What Patients Taught Me : A Medical Student's Journey

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Summary: Doctor, first has to be human with a heart, in order to heal
Review: Chapter after chapter, with many touching stories throughout the Pacific Northwest and a remote African village, the young doctor/author reveals the subtle lesson that the effective doctors have the patients' interests in their hearts and minds to come up with treatment options, the patients would be willing to adopt and ultimately heal them. A primer not just for doctor-to-be, also for everyone else who has interest in well-being.

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Summary: A Must Read
Review: A medical resident recently informed me that her medical training had `robbed' her of the best years of her life. Her comment was not too perplexing at the surface, but I can't help to contrast it with the great awareness of humanity I find in Dr. Young's book. One captivating anecdote after another, Dr. Young's writing recreates for us some of the sacred vantage points on life she has received by way of approaching her patients with real humanism. The book also stands out among other medical training biographies because Dr. Young's experiences occurred in such special rural places. I loved it! There is something in here for everyone.

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Summary: Learning to Listen, Really Listen
Review: Becoming a doctor, or probably a minister, would force you to grow up a log quicker than most of us would like. This is the story of the first years of a young doctor. She certainly picked places where she would learn a lot. A year at a clinic in Swaziland would have to be educational to anyone. Through the whole book there is a tone of really caring for patients but in many cases of being not able to help.

The theme of the book, learned by Dr. Young after many trying experiences is that the best source of information is the patient. The problem is that you have to learn to listen and make sense out of what the patient says. Sometimes that is difficult. Sometimes that is what the doctor has to learn.

I think she would be a good doctor to have as your bedside.

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Summary: Warm, perceptive--a great read.
Review: Dr. Young provides some wonderful insights into the long process that produces new physicians. She engagingly relates her experiences as she was first learning her role in the doctor-patient relationship. I could hardly put it down! A wonderful book.

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Summary: A lesson for everyone
Review: Dr. Young's book is a beautiful description of the process medical students go through to become a doctor. The stories of life and, frequently, death and dying linger and pop in to one's mind throughout the day....making you appreciate each moment. A fantastic book.

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Summary: Teaching Doctors
Review: I am a general internist and public health physician by training and work in a busy county hospital emergency department. Dr. Young's book is one of the most striking and insightful accounts of physician training I have read. Refreshing in its originality, unique in its perspective, it delivers much more than one woman's journey - Dr. Young teaches us, patients and physicians alike, the essentials of doctoring the way no training program can. Riveting, wrenching, and warming, these are stories that resonate with each of us at some time in our lives. I must give this a whole-hearted endorsement. Kudos to Dr. Young.

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Summary: A Mystery Uncovered
Review: I really enjoyed this book, primarily because it explains how one goes about becoming a doctor. She let's us in on the experience of what goes on in the mind of a medical student as well as the specifics of coursework, etc. It almost makes you think that you could do this job too. Apparently, becoming a doctor has to do not only with having the brains to learn it, but having the mindset to stick it out through a grueling training period. That was the best part of it for me. She's a good story teller. The case studies are intriguing and shocking. I would want her for my doctor.