When not studying, I’m constantly reading. reflecting. learning. Listed here are some of my favorites: books that have broadened my perspectives on medicine; blogs that offer daily food for thought and inspire my own writing; and more.
if you have any further suggestions, please email or contact me on social media; I’m always in search of new sources of inspiration.
Books:
Complications: A Surgeon’s Notes on an Imperfect Science, Atul Gawande
The Creative Destruction of Medicine: How the Digital Revolution Will Create Better Health Care, Eric Topol
Critical Decisions: How You and Your Doctor Can Make the Right Medical Choices Together, Peter Ubel
The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer, Siddhartha Mukherjee
How Doctors Think, Jerome Groopman
Intern: A Doctor’s Initiation, Sandeep Jauhar
What Doctors Feel: How Emotions Affect the Practice of Medicine, Danielle Ofri
Blogs:
Physicians
Academic Life in Emergency Medicine
Medical Students
Other
Mayo Clinic Center for Innovation
Selected Articles:
“A Code Death for Dying Patients,” Jessica Nutik Zitter
“We physicians need to relearn the ancient art of dying. When planned for, death can be a peaceful, even transcendent experience. Just as a midwife devises a birth plan with her patient, one that prepares for the best and accommodates the worst, so we doctors must learn at least something about midwifing death.”
“Big Med,” Atul Gawande
“In medicine, too, we are trying to deliver a range of services to millions of people at a reasonable cost and with a consistent level of quality. Unlike the Cheesecake Factory, we haven’t figured out how. Our costs are soaring, the service is typically mediocre, and the quality is unreliable.”
“Why I Blog,” Andrew Sullivan
“As blogging evolves as a literary form, it is generating a new and quintessentially postmodern idiom that’s enabling writers to express themselves in ways that have never been seen or understood before. Its truths are provisional, and its ethos collective and messy. Yet the interaction it enables between writer and reader is unprecedented, visceral, and sometimes brutal. And make no mistake: it heralds a golden era for journalism.”
“The Darkest Year of Medical School,” Danielle Ofri
“However, there is a darker side of this transition to clinical medicine. Many of the qualities that students entered medical school with—altruism, empathy, generosity of spirit, love of learning, high ethical standards—are eroded by the end of medical training. Newly minted doctors can begin their careers jaded, self-doubting, even embittered (not to mention six figures in debt).”
“Harnessing the Power of Feedback Loops,” Thomas Goetz
“The simplicity of feedback loops is deceptive. They are in fact powerful tools that can help people change bad behavior patterns, even those that seem intractable. Just as important, they can be used to encourage good habits, turning progress itself into a reward. In other words, feedback loops change human behavior. And thanks to an explosion of new technology, the opportunity to put them into action in nearly every part of our lives is quickly becoming a reality.”
Podcasts
