Pre-Interview Reading List

[Decicco]

Like many pre-meds, I do not understand the healthcare system or medical ethics. I want brush up on these things before interviews and thought that this would be a good place where people can post book titles/internet sites that can give people like myself a concise, but substantive understanding of these things.

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[menotyou7]

Great idea! I'll be interested to see what comes up.

 

[LossForWords]

Anything by Ayn Rand should give you a good idea of how doctors should relate to unproductive members of society.

 

[fioric2]

SDN's medical admission guide suggests "Resolving Ethical Dilemmas: A Guide for Clinicians" by Bernard Lo

A few good books I've read (can't remember authors):

"Body of Knowledge" about a semester of gross anatomy at New Jersey's Medical School

"Body of Work" another about gross anatomy

"Singular Intimacies" by Ofri about becoming a doctor at Bellevue at NYC

Congratulations on the interview invite!

 

[PanicAttack]

House of God
Demanding Medical Excellence

 

[amph119]

"Treatment Kind and Fair" is pretty good. Read it cover to cover on the plane to New York last month.

 

[Nikhil72]

"Treatment Kind and Fair" is pretty good. Read it
cover to cover on the plane to New York last month.

I second this one...Dr. Klass came to speak to my Medical Ethics class this past year and the book was assigned reading; it was one of the more motivational, informative, and funny medically-related books I have read. And she's an incredible person too, extremely funny, earnest, and pleasantly neurotic.

 

[EpiPEN]

House of God

might not be the best read in preparation for the interview

 

[Decicco]

I found the perfect book on medical ethics: Cases in Bioethics by Crigger
I also bought "Essentials of the US Health Care System" by Shi and Singh. I think the first few chapter in this will suffice

 

[Calf]

The one I'm reading is called "Intervention and Reflection: Basic Issues in Medical Ethics," by Munsen, which I think is pretty good.

 

[Green Grass]

Just use the internet for searching medical ethics questions. I also read a large scale newspaper leading up to my interviews, just in case any big health news questions were asked.

 

[Jersey87]

Definitely read the Science Times of the NYTimes each Tuesday. Also, you might want to read the healthcare proposals of the presidential candidates.

 

[ScienceJunkie]

How We Die- by a Yale surgeon, good insights

The Secret War on Cancer- took the author, an NIH scientist, 20 years to research. chilling.

Life's Dominion- redefining the principles behind our screwed up treatment of abortion and euthanasia

Our Posthuman Future (Francis Fukuyama)- Fukuyama, a neoconservative (he claims to have distanced himself), provides an interesting but easily debatable outlook on the role of biotech for our future.

 

[Decicco]

Our Posthuman Future (Francis Fukuyama)- Fukuyama, a neoconservative (he claims to have distanced himself), provides an interesting but easily debatable outlook on the role of biotech for our future.

As far as biotech, read "The Singularity is Near" by Ray Kurzweil. Don't plan on it helping at an interview though.

 

[waterlilly]

I took an intro to healthcare class and I still have my notes...it basically summerizes the history/current state of healthcare. Feel free to pm me and I'll email it to you...it's about 9 pages long.

 

[azuldelcielo]

The one I'm reading is called "Intervention and Reflection: Basic Issues in Medical Ethics," by Munsen, which I think is pretty good.

This is the book that was used in my medical ethics course. It was pretty good...outside of the fact that there was no index.

 

[theroadtomed]

Definitely read the Science Times of the NYTimes each Tuesday. Also, you might want to read the healthcare proposals of the presidential candidates.

Really? I'm always disappointed with the nytimes science/health section. It simply lacks any depth in my opinion. The Economist's health/science is much, much better, and it's intended audience is more apt for those going into medicine I think. Nytimes tends to write their articles to be readable to the lowest common denominator. No offense meant, just my opinion.

 

[nsx]

Reading is good, but well-reasoned answers trump parroted info every time...don't forget to synthesize that s**t.

You don't have to be an expert when ethics questions pop up, as long as you're able to quickly find logical, cogent reasons for opinions often rooted in sentiment.