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Medical Fiction and Non-Fiction

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volvotom
Posts: 2045 - Karma: 712
Anyone who is anyone must Read The House of God by Samuel Shem, it is satire on life in a hospital but is also in many ways quite accurate.

Atul Gawande also has several books which are interesting among them: Better and The Checklist Manifesto.
Feb 17 2013 7:33PM
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jib_kid_01
Posts: 248 - Karma: 10
I've read the House of God once and you've inspired me to re-read it. Definitely a must read for anyone going in to medicine.
Feb 19 2013 11:40PM
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reBlocke
Posts: 762 - Karma: 1,502
Nonfiction: My Own Country - Abraham Verghese. http://www.amazon.com/My-Own-Country-Doctors-Story/dp/0679752927 . He's better known for his fiction book Cutting for Stone, but I thought that My Own Country was more powerful. It's about his experience as a rural Tennessee doc during the beginning of the HIV epidemic. It centers around his experiences w/ marginalized patients and the isolation that results from associating with patients that the community doesn't accept.

Also, he's kind of a big deal in healthcare in general at the moment, so it's always nice to know where he's coming from (http://www.ted.com/talks/abraham_verghese_a_doctor_s_touch.html)
Feb 20 2013 6:06PM
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Edward.
Posts: 9366 - Karma: 445
I've heard many great things about The House of God so I bought it over winter break. I put that on hold til spring break though because I'd rather focus more on my grades for now.

Atul Gawande's books are very enticing. I've read Better and Complications. The only thing is that I can't really relate to a lot of what he talks about so I wish I could've put those books on hold until the day I'm officially working (or at least training) to become whatever it is I end up doing in the healthcare field.

Mountains Beyond Mountains was a great read as well. The author follows Paul Farmer around for a while and it shows how altruistic and ambitious of a person he really is, devoting his life to treating people in Haiti, Russia, Cuba, Peru, Boston, etc

I also just recently read The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. Pretty interesting read for anyone who has worked with HeLa cells in their life before
Feb 26 2013 10:11PM
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volvotom
Posts: 2045 - Karma: 712
Paul Farmer is a boss. I read a lot of his research for my Healthcare-based Anthropology class in under-grad. He was about the most interesting medical anthropologist we read.


Feb 26 2013 11:16PM
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Edward.
Posts: 9366 - Karma: 445
theres nothing the man cant do. he grew up living in a freaking school bus with his family at one point in his life, went to duke on a full scholarship, and was constantly going back and forth from boston to haiti while pursuing his md/phd at harvard
Feb 27 2013 1:53AM
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