Comments on: How Doctors Think – How Patients Think

By: Jackie Fox

Jackie Fox — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 16:54:55 +0000

My apologies for this off topic post but I want to correct my identity on the post from secondbasedispatch (which is me). I used my openID but typepad appropriated it and turned it into a typepad profile with no link to my blog. Worse, typepad asked me to sign up for a blog! I already have a blog!

Dr. V, maybe you can address identity confusion and online cheesiness sometime (or maybe I need to study this stuff a little more) thank you

By: Secondbasedispatch

Secondbasedispatch — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 16:44:57 +0000

Thanks for this great post, Dr. V.-I'm going to have to read both of these books. I'd sure like to hear more about the subtle tension between doctors and patients that you describe. I keep reading/hearing about the doctor-patient relationship being in trouble but that wasn't my experience when four doctors guided me through breast cancer. I trusted their considerable skills and they trusted my intelligence. They were also mindful there's a person attached to the breast.

It's easy to find out what patients think-just ask us! Or you can read our books and blogs

By: Daniel Hooker

Daniel Hooker — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 00:58:58 +0000

Thanks for your encapsulation, I've read both of these as well. Your short post sums it up perfectly.

As a health librarian, I have found both of these books to be very important in their own right, for myself in particular, to get a handle on the different types of people I interact with both as colleagues and as library users. But after reading your take, I will be hard pressed to recommend one without the other.

By: DrV

DrV — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 15:31:30 +0000

Alice – I loved both of them as well. I just found the contrast striking. I'd like to see both of them recognize the subtle tension evolving between doctor and patient. I see it materialize in the social space every day.

By: Alice Robertson

Alice Robertson — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 15:16:20 +0000

Both of these books are very good reads. I think they are two of the best out there. Dr. Groopman grabs your heart, while Goetz grabs your mind. You definitely feel empowered after reading them. I feel they go hand-and-hand to help us in navigating a system I tend to wish I didn't have to deal with (and you are right, I think Goetz is trying to help us to help ourselves, while Groopman is trying to help us understand doctors when [God forbid! ] we need them).
They are both intimidation busters for the mere mortals.