In recent years, there has been growing awareness of the need for interprofessional cooperation in healthcare. Countless studies have shown that genuine teamwork and team intelligence are critical to patient safety. Poor communication among health care personnel is a major factor in hospital errors, even more so than the level of staff competence and experience. This is why many schools for health professionals and major health care employers now promote interprofessional education and cooperation. Bedside Manners is a play about workplace relations among physicians, nurses, others who work in health care, and patients—and how their interaction affects the quality of patient care, for better or worse. The accompanying workbook helps educators, managers, patient safety advocates, administrators, and union representatives to analyze and discuss the issues raised in the play. When presented in hospitals, universities, and health care conferences all over the United States, Bedside Manners invariably sparks a vibrant conversation about patient safety problems and how to solve them, job satisfaction and stress, and the importance of information sharing and mutual respect. As text or script, this play is a unique teaching tool for medical and nursing schools, and other health professional schools and continuing education programs involving health care clinicians and staff of all kinds.

“The shortest distance between a human being and the truth,” so goes the saying, “is a story.” These stories told by Dr. Scott Abramson, drawing upon his forty years of medical experience and from coaching colleagues in the mission of physician communication, embody some of these human truths: truths about listening, connection, faith, bereavement, death, teamwork, empathy, courage, grace, joy, leadership, parenting, burnout, the challenges of work-life balance, and the secret of happiness. For back of cover

The search for a set of skills which can be identified and taught as 'good clinical communication' has been of considerable value in persuading decision makers at medical schools and other bodies that communication matters. These days, very large numbers of medical schools use what are essentially skills-based models, such as the extraordinarily thorough Calgary-Cambridge approach. However, I believe that the emphasis on communication' as simply a set of skills, such as eye contact, open questions and so on, has badly skewed the development of the discipline. The teaching of "communication skills" in fact strikes me as a very small part of what I do, not a very difficult part for the majority of students, and - whisper it - one which is often pretty dull...In "Language and Clinical Communication", John Skelton critically considers the theory behind this complex field. His wide-ranging approach reflects on the recent developments within the medical humanities and reflects on his controversial stance; questioning the relevance of skill-based teaching in the clinical arena in an accessible, easy to read manner. You will find Skelton's light-hearted and open-minded attitude to the topic unquestionably illuminating.

This book is a unique reference for medical students, residents, and allied healthcare workers who are just entering the medical field. It outlines in an anecdotal, yet pedagogical manner what one should expect and what is expected of an individual when embarking on a career at a clinic or hospital. Organized into two sections, the book defines in clear terms student responsibilities, expectations, and appropriate collegial interactions through the implementation of historical, moral, and ethical narrative techniques. Chapters discuss the justification of “medical professionalism” as defined in medical school core curriculum, and how and why such ideological norms exist. The book employs clinical scenarios based on incidents chosen to illustrate appropriate behavioral guidelines. The book also addresses common but difficult interpersonal problems all practitioners deal with that require empathy including delivering bad news, working with families, sexual harassment, the importance of diversity, and burnout in the work place. Each chapter includes short biographies meant to give context of the integral role of medicine in the development of our modern complex diverse society. Comprehensive, socially conscious, and written in an engaging yet didactic narrative style, Manners, Morals, and Medical Care serves as an authentic source and a practical guide on the responsibilities of a practitioner when caring for patients.

In this collection of over 100 primary sources, many translated for the first time, Faith Wallis reveals the dynamic world of medicine in the Middle Ages that has been largely unavailable to students and scholars.

What has been the source of women's oppression by men? Shorter argues that women were victimized by the ir own bodies. Exploring five centuries of medical records and folklore from Europe and the US, he shows how pregnancy, childbirth, and gynecological disease have kept women in positions of social inferiority. Originally published in 1982 (Basic Books) and reprinted with a new introduction by the author. Annotation(c) 2003 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)