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There are currently 17 member reviews
for How Doctors Think
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Vera (Salem OR)
How Doctors Think
This book, while written for the layman, should be required reading for every doctor. The author uses interesting cases to illustrate the many pitfalls that can occur in a physician's thinking. The epilogue is perhaps the most helpful part of the book: questions that patients or their families can ask the doctor which may help him or her redefine the problem. Highly recommended for the general reader.
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Mercedes (Cross River NY)
A must read for every patient
This book should be given to every patient, so they can be on an equal footing and now how the system works and why it works the way it does. Well researched and explained from the inside out, it demystifies a whole area of life that all of us will have to deal with at some stage, it helps the patient understand the doctor and thus the doctor to understand the patient, and here is to understanding!
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Kathleen (Ridgewood NJ)
Insightful and enlightening
In today's labyrinth of medical care, it is critical to be an educated and involved patient. How Doctors Think is an invaluable aid in understanding how doctors arrive at an accurate diagnosis. The epilogue is particularly useful for patients and caregivers who want to be partners with their doctors in their health care.
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Peggy (North East PA)
Do Patients Think about how Doctors Think?
I never really thought that much about how doctors came to their diagnoses or conclusions. To a certain extent like my parents and grandparents, doctors have held a more than human status in my mind.
This book does not really tell me anything that logically, I could have figured out for myself, given some time and thought regarding the subject. However, it is highly unlikely that I WOULD have given the time to the subject unless facing some type of medical emergency (which, thank god, I have not had to). But it does bring the thought processes of doctors in various situations down to a more human level--and, as a result, helps me with any interactions with doctors that I may have in the future.
An easy, interesting, and sometimes disturbing and thought-provoking read.
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Julie (Fort Myers FL)
How Doctors Think
A very readable account of how doctors form the medical diagnoses that they do and ways that we, as patients, can help. The real-life cases are fascinating, and I appreciated the fact that they all pretty much had happy endings. This book proved to be a real mind opener into the critical thinking skills that doctors must employ. Only once or twice did the author lose me in medical details. My favorite parts of the book were the real-life patients and how eventually their medical mysteries were resolved by physicians who listened to their patients.
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Elizabeth (Des Moines IA)
Interesting and informative
How Doctors Think is an interesting examination of the ways in which doctors arrive at medical diagnosis. By explaining the methods students are taught to use when dealing with patients, Groopman illustrates how misdiagnoses can occur, and steps doctors and patients can take to avoid them.
Groopman uses real case studies to demonstrate the many ways doctors good intentions can go wrong. In the initial chapters, he also offers suggestions to lay people about how to ask questions that can direct doctors to different ways of thinking. Towards the end of the book, however, he seems to be focusing more specifically on doctors themselves, and the advice for the patient is omitted. I found the book to be interesting and informative, with some good suggestions to take to my next doctor's appointment.
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Rosemary (San Antonio TX)
How Doctors Think
This is a must read for anyone who is dealing with a health problem or knows of someone who doesn't feel that they have been properly diagnosed. The author describes the forces and thought processes behind the decisions doctors make, often driven by the fear of failure, pressure from insurance and pharmaceutical companies, patient overload, and money.
The book cites examples describing why some doctors succeed and others err, but also shows how we can help doctors avoid snap judgments, acknowledge uncertainty, communicate effectively and deploy other skills that can impact our health. Most informative was the ways in which we, the patient, can help the physician look "outside the box" when a diagnosis doesn't seem to fit us or a loved one.
I found the book very informative and feel that it has given me an insight in how to communicate better with my doctor and also ask the right questions should the need arise.
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