Hot Lights, Cold Steel: Life, Death and Sleepless Nights in a Surgeon's First Years


Michael J. Collins - 2005
    A natural overachiever, Collins' success, in college and medical school led to a surgical residency at one of the most respected medical centers in the world, the famed Mayo Clinic. But compared to his fellow residents Collins feels inadequate and unprepared. All too soon, the euphoria of beginning his career as an orthopedic resident gives way to the feeling he is a counterfeit, an imposter who has infiltrated a society of brilliant surgeons.This story of Collins' four-year surgical residency traces his rise from an eager but clueless first-year resident to accomplished Chief Resident in his final year. With unparalleled humor, he recounts the disparity between people's perceptions of a doctor's glamorous life and the real thing: a succession of run down cars that are towed to the junk yard, long weekends moonlighting at rural hospitals, a family that grows larger every year, and a laughable income.Collins' good nature helps him over some of the rough spots but cannot spare him the harsh reality of a doctor's life. Every day he is confronted with decisions that will change people's lives-or end them-forever. A young boy's leg is mangled by a tractor: risk the boy's life to save his leg, or amputate immediately? A woman diagnosed with bone cancer injures her hip: go through a painful hip operation even though she has only months to live? Like a jolt to the system, he is faced with the reality of suffering and death as he struggles to reconcile his idealism and aspiration to heal with the recognition of his own limitations and imperfections.Unflinching and deeply engaging, Hot Lights, Cold Steel is a humane and passionate reminder that doctors are people too. This is a gripping memoir, at times devastating, others triumphant, but always compulsively readable.

Clinical Pharmacology Made Ridiculously Simple


James M. Olson - 1991
    Includes tables to compare different agents within a given class of drugs. For use as a review for Boards, self-testing, or reference. Previous edition: c1997.

The House of God


Samuel Shem - 1978
    Six eager interns—they saw themselves as modern saviors-to-be.   They came from the top of their medical school class  to the bottom of the hospital staff to serve a  year in the time-honored tradition, racing to answer  the flash of on-duty call lights and nubile  nurses. But only the Fat Man—the Clam, all-knowing resident—could sustain them in their struggle to survive, to stay sane, to love and even to be doctors when their harrowing year was done.

What I Learned in Medical School: Personal Stories of Young Doctors


Kevin M. Takakuwa - 2003
    Difficult as the regimen may be, for those who don't fit the traditional mold—white, male, middle-to-upper class, and heterosexual—medical school can be that much more harrowing. This riveting book tells the tales of a new generation of medical students—students whose varied backgrounds are far from traditional. Their stories will forever alter the way we see tomorrow's doctors. In these pages, a black teenage mother overcomes seemingly insurmountable odds, an observant Muslim dons the hijab during training, an alcoholic hides her addiction. We hear the stories of an Asian refugee, a Mexican immigrant, a closeted Christian, an oversized woman—these once unlikely students are among those who describe their medical school experiences with uncommon candor, giving a close-up look at the inflexible curriculum, the pervasive competitive culture, and the daunting obstacles that come with being "different" in medical school. Their tales of courage are by turns poignant, amusing, eye-opening—and altogether unforgettable.

Kaplan & Sadock's Synopsis of Psychiatry: Behavioral Sciences/Clinical Psychiatry


Benjamin James Sadock - 1988
    This complete, concise overview of the entire field of psychiatry is a staple board review text for psychiatry residents and is popular with a broad range of students in medicine, clinical psychology, social work, and occupational therapy. This edition includes new chapters on health care delivery systems and end-of-life care and palliative medicine. Coverage of psychotropic drugs and neuropsychiatric foundations of biological psychiatry has been significantly updated. The book is DSM-IV-TR compatible and replete with case studies and tables, including ICD-10 diagnostic coding tables.

Fundamentals of Biochemistry: Life at the Molecular Level


Donald Voet - 1998
    It is written to impart a sense of intellectual history of biochemistry, an understanding of the tools and approaches used to solve biochemical puzzles, and a hint of the excitement that accompanies new discoveries. This edition has been thoroughly updated to reflect the most recent advances in biochemistry, particularly in the areas of genomics and structural biology. A new chapter focuses on cytoskeletal and motor proteins, currently one of the most active areas of research in biochemistry.

Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science


Atul Gawande - 2002
    Complications lays bare a science not in its idealized form but as it actually is--uncertain, perplexing, and profoundly human.Complications is a 2002 National Book Award Finalist for Nonfiction.

The Psychiatric Interview: A Practical Guide (Practical Guides in Psychiatry)


Daniel J. Carlat - 1999
    With this practical, how-to handbook, you'll examine each aspect of the psychiatric interview in detail. Your journey begins with the general principles essential to effective interviewing including techniques for approaching threatening topics, improving patient recall, and dealing with challenging patients. The sections that follow show you how to obtain the psychiatric history, interview for diagnosis, and interview for treatment.The Practical Guides in Psychiatry series provides quick, concise information for professionals on the front lines of mental health care. Written in an easy-to-read, conversational style, these invaluable resources take you through each step of the psychiatric care process, delivering fast facts and helpful strategies that help you provide effective and compassionate care to your patients."Make" The Psychiatric Interview "your bridge to understanding."Useful appendices include data forms, patient education handouts, and other frequently referenced information in a format that's easy to photocopy. Handy pocket cards that accompany the book provide a portable, quick-reference to often needed facts."NEW to the Second Edition..."Updated chapters on the major psychiatric disorders to help you refine your diagnostic skills. New chapters on Techniques for the Malingering Patient and Assessing Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. New Clinical Vignettes let you see the basic components of the psychiatric interview in action.When you're at the forefront of mental health care, let this practical handbook show you how to make the most of the psychiatric interview. Order your copy today."

Letters to a Young Doctor (Art of Mentoring)


Perri Klass - 2007
    or House, or been absorbed by a piece in The New Yorker by Gawande, Groopman, or Nuland, or sat on that exam table wondering what's really going on in your doctor's head, then this book is for you. Expertise versus commonsense practice; moral judgments on young patients or their parents; asking tough questions; death and physician-assisted suicide; daily life with a doctor's job (yours or a family member's); doctors as patients- Klass addresses the primary issues in the life of any doctor and, by extension, the lives of those for whom they care. Perri Klass, M.D., is a writer, teacher, pediatrician, and mentor. In her frequent contributions to the New York Times, she takes on a host of issues particular to the life of a doctor-secrecy, ethics, fear, grief, and competition-with a warmth and wit her readers have come to love. Now, in the newest addition to Basic's Art of Mentoring Series, she offers her guidance, and her stories, to a new generation of doctors and readers.

Medical School: Stumbling Through with Amnesia (Playing Doctor, #1)


John Lawrence - 2020
    Those manic blogs from the hospital wards during under-slept call nights (which left a few friends wondering if he had invaded the hospital pharmacy) were the genesis for this book, Playing Doctor. This is a journey through medical training as interpreted by someone who told their college career advisor that the only thing they did not want to be was a doctor-not that medical schools want you believing their training was interpretive, like a modern dance company's version of Grey's Anatomy-and started school with a traumatic brain injury. This entertaining, heartfelt demystification of medical school via the confusion that seemed to litter John's medical trail, takes readers along the studies and clinical wards that miraculously teach students how to care for patients. The follow up books cover residency.

Everything I Learned in Medical School: Besides All the Book Stuff


Sujay M. Kansagra - 2011
    Join the author as he takes you through his four years at Duke University Medical School. Relive the exhilarating, the strange, the uplifting, and the frightening experiences that taught him everything he learned in medical school...besides all the book stuff, of course.

Human Physiology


Stuart Ira Fox - 2007
    The beginning chapters introduce basic chemical and biological concepts to provide students with the framework they need to comprehend physiological principles. The chapters that follow promote conceptual understanding rather than rote memorization of facts. Health applications are included throughout the book to heighten interest, deepen understanding of physiological concepts, and help students relate the material to their individual career goals. Every effort has been made to help students integrate related concepts and understand the relationships between anatomical structures and their functions.

Williams Obstetrics


John Whitridge Williams - 1905
    It features maternal and fetal health care and presents diagnostic ultrasound images.

How the Immune System Works (How It Works)


Lauren M. Sompayrac - 1999
    Written in the same offbeat, "lecture-style" you're familiar with, the second edition provides a perfect introduction to the essential principles of the immune system, covered in 9 humorous but highly informative "lectures." Perfect as exam-prep review or an enjoyable overview of a difficult subject. This revised edition features: - New updates on the Pathophysiology of immunology - System-based approach that examines immunology as a system - Unique and engaging style for quick and easy learning

Human Anatomy


Michael McKinley - 2005
    This book contains student-friendly Study Tips, Clinical View boxes, and progressive question sets to motivate students to internalize and apply what they've learned.