On Becoming a Healer: The Journey from Patient Care to Caring about Your Patients

by Saul J. Weiner

Overview

An invaluable guide to becoming a competent and compassionate physician.

Medical students and physicians-in-training embark on a long journey that, although steeped in scientific learning and technical skill building, includes little guidance on the emotional and interpersonal dimensions of becoming a healer. Written for anyone in the health care community who hopes to grow emotionally and cognitively in the way they interact with patients, On Becoming a Healer explains how to foster doctor-patient relationships that are mutually nourishing.

Dr. Saul J. Weiner, a physician-educator, argues that joy in medicine requires more than idealistic aspirations--it demands a capacity to see past the "otherness" that separates the well from the sick, the professional in a white coat from the disheveled patient in a hospital gown. Weiner scrutinizes the medical school indoctrination process and explains how it molds the physician's mindset into that of a task completer rather than a thoughtful professional. Taking a personal approach, Weiner describes his own journey to becoming an internist and pediatrician while offering concrete advice on how to take stock of your current development as a physician, how to openly and fully engage with patients, and how to establish clear boundaries that help defuse emotionally charged situations.

Readers will learn how to counter judgmentalism, how to make medical decisions that take into account the whole patient, and how to incorporate the organizing principle of healing into their practice. Each chapter ends with questions for reflection and discussion to help personalize the lessons for individual learners.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781421437811
Publisher:	Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication date:	04/07/2020
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	5.80(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Saul J. Weiner, MD is a professor of medicine, pediatrics, and medical education at the University of Illinois at Chicago, the deputy director of the Veterans Health Administration's Center of Innovation for Complex Chronic Healthcare, and the cofounder of the Institute for Practice and Provider Performance Improvement (I3PI). He is the coauthor of Listening for What Matters: Avoiding Contextual Errors in Health Care.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter 1. Physician or Technician?
Chapter 2. Healing Interactions
Chapter 3. Your Personal Journey
Chapter 4. Overcoming Judgmentalism
Chapter 5. Engaging with Boundary Clarity
Chapter 6. Caring
Chapter 7. Making Medical Decisions
Chapter 8. Healers Are Realists
Chapter 9. Physician or Technician? (Revisited)
Chapter 10. Healing as an Organizing Principle
Bibliography
Index

What People are Saying About This

Kenneth I. Shine

A tour-de-force articulation of how truly engaging the patient, contextualizing care, going beyond empathy to action, exercising curiosity, defining boundaries, and eschewing judgementalism can enhance healing, increase physician satisfaction, and reduce burnout!

Ronald Epstein

Dr. Weiner's fierce, insightful, and sometimes hilarious reflections make for a must-read for health professionals, for anyone considering or going through medical training, and for those who accompany them along the way.

Paul Haidet

The dirty little secret of patient-centered care is that it challenges many norms of the medical profession. To be truly patient-centered, one needs to attend to one's own transformation. In this wisdom-filled book, Saul Weiner nails not only what it means to heal, but also how to get there.

Martha E. Gaines

This extraordinary guide for frustrated physicians is grounded in rigorous reasoning, courageous self-reflection, and a dispassionate assessment of U.S. health care. A clear and compassionate articulation of the deleterious effects of medical education, Saul calls on all physicians to return to the essence of their call to caring and healing.

Karen B. DeSalvo

In his book, Saul Weiner provides a candid and personal view on what shaped him as a human and physician and reminds us that both can coexist. The book is a much needed resource for medical educators to guide their learners as they navigate the potentially dehumanizing experience of medical training.

Danielle Ofri

An invaluable handbook for navigating the shoals and joys of becoming—and being—a physician. Weiner weaves decades of wisdom into engaging stories, offering practical strategies for combating burnout, finding joy in medicine, and doing the best for your patients.

Kurt C. Stange

This book's honest depiction of the tension between connectedness and remoteness will resonate with readers' experience while motivating and equipping them to create a different reality going forward. A compelling and very useful book full of sage advice.

Donald M. Berwick

This is a book full of wisdom and encouragement. It offers guidance to the newly developing physician and renewal to the mature, helping both to reconnect with the purpose and beauty of healing. It is an instant classic and, especially at a time when medicine can easily feel off-track, a must-read.

Sandeep Jauhar

Saul Weiner's On Becoming a Healer is an important and essential addition to the literature on the doctor-patient relationship.

Samuel Shem

From a wise doctor dedicated to a life of service, a vital and practical guide on how to be human in medicine. Filled with fascinating examples of doctor-patient connections, it goes to the core of our mission—to nourish the rising of a mutual relationship as the essence of healing.

Joseph F. O'Donnell

Brilliant. On Becoming a Healer exemplifies a transformative view of medical education. I wholeheartedly recommend this disruptive look at healing and relationships, burnout and meaning.

From the Publisher

This book's honest depiction of the tension between connectedness and remoteness will resonate with readers' experience while motivating and equipping them to create a different reality going forward. A compelling and very useful book full of sage advice.
—Kurt C. Stange, MD, PhD, Case Western Reserve University

Brilliant. On Becoming a Healer exemplifies a transformative view of medical education. I wholeheartedly recommend this disruptive look at healing and relationships, burnout and meaning.
—Joseph F. O'Donnell, MD, Emeritus Professor, Dartmouth Medical School

I deeply appreciate how self-revelatory this book is. It is an act of courage to speak frankly about how one's upbringing has shaped the person one becomes. It's also an act of courage to speak so frankly about how damaging the socialization process of medical school and training can sometimes be.
—Beth A. Lown, MD, Mount Auburn Hospital / The Schwartz Center for Compassionate Healthcare

Dr. Weiner's fierce, insightful, and sometimes hilarious reflections make for a must-read for health professionals, for anyone considering or going through medical training, and for those who accompany them along the way.
—Ronald Epstein, MD, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, author of Attending: Medicine, Mindfulness, and Humanity

A tour-de-force articulation of how truly engaging the patient, contextualizing care, going beyond empathy to action, exercising curiosity, defining boundaries, and eschewing judgementalism can enhance healing, increase physician satisfaction, and reduce burnout!
—Kenneth I. Shine, MD, Dell Medical School

An invaluable handbook for navigating the shoals and joys of becoming—and being—a physician. Weiner weaves decades of wisdom into engaging stories, offering practical strategies for combating burnout, finding joy in medicine, and doing the best for your patients.
—Danielle Ofri, MD, PhD, Bellevue Hospital, author of Doing Harm: A Doctor Confronts Medical Error

In his book, Saul Weiner provides a candid and personal view on what shaped him as a human and physician and reminds us that both can coexist. The book is a much needed resource for medical educators to guide their learners as they navigate the potentially dehumanizing experience of medical training.
—Karen B. DeSalvo, MD, MPH, MSc, former United States Acting Assistant Secretary for Health

This is a book full of wisdom and encouragement. It offers guidance to the newly developing physician and renewal to the mature, helping both to reconnect with the purpose and beauty of healing. It is an instant classic and, especially at a time when medicine can easily feel off-track, a must-read.
—Donald M. Berwick, former Administrator, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and past President/CEO, Institute for Healthcare Improvement

From a wise doctor dedicated to a life of service, a vital and practical guide on how to be human in medicine. Filled with fascinating examples of doctor-patient connections, it goes to the core of our mission—to nourish the rising of a mutual relationship as the essence of healing.
—Samuel Shem, MD, New York University School of Medicine, author of The House of God

The dirty little secret of patient-centered care is that it challenges many norms of the medical profession. To be truly patient-centered, one needs to attend to one's own transformation. In this wisdom-filled book, Saul Weiner nails not only what it means to heal, but also how to get there.
—Paul Haidet, MD, MPH, Penn State College of Medicine

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Beth A. Lown

I deeply appreciate how self-revelatory this book is. It is an act of courage to speak frankly about how one's upbringing has shaped the person one becomes. It's also an act of courage to speak so frankly about how damaging the socialization process of medical school and training can sometimes be.

Editorial Reviews

[On Becoming a Healer] offers a very common sense human discussion about the challenges we face in forming relationships with patients . . . and how we think about patient care decision-making.
--Dr. Stefan Kertesz, "The Curbsiders" Podcast

From the Publisher

[On Becoming a Healer] offers a very common sense human discussion about the challenges we face in forming relationships with patients . . . and how we think about patient care decision-making.

"The Curbsiders" Podcast - Dr. Stefan Kertesz