It's not the Trauma, It's the Drama: Stories by a Chicago Fire Department Paramedic


Marjorie Leigh Bomben - 2015
    Now a paramedic field chief, Bomben looks back on thirty years of service in It's Not the Trauma, It's the Drama.The twenty true stories Bomben relates are unique—all told from the point of view of a woman rising through traditionally male ranks. Bomben's tales range from funny to gory, from the dangers paramedics face to the history of a venerable old firehouse. Some, of course, are about saving lives. Others are about simply staying alive.From Bomben's first trauma call—the result of a drag race along city streets gone horribly wrong—to her eventual rise through the ranks, her tales shift seamlessly from humorous encounters to descriptions of injuries human beings shouldn't be able to endure. Through it all, It's Not the Trauma, It's the Drama offers a glimpse of the strain and risk experienced by Chicago Fire Department paramedics every day.

The First Survivors of Alzheimer's: How Patients Recovered Life and Hope in Their Own Words


Dale E. Bredesen - 2021
    In his first two books, Dr. Dale Bredesen outlined the revolutionary treatments that are changing what had previously seemed like the inevitable outcome of cognitive decline and dementia. And in these moving narratives, you can hear directly from the first survivors of Alzheimer's themselves--their own amazing stories of hope told in their own words. These first person accounts honestly detail the fear, struggle, and ultimate victory of each patient's journey. They vividly describe what it is like to have Alzheimer's. They also drill down on how each of these patients made the program work for them--the challenges, the workarounds, the encouraging results that are so motivating. Dr. Bredesen includes commentary following each story to help point readers to the tips and tricks that might help them as well.Dr. Bredesen's patients have not just survived; they have thrived to rediscover fulfilling lives, rewarding relationships, and meaningful work. This book will give unprecedented hope to patients and their families.

Life in His Hands; the True Story of a Neurosurgeon and a Pianist


Susan Wyndham - 2008
    His pioneering "keyhole" techniques have earned him praise around the world, but in his home country he is regarded by some in the profession as reckless and even dangerous. His stock in trade is "inoperable" brain tumours – those malignant cancers that others don't dare treat – and by any estimation he is incredibly successful. In over 5000 operations, he has never lost a patient on the table.He has treated the young and the old, the rich and the poor. His more famous cases have included talkback radio shock jock, Stan Zemanek, the wives of cricketers Steve Waugh and Glenn McGrath, the cancer specialist Dr Chris O'Brien, and the young classical pianist, Aaron McMillan. In 2001, at the age of 24, McMillan was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive brain tumour. He underwent 12 hours of surgery. Two days later he was back playing the piano, preparing to record and perform.Life In His Hands is the remarkable true story of a medical maverick and one of his most high-profile and tragic cases. It is a book full of heartache and hope and scientific marvels. Ultimately, it is a testament to the strength of the human spirit.

Trust Me, I'm a (Junior) Doctor


Max Pemberton - 2008
    Trust Me, I'm a (Junior) Doctor In the vein of the best 'blog books' - the real life story of a hapless junior doctor, based on his columns written anonymously for the Telegraph Full description

Health Care Reform and American Politics: What Everyone Needs to Know


Lawrence R. Jacobs - 2010
    social legislation. The new law extends health insurance to nearly all Americans, fulfilling a century-long quest and bringing the United States to parity with other industrial nations. Affordable Care aims to control rapidly rising health care costs and promises to make the United States more equal, reversing four decades of rising disparities between the very rich and everyone else. Millions of people of modest means will gain new benefits and protections from insurance company abuses - and the tab will be paid by privileged corporations and the very rich.How did such a bold reform effort pass in a polity wracked by partisan divisions and intense lobbying by special interests? What does Affordable Care mean - and what comes next? In Health Care Reform and American Politics: What Everyone Needs to Know, Lawrence R. Jacobs and Theda Skocpol--two of the nation's leading experts on politics and health care policy--provide a concise and accessible overview. They explain the political battles of 2009 and 2010, highlighting White House strategies, the deals Democrats cut with interest groups, and the impact of agitation by Tea Partiers and progressives. Jacobs and Skocpol spell out what the new law can do for everyday Americans, what it will cost, and who will pay. Above all, they explain what comes next, as critical yet often behind-the-scenes battles rage over implementing reform nationally and in the fifty states. Affordable Care might end up being weakened. But, like Social Security and Medicare, it could also gain strength and popularity as the majority of Americans learn what it can do for them.

The Shift: One Nurse, Twelve Hours, Four Patients' Lives


Theresa Brown - 2015
    In the span of twelve hours, lives can be lost, life-altering medical treatment decisions made, and dreams fulfilled or irrevocably stolen. In Brown’s skilled hands--as both a dedicated nurse and an insightful chronicler of events--we are given an unprecedented view into the individual struggles as well as the larger truths about medicine in this country, and by shift’s end, we have witnessed something profound about hope and healing and humanity. Every day, Theresa Brown holds patients' lives in her hands. On this day there are four. There is Mr. Hampton, a patient with lymphoma to whom Brown is charged with administering a powerful drug that could cure him--or kill him; Sheila, who may have been dangerously misdiagnosed; Candace, a returning patient who arrives (perhaps advisedly) with her own disinfectant wipes, cleansing rituals, and demands; and Dorothy, who after six weeks in the hospital may finally go home. Prioritizing and ministering to their needs takes the kind of skill, sensitivity, and, yes, humor that enable a nurse to be a patient’s most ardent advocate in a medical system marked by heartbreaking dysfunction as well as miraculous success.

Prayer Is Good Medicine: How to Reap the Healing Benefits of Prayer


Larry Dossey - 1996
    'With the elegance of simplicity and the precision of science, Dossey shows us how we can create a lasting partnership between faith and medicine.'DEEPACK CHOPRA, M.D.Experience the Healing Power of PrayerFrom the author of 'The New Y

HARD ROLL: A Paramedic’s Perspective of Life and Death in New Orleans


Jon McCarthy - 2017
    He chronicles some of the most formative calls of his career in this autobiography that reads like crime fiction. McCarthy demonstrates with detail and clarity that the difficult choice is often the right choice. While not for the faint of heart, each entry in this collection provides poignant insight into the bonds between medics and the people and city they serve.

I Wasn't Strong Like This When I Started Out: True Stories of Becoming a Nurse


Lee Gutkind - 2013
    Here, nurses remember their first “sticks,” first births, and first deaths, and reflect on what gets them though long, demanding shifts, and keeps them in the profession. The stories reveal many voices from nurses at different stages of their careers: One nurse-in-training longs to be trusted with more “important” procedures, while another questions her ability to care for nursing home residents. An efficient young emergency room nurse finds his life and career irrevocably changed by a car accident. A nurse practitioner wonders whether she has violated professional boundaries in her care for a homeless man with AIDS, and a home care case manager is the sole attendee at a funeral for one of her patients. What connects these stories is the passion and strength of the writers, who struggle against burnout and bureaucracy to serve their patients with skill, empathy, and strength.

Gut: The Inside Story of Our Body’s Most Underrated Organ


Giulia Enders - 2014
    Gut, an international bestseller, gives the alimentary canal its long-overdue moment in the spotlight. With quirky charm, rising science star Giulia Enders explains the gut’s magic, answering questions like: Why does acid reflux happen? What’s really up with gluten and lactose intolerance? How does the gut affect obesity and mood? Communication between the gut and the brain is one of the fastest-growing areas of medical research—on par with stem-cell research. Our gut reactions, we learn, are intimately connected with our physical and mental well-being. Enders’s beguiling manifesto will make you finally listen to those butterflies in your stomach: they’re trying to tell you something important.

The Origin of the Name of God and his True Identity - Synopsis and Translation of the Phoenician, Ugaritic, Canaanite, Sumerian, Akkadian, and Assyrian Tablets


Jean-Maximillien De La Croix de Lafayette - 2014
    

Traces: The Memoir of a Forensic Scientist and Criminal Investigator


Patricia Wiltshire - 2019
    She'll take you searching for bodies of loved ones - through woodlands, along hedgerows, field-edges, and through plantations - solving time since death, and disposal of remains, from ditches to living rooms. She will give you glimpses of her own history: her loves, her losses, and the narrow little valley in Wales where she first woke up to the wonders of the natural world. Pat will show you how her work with a microscope reveals tell-tale traces of the world around us, and how these have taken suspects of the darkest criminal activities to court.From flowers, fungi, tree trunks to car pedals, walking boots, carpets, and corpses' hair, Traces is a unique book on life, death, and one's indelible link with nature.

Nondisclosure: A Medical Thriller


Geoffrey M. Cooper - 2019
    But as fragments of memory resurface, she's brutally attacked and murdered. The conclusion is obvious, but in the absence of forensic evidence, police hit a wall—until Brad and Karen's inquiries take an unexpected turn that not only threatens their own lives, but exposes a cover-up at the highest levels of the university. Nondisclosure: A Medical Thriller takes a frightening look at a culture that promotes sexual misconduct in academic life.---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------“Geoffrey M. Cooper crafts a riveting saga of mystery, discovery, and redemption…. readers interested in medical thrillers will relish the turns taken in an engrossing story that’s hard to put down.” Midwest Book Review

To Err Is Human: Building a Safer Health System


Linda T. Kohn - 2000
    That's more than die from motor vehicle accidents, breast cancer, or AIDS--three causes that receive far more public attention. Indeed, more people die annually from medication errors than from workplace injuries. Add the financial cost to the human tragedy, and medical error easily rises to the top ranks of urgent, widespread public problems.To Err Is Human breaks the silence that has surrounded medical errors and their consequence--but not by pointing fingers at caring health care professionals who make honest mistakes. After all, to err is human. Instead, this book sets forth a national agenda--with state and local implications--for reducing medical errors and improving patient safety through the design of a safer health system.This volume reveals the often startling statistics of medical error and the disparity between the incidence of error and public perception of it, given many patients' expectations that the medical profession always performs perfectly. A careful examination is made of how the surrounding forces of legislation, regulation, and market activity influence the quality of care provided by health care organizations and then looks at their handling of medical mistakes.Using a detailed case study, the book reviews the current understanding of why these mistakes happen. A key theme is that legitimate liability concerns discourage reporting of errors--which begs the question, "How can we learn from our mistakes?"Balancing regulatory versus market-based initiatives and public versus private efforts, the Institute of Medicine presents wide-ranging recommendations for improving patient safety, in the areas of leadership, improved data collection and analysis, and development of effective systems at the level of direct patient care.To Err Is Human asserts that the problem is not bad people in health care--it is that good people are working in bad systems that need to be made safer. Comprehensive and straightforward, this book offers a clear prescription for raising the level of patient safety in American health care. It also explains how patients themselves can influence the quality of care that they receive once they check into the hospital. This book will be vitally important to federal, state, and local health policy makers and regulators, health professional licensing officials, hospital administrators, medical educators and students, health caregivers, health journalists, patient advocates--as well as patients themselves.First in a series of publications from the Quality of Health Care in America, a project initiated by the Institute of Medicine

The Real Grey's Anatomy: A Behind-The-Scenes Look at The Real Lives of Surgical Residents


Andrew Holtz - 2009
     Do surgeons talk about their sex lives while cutting a heart open? How do surgeons respond to death? How do they react when asked to save the life of an abuser, criminal, or addict? Since its debut, the ABC medical drama Grey's Anatomy has asked such questions. With an emphasis on the personal lives of the surgical interns, residents, and attending physicians, the show has generated interest in how these professionals survive this rigorous educational program. How much of its drama is entertainment, and how much is accurate? Here, a medical journalist provides answers. He examines a group of new surgical residents in the Pacific Northwest as they tackle long hours, fascinating procedures, and emotional ups and downs that comprise the life of a student of surgery.