books to read before interviews?

[brownemily22]

i think there is a thread lurking out there somewhere about this but i can't find it. does anyone have any recommendations about some books to read before going through interviews? perhaps on current issues in health care, etc?

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[wolferman]

I recommend Health Care Meltdown by Dr. Bob Lebow.

 

[SMW]

Not books, but these websites were very helpful to me last year:
http://www.publicagenda.org/
http://eduserv.hscer.washington.edu/bioethics/topics/index.html

 

[gramcracker]

Hospital - An Oral History of Cook County is an AMAZING book.

If you're looking for health policy books, these are all great PNHP's Books List

Great recommendation, wolferman! I just started the book, it's a great, easy read! (And I designed the cover, too. ) You can order it directly from Gail and Bob LeBow at http://www.healthcaremeltdown.org/, or from PNHP.

 

[mightymouseal]

Read some book on weird psych/neurology cases. They might give you something comedic to draw on if you're in a bind. Hope that helps, and doesn't offend anyone who may just have one of those odd "comedic" problems. If so, sorry in advance.

 

[cabruen]

I recommend that you read....

Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurty
The greatest western book of all-time.

The Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea by Gary Kinder
Chronicles the story of Tommy Thompson's effort to find and recover the ship USS Central America that sank in 1859 off of Cape Hateras while carrying $1 billion of gold.

Ohhh....did you mean medically related books?

 

[chypes]

The best book that I have read about medicine is "The lost art of healing" Brenard Lown MD Great book.......also...hard to find but "MD" by B.H. Kean.....specktacular....

 

[JScrusader]

Confessions of a Medicine Man by Alfred Tauber

 

[Smoke This]

Clinical Ethics by Jonson, Siegler, and Winslade.

 

[opus03]

Wow this is a great thread...I've realized recently that my greatest academic weakness is my lack of knowledge concerning literature. Thanks for all the suggestions, I am on amazon.com ordering some of them now!! Anyway I attended an AAMC meeting yesterday in San Fran and a counselor suggested reading "House of God" by Samuel Shem.....

 

[TroutBum]

A fantastic book on health policy is "Understanding Health Policy" by Bodenheimer and Grumbach. Cabruen--I think you had recommended this in a previous thread.

It's great--I understood very little about US Health Policy before reading this book and now I feel like I can at least speak somewhat intelligently about some of the health care dilemmas in this country.

 

[cabruen]

For understanding the way the healthcare system is structured and financed in the United States there is no finer or more understandable book than Understanding Health Policy by Bodenheimer and Grumbach. I believe that if you have not read this book, then you are not taking the issue of becoming a doctor seriously.

But I also believe Lonesome Dove is the greatest western tale of all time.

 

[Saluki]

Not to be negative, these are all good books, but you don't need to order a whole bunch of books unless you're just rolling in the dough. Our wonderful country has instituted a public library system, give it a try!

 

[wolferman]

Originally posted by opus03
Anyway I attended an AAMC meeting yesterday in San Fran and a counselor suggested reading "House of God" by Samuel Shem.....

I would recommend House of God too. It's a great satire on the field of medicine that every pre-med ought to read. Just don't let it bum you out too much. If you still want to practice medicine after reading it, I believe that it may be the career for you.

 

[DarkChild]

here are a couple I am reading right now:
Complications by Atul Gawande (pretty damn good)
Intern blues (someguy... and its ok, but bleak)
Just here trying to save a few lives (pretty good)
Becoming a doctor (alright good... but I dont know where he is going with it)
Beyond managed care (this book sucks... there are some good ideas but its pretty scatter brained and doesnt do a good job of either laying out arguments logically and concisely or defining its jargon. it sort of pretends to be a healthcare reader for the uninitiated, but it is far from that. )
by the way, i just saw pulp fiction for the first time... and that is a FUNNY movie. but whats the deal with the end?
i missed some parts in the beginning, but I thought travolta was killed by bruce willis?

 

[katem]

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down.

a great book about a little girl who suffers from epilepsy - her parents are Hmong immigrants, and the book goes into the difficulties that arose as a result of the language / cultural differences between the family and the doctors she saw in california.

my stanford interviewer brought it up, so i was glad i had read it. apparently it's required reading there.

 

[pshah2030]

One great book to read before applying to medical school is Tips for the Residency Match. It is written by program directors from Harvard, Yale, Hopkins, Duke, Stanford and many more and gives you a realistic picture of what life is like as a resident and attending in each field. Each specialty, ie Surgery, Dermatology is written by a program director and resident. Great to read before applying for med school.

 

[Rainbow Zebra]

Wow this is a great thread...I've realized recently that my greatest academic weakness is my lack of knowledge concerning literature. Thanks for all the suggestions, I am on amazon.com ordering some of them now!! Anyway I attended an AAMC meeting yesterday in San Fran and a counselor suggested reading "House of God" by Samuel Shem.....

I have House of God on audio tape in my car. Excellent way to use time efficiently.

Also recommend anything by Atul Gawande, Great writer

 

[jared_the_great]

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down

I'd second this one. One of my interviewers recommended it, so I bought the Kindle version and read the whole thing on my trip home from the interview.

Brings up a lot of difficult issues, especially with regard to interactions with patients (or parents of patients) who don't necessarily trust medicine or science.

 

[keevwu]

cultural competency for healthcare professionals and the healing of america

 

[pinstriped1992]

I would recommend any book by Atul Gawande. Just read "Being Mortal" which was fantastic (but a little sad). "Complications" is great too! I'm about to finish off by reading "Checkbook Manifesto" of which I've heard great things...