Book pick: 'What Doctors Feel'

What Doctors Feel
What Doctors Feel
Courtesy of the publisher

Kerri's book pick this week is What Doctors Feel by writer-physician Danielle Ofri.

The book examines how doctors deal with the stress of their jobs and how emotion affects the decisions they make about their patients' care. Here's an excerpt of a review from Kirkus:

Ofri ably describes the sheer terror that can occur when an exhausted intern or resident faces a cardiac arrest or other emergency. She describes an incident in her own career in her first week as a medical consultant. After her beeper went off, she rushed to the bedside of the patient (with interns and residents crowding around waiting for her directions), and her mind temporarily blanked. She explains how the fear of making a wrong decision stalks even an experienced doctor, especially when overworked and tired. To function, they must be able to suppress their emotions without losing the empathetic doctor-patient connection that is an essential part of the healing process. However, the constant stress can lead to temporary or permanent doctor burnout.

New York Times video interview with Danielle Ofri:

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