking to open a single practice office or wanting to go into partnership with other colleagues, picking the right location, hiring the right support staff and taking care of all the finances are not easy tasks. With help from Start Your Own Medical Practice, you can be sure you are making the best decisions for success. Don't let a wrong choice slow down your progress. Find advice to: --Create a Business Plan --Manage the Office --Raise Capital --Bill Your Patients --Market Your Practice --Build a Patient Base --Prevent Malpractice Suits --Keep an Eye on the Goal With checklists, sample letters and doctor's office forms, Start Your Own Medical Practice teaches you all the things they didn't in medical school and gives you the confidence to go out and do it on your own.

The Virtues in Medical Practice

The Virtues in Medical Practice
Author: Edmund D. Pellegrino
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 222
Release: 1993-11-11
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 0199748756

In recent years, virtue theories have enjoyed a renaissance of interest among general and medical ethicists. This book offers a virtue-based ethic for medicine, the health professions, and health care. Beginning with a historical account of the concept of virtue, the authors construct a theory of the place of the virtues in medical practice. Their theory is grounded in the nature and ends of medicine as a special kind of human activity. The concepts of virtue, the virtues, and the virtuous physician are examined along with the place of the virtues of trust, compassion, prudence, justice, courage, temperance, and effacement of self-interest in medicine. The authors discuss the relationship between and among principles, rules, virtues, and the philosophy of medicine. They also address the difference virtue-based ethics makes in confronting such practical problems as care of the poor, research with human subjects, and the conduct of the healing relationship. This book with the author's previous volumes, A Philosophical Basis of Medical Practice and For the Patient's Good, are part of their continuing project of developing a coherent moral philosophy of medicine.

Davidson's Principles and Practice of Medicine E-Book

Davidson's Principles and Practice of Medicine E-Book
Author: Stuart H. Ralston
Publisher: Elsevier Health Sciences
Total Pages: 1440
Release: 2018-02-02
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 0702070262

More than two million medical students, doctors and other health professionals around the globe have owned a copy of Davidson's Principles and Practice of Medicine since it was first published. Now in its 23rd Edition, this textbook describes the pathophysiology and clinical features of the most frequently encountered conditions in the major specialties of adult medicine and explains how to recognise, investigate, diagnose and manage them. Taking its origins from Sir Stanley Davidson's much-admired lecture notes, Davidson's has endured because it keeps pace with how modern medicine is taught and provides a wealth of information in an easy-to-read, concise and beautifully illustrated format. This book will serve readers everywhere as a core text that integrates medical science with clinical medicine, conveying key knowledge and practical advice in a highly accessible and readable format. - The opening section describes the fundamentals of genetics, immunology, infectious diseases and population health, and discusses the core principles of clinical decision-making and good prescribing. - A new second section on emergency and critical care medicine encompasses poisoning, envenomation and environmental medicine, and introduces a new chapter on acute medicine and critical illness. - The third section covers the major medical specialties, each thoroughly revised and brought fully up to date. Two new chapters on maternal and adolescent/transition medicine complement the one on ageing and disease. A new chapter on medical ophthalmology has been included. - Clinical Examination overviews summarise the main elements for each system and now feature in the biochemistry, nutrition and dermatology chapters. - Presenting Problems sections provide a clear pathway for the assessment of and approach to the most common complaints in each specialty. - Practice Point summaries detail the practical skills that medical students and junior doctors must acquire. - Emergency boxes emphasise the core knowledge needed to manage acutely ill patients. - In Old Age, In Pregnancy and In Adolescence boxes highlight differences in the practice of medicine in these patient groups, and illustrate the interfaces between medical, obstetric and paediatric services. - The text is extensively illustrated, with over 1000 diagrams, clinical photographs, and radiology and pathology images. - The global perspective is enhanced by an International Advisory Board of experts from 17 countries, and by authors from around the world.