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At a time of great change in the technology and delivery of medical care, the timelessness and permanence of the non-technical aspects of medicine-the human side-are of profound value to patients and physicians alike. With more than 30 years of medical practice, teaching, advising, and mentoring medical students and undergraduates, Savett champions two premises: first, that the importance of physicians mastering the human side of medicine is as critical as learning its biology and technology; and second, that this can be taught. Attending to the human side refines diagnosis and treatment by recognizing the uniqueness of each patient's experience, and it enriches the experience for all those in the caring professions. Physicians who have always put their patients' interests first and never compromised their professional values have preserved their identity, vitality, and enthusiasm as caring doctors. This is a book about what keeps the practice of medicine stimulating: not fascinating cases, but fascinating people and relationships, the best reasons to enter medicine.
Learning the human side of medicine, asserts Savett, will help attract talented and compassionate people to the field. Full of stories and lessons, ^IThe Human Side of Medicine^R is important reading for those considering a career in medicine and related professions, those already practicing-and patients.
List of contents
Introduction: Defining the Human Side of Medicine and Identifying the Audience
What It's Like to Be a PatientMedical Care Starts with the Patients' Story
Learning from End-of-Life Stories
Time
Learning from Patients' Experiences
Learning from Students' Experiences
Learning about Uncertainty
Learning How Patients Handle Illness
What It's Like to Be a PhysicianA Day in the Life of a Physician
The Medical History
Diagnosis: How Physicians Reason
Treatment and Prognosis
Medicine Is a Collaborative Profession
Rituals
Language and Communication
What Can Go Wrong
The Physician as Professional
Values and Dealing with Change
Becoming a Physician: The Evolution of a Career
The Doctor-Patient RelationshipThe Qualities of the Doctor-Patient Relationship
What Can Go Wrong with the Doctor-Patient Relationship
Addressing Some of the Myths about the Doctor-Patient Relationship
The Humanism of Medicine: Bringing It All TogetherAnother Look at a Day in the Life of a Physician
Teaching the Human Side of MedicineSumming UpFashioning the Best System of Medical Care Possible: What Would Be Ideal for the Patient, What Would Be Ideal for the Physician
Epilogue and My Personal Journey
Appendix: Outline of the "Seminar in the Human Side of Medicine" Course at Macalester College
Bibliography
Index
About the author
LAURENCE A. SAVETT, M.D. practiced primary care internal medicine in Gloucester, Massachusetts, and St. Paul, Minnesota, for 30 years. Dr. Savett teaches about the psychological and social dimensions of medicine and the doctor-patient relationship at the University of Minnesota Medical School, where he is Clinical Professor of Medicine, and at Macalester College and the University of St. Thomas, where he helps advise pre-medical students and other pre-health professional students. He has served on the admissions committee of the University of Minnesota Medical School and the board of the Central Region of the National Association of Advisors for the Health Professions. He is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians.
