Becoming a Doctor: From Student to Specialist, Doctor-Writers Share Their Experiences

( 2 )

All Available Formats + Editions

——

$14.82

NOOK Book

——

$14.82

Becoming a Doctor: From Student to Specialist, Doctor-Writers Share Their Experiences (eBook) Pub. Date: 3/1/2010 Publisher: Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
$9.13

$15.95

Paperback

$9.13

$15.95

Becoming a Doctor: From Student to Specialist, Doctor-Writers Share Their Experiences (Reprint) Pub. Date: 7/11/2011 Publisher: Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
$5.44

$18.50

Hardcover

$5.44

$18.50

Becoming a Doctor: From Student to Specialist, Doctor-Writers Share Their Experiences Pub. Date: 3/1/2010 Publisher: Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.

Customers Who Bought This Also Bought

Advertising

Overview

In this poignant collection, doctors who are writers (and vice versa) relate their real-life journeys from intern to specialist, student to teacher, reflecting on the rewards, disillusionments, and triumphs encountered along the way. Featuring a wide array of distinguished voices, including Peter Kramer, Kay Redfield Jamison, Robert Coles, Lauren Slater, Sandeep Jauhar, and Perri Klass, these original stories create a vivid mural of the medical world and provide invaluable insight for both doctors in training and longtime physicians. Becoming a Doctor portrays the broad arc of a doctor’s life, from a medical student’s uneasy first encounter with a cadaver and her realization that the experience’s redemption will lie ahead in the lives saved, to a resident’s reliance on dance during her grueling year in an inner-city hospital, and a veteran doctor’s profound ruminations on what it means to really listen to a patient’s story.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

Here’s the invaluable insight patients so often miss from doctors —revelations that expose the person underneath the white coat as not just capable but vulnerable and all too human. Gutkind, founder of the journal Creative Nonfiction and editor of numerous volumes of creative nonfiction, selects 19 men and women who bravely, and often lyrically, demonstrate that they are “ordinary people engaged in an extraordinary profession.” Perri Klass explains why she tries to teach her medical students that “clinical medicine is all about stories.” Zaldy S. Tan writes of how helping a beloved and very ill grandmother cured him of the smugness residents feel toward elderly patients. And Abigail Zuger discovered an unruly, demanding patient was suddenly compliant “all because I once treated her like a person, not a patient.” In their stories, each physician confirms one simple, powerful truth, as noted by Pulitzer Prize–winner Robert Coles: it is “important to be a scientist who knows how to listen, how to think, and how to express himself as clearly as possible.” (Mar.)

Library Journal

Gutkind (writing, Arizona State Univ.) has amassed a collection of essays by doctors who are also writers, e.g., Perri Klass, Danielle Ofri, and Sandeep Jauhar. These and others give readers a glimpse into the lives of medical professionals at various stages of their career. In one story, first-year resident Chris Stookey faces malpractice and must come to terms with how he could be sued by a patient whom he saw only briefly. In another, pediatric primary-care doctor Klass describes her work teaching first-year medical students how to interact with and interview patients so they can learn what a remarkable privilege it is to gain access into people's lives. Kay Jamison describes how being diagnosed with bipolar disorder changed her career path from becoming a doctor to finding a new interest in psychology. VERDICT Medical students and medical professionals will enjoy these perspectives on their profession; they will likely encounter or have encountered many of the obstacles narrated.—Dana Ladd, Community Health Education Ctr., Virginia Commonwealth Univ. Libs. & Virginia Commonwealth Univ. Health Syst., Richmond

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780393071566
Publisher: Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date: 3/1/2010
Pages: 228
Sales rank: 838,739
Product dimensions: 6.20 (w) x 9.30 (h) x 1.00 (d)

Meet the Author

Lee Gutkind is the founder and editor of the literary journal Creative Nonfiction and a pioneer in the field of narrative nonfiction. Gutkind is also the editor of In Fact and Becoming a Doctor, the author of Almost Human, and has written books about baseball, health care, travel, and technology. A Distinguished Writer in Residence at Arizona State University, he lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Tempe, Arizona.

Introduction Writing About Doctors Lee Gutkind Gutkind, Lee

Intern Sayantani DasGupta DasGupta, Sayantani 1

Pas de Deux Danielle Ofri Ofri, Danielle 9

First in My Class Chris Stookey Stookey, Chris 25

The Patient Narrative Perri Klass Klass, Perri 39

The Family Room Teri Reynolds Reynolds, Teri 51

On Not Becoming a Doctor Kay Redfield Jamison Jamison, Kay Redfield 59

Magic Hands Thomas C. Gibbs Gibbs, Thomas C. 69

On Working with Cadavers Marion Bishop Bishop, Marion 79

Going to Abilene Elissa Ely Ely, Elissa 97

Sine Qua Non Peter D. Kramer Kramer, Peter D. 103

The Doctor in Middle Age Charles Bardes Bardes, Charles 111

A Doctor of None Zaldy S. Tan Tan, Zaldy S. 125

Good Intentions Sandeep Jauhar Jauhar, Sandeep 135

En Route Abigail Zuger Zuger, Abigail 143

A Fire, Deliberately Set Peggy Sarjeant Sarjeant, Peggy 153

Thirty Minutes Closer Leah E. Mintz Mintz, Leah E. 171

The Cleverest Doctor Clint Morehead Morehead, Clint 181

A Manner of Being Robert Coles Coles, Robert 197

Knock Knock Lauren Slater Slater, Lauren 203

Contributor Notes 223

Customer Reviews

Average Rating 5

( 2 )

Rating Distribution

5 Star

(2)

4 Star

(0)

3 Star

(0)

2 Star

(0)

1 Star

(0)

Your Rating:

Review Guidelines

Tell the world what you think of this product.

Add Recommendations

Your Name: Create a Pen Name or Leave Anonymously

Barnes & Noble.com Review Rules

Our reader reviews allow you to share your comments on titles you liked, or didn't, with others. By submitting an online review, you are representing to Barnes & Noble.com that all information contained in your review is original and accurate in all respects, and that the submission of such content by you and the posting of such content by Barnes & Noble.com does not and will not violate the rights of any third party. Please follow the rules below to help ensure that your review can be posted.

Reviews by Our Customers Under the Age of 13

We highly value and respect everyone's opinion concerning the titles we offer. However, we cannot allow persons under the age of 13 to have accounts at BN.com or to post customer reviews. Please see our Terms of Use for more details.

What to exclude from your review:

Please do not write about reviews, commentary, or information posted on the product page. If you see any errors in the information on the product page, please send us an email.

Reviews should not contain any of the following:

- HTML tags, profanity, obscenities, vulgarities, or comments that defame anyone
- Time-sensitive information such as tour dates, signings, lectures, etc.
- Single-word reviews. Other people will read your review to discover why you liked or didn't like the title. Be descriptive.
- Comments focusing on the author or that may ruin the ending for others
- Phone numbers, addresses, URLs
- Pricing and availability information or alternative ordering information
- Advertisements or commercial solicitation

Reminder:

- By submitting a review, you grant to Barnes & Noble.com and its sublicensees the royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable right and license to use the review in accordance with the Barnes & Noble.com Terms of Use.
- Barnes & Noble.com reserves the right not to post any review -- particularly those that do not follow the terms and conditions of these Rules. Barnes & Noble.com also reserves the right to remove any review at any time without notice.
- See Terms of Use for other conditions and disclaimers.

Anonymous

Posted February 16, 2010

Enlightening and Helpful

I loved this book. I found it comprehensive and useful to understand what it means to become a doctor. I think that it might also be a good read for all those people who want to understand better their physicians. I think it gives everyone a real appreciation of the medical profession and what it means to become a doctor.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.
Anonymous

Posted July 13, 2010

No text was provided for this review.

If you find inappropriate content, please report it to Barnes & Noble