How Doctors Think

A groundbreaking, profound view of twenty-first-century medical practice, giving doctors and patients the vital information they need to make better judgments together. On average, a physician will interrupt a patient describing her symptoms within eighteen seconds. In that short time, many doctors decide on the likely diagnosis and best treatment. Often, decisions made this way are correct, but at crucial moments they can also be wrong--with catastrophic consequences. In this revolutionary book, Jerome Groopman pinpoints the forces and thought processes behind the decisions doctors make, offering direct, intelligent questions patients can ask their doctors to help them get back on track. Drawing on extensive interviews with some of the country's best doctors and Groopman's own experiences as a doctor and as a patient, How Doctors Think reveals an important approach to twenty-first-century medical practice, giving doctors and patients a way to make better judgments together.

A groundbreaking, profound view of twenty-first-century medical practice, giving doctors and patients the vital information they need to make better judgments together. On average, a physician will interrupt a patient describing her symptoms within eighteen seconds. In that short time, many doctors decide on the likely diagnosis and best treatment. Often, decisions made this way are correct, but at crucial moments they can also be wrong--with catastrophic consequences. In this revolutionary book, Jerome Groopman pinpoints the forces and thought processes behind the decisions doctors make, offering direct, intelligent questions patients can ask their doctors to help them get back on track. Drawing on extensive interviews with some of the country's best doctors and Groopman's own experiences as a doctor and as a patient, How Doctors Think reveals an important approach to twenty-first-century medical practice, giving doctors and patients a way to make better judgments together.

How Doctors Think defines the nature and importance of clinical judgment. Although physicians make use of science, this book argues that medicine is not itself a science but rather an interpretive practice that relies on clinical reasoning. A physician looks at the patient's history along with the presenting physical signs and symptoms and juxtaposes these with clinical experience and empirical studies to construct a tentative account of the illness. How Doctors Think is divided into four parts. Part one introduces the concept of medicine as a practice rather than a science; part two discusses the idea of causation; part three delves into the process of forming clinical judgment; and part four considers clinical judgment within the uncertain nature of medicine itself. In How Doctors Think, Montgomery contends that assuming medicine is strictly a science can have adverse side effects, and suggests reducing these by recognizing the vital role of clinical judgment. "This is a book that will be read with pleasure by anyone interested in how medicine is done and it is a book that should be required reading for all students starting their clinical training."--Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine "Montgomery has certainly written a piece that will stimulate people to think more deeply about medical and wider health professional practice. It is a text I will recommend to students and colleagues."--PsycCRITIQUES

How Doctors Think defines the nature and importance of clinical judgment. Although physicians make use of science, this book argues that medicine is not itself a science but rather an interpretive practice that relies on clinical reasoning. A physician looks at the patient's history along with the presenting physical signs and symptoms and juxtaposes these with clinical experience and empirical studies to construct a tentative account of the illness. How Doctors Think is divided into four parts. Part one introduces the concept of medicine as a practice rather than a science; part two discusses the idea of causation; part three delves into the process of forming clinical judgment; and part four considers clinical judgment within the uncertain nature of medicine itself. In How Doctors Think, Montgomery contends that assuming medicine is strictly a science can have adverse side effects, and suggests reducing these by recognizing the vital role of clinical judgment. "This is a book that will be read with pleasure by anyone interested in how medicine is done and it is a book that should be required reading for all students starting their clinical training."--Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine "Montgomery has certainly written a piece that will stimulate people to think more deeply about medical and wider health professional practice. It is a text I will recommend to students and colleagues."--PsycCRITIQUES