Synopsis
In Let Me Heal, prize-winning author Kenneth M. Ludmerer provides the first-ever account of the residency system for training doctors in the United States and by tracing its evolution, explores how the residency system is of fundamental importance to the health of the nation. In the making of a doctor, the residency system represents the dominant formative influence. It is during the three to nine years spent in residency that doctors come of professional age, acquiring the knowledge and skills of their specialty or subspecialty, forming a professional identify, and developing habits, behaviors, attitudes, and values that last a professional lifetime. Let Me Heal examines all dimensions of the residency system: historical evolution, educational principles, moral underpinnings, financing and administration, and cultural components. It focuses on the experience of being a resident, on how that experience has changed over time, and on how well the residency system is fulfilling its obligation to produce outstanding doctors. Most importantly, it analyzes the mutual relationship between residency education and patient care in America. The book shows that the quality of residency training ultimately depends on the quality of patient care that residents observe, but that there is much that residency training can do to produce doctors who practice in a better, more affordable fashion., This insightful, engaging the history of US graduate medical education explores the social and moral value of physician training to society as a whole and how improving excellence in GME can stimulate and guide meaningful health care reform
Product Identifiers
ISBN-10 0199744548
ISBN-13 9780199744541
Key Details
Author Kenneth M. Ludmerer
Number Of Pages 440 pages
Format Hardcover
Publication Date 2014-10-01
Language English
Publisher Oxford University Press, Incorporated
Publication Year 2014
Additional Details
Copyright Date 2014
Dimensions
Weight 24.7 Oz
Height 1.4 In.
Width 6.5 In.
Length 9.3 In.
Target Audience
Group Trade
Classification Method
LCCN 2014-004264
LC Classification Number R840
Dewey Decimal 610.71550973
Dewey Edition 23
Reviews
Reviews "This thoughtful scholarly treatise on the residency, the most influential learning period for young physicians, is a major contribution to our understanding of how America produces its physician workforce. It notes the educational, scientific, economic, social, legal, ethical, and political influences which produce tensions and conflicts in the training experience. Dr. Ludmerer provides a platform for examining these influences and he proposes ways for the learning environment to be more flexible, while maintaining high standards and the professionalism we all want to retain in our nation's physicians. I heartily recommend this superb book to all who are interested in our nation's healthcare system." Louis W. Sullivan, MD, President Emeritus, Morehouse School of Medicine, US Secretary of Health and Human Services, 1989-1993"In engaging and compelling prose, Kenneth Ludmerer vividly chronicles and insightfully analyzes the medical and social history of the residency phase of American medical education. Based on rich observational and documentary data, he brilliantly evaluates the achievements, tensions, and shortcomings of the residency system. Let Me Heal, the entreaty that he chose for the book's title, has contemporary as well as historic significance. It is associated withLudmerer's stirring analysis of how the present-day struggles with patient care and health care delivery in the United States create challenges for good medical education, and of how the residencysystem can contribute to making medical care better and more affordable. This landmark book should be ready by all who are concerned with medical education and patient care in America." Renee C. Fox Annenberg Professor Emerita of the Social Sciences University of Pennsylvania"The complete fascinating story of the graduate education of US physicians, its 19th century origins, its 20th century glories, and now its threatened decline in the hands of a commercialized hospital industry and a for-profit health system. A compelling read that all who would understand our health care problems will enjoy, and a masterful study sure to become the definitive reference in its field. Another notable contribution by Ludmerer to the history ofmedical education and its relation to contemporary society." Arnold S. Relman, MD, Professor Emeritusof Medicine and of Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School, and former Editor-in-Chief, The New England Journal of Medicine"Let Me Heal is an eye-opening analysis of residency training and a wonderful exploration of its evolution. This third book in Ludmerer's trilogy on American medicine is a tour de force. I would consider it an indispensable resource for anyone seeking to understand medical education and for those with a stake in what the future might hold." Abraham Verghese, MD Profesor of Medicine, Stanford University Author of Cutting For Steone"We ... consider this book an invaluable contribution to the field and encourage everyone involved with residency training to read it." --Editors, Journal of Graduate Medical Education"This book represents an important contribution to our understanding of the history and current state of American residency education and of ers a strong foundation for future research." -- Science Magazine"This latest text should be required reading for every individual interested or involved in graduate medical education." -- The American Journal of MedicineFeatured in The New York Review of BooksFeatured in Choice"Every page offers something worthwhile and memorable. The writing is clear and captivating. Particularly impressive are the quality of the research and the meticulous manner in which Ludmerer presents his results. For these reasons - together with the unquestionable importance of the subject covered - I consider this book to be a prime candidate for the Pulitzer Prize." -- Herbert L. Fred, Texas Heart Institute Journal