How Doctors Think Summary

Skimming through the list of novels under ”Freshman Summer Reading Assignment,” I raised my eyebrows at a title, How Doctors Think. The title triggered me to think back on my senior year internship with a neurosurgeon, Dr. Daniel Lee. I shadowed him every Friday at his office and even in the operation room. Surely, each visit delighted me significantly, for such clinical and operational experiences were exceptionally limited to high school student. At the moment, I strived to learn how a doctor reads MRIs and identifies an accurate diagnosis and treatment of illnesses. After ruminating about the novel’s title, I recalled that I have never contemplated on how exactly a physician undertakes his or her duty. Since I have picked the book up from the library, How Doctors Think has influenced my perspective on medicine, as a student who aspires to become a physician and, mostly likely, a patient in need of treatment. In How Doctors Think, Dr. Jerome Groopman enlightens the readers with series of anecdotes, gathered from his personal interaction with patients and other physicians. He unravels several misconceptions and dilemmas in medicine and presents them in a manner that a layman could understand. Through candid stance, Dr. Groopman explains that doctors are liable to snap …show more content…
Groopman excels at emphasizing the need for more substantial discussion between a patient and doctor. In essence, Dr. Groopman is calling for a change in the environment of office visits. Often, many patients play an unintentionally uncooperative role in communicating with their doctors; some may show excessive passivity and overactivity, which can cause difficulty in measuring the magnitude of the malady. Therefore, a proactive, mutual communication between a doctor and a patient could facilitate the diagnosis and the treatment. Not only for the patients, but Dr. Groopman believes that physicians must also transcend beyond the mere algorithm and preconceptions to properly care for