What Patients Taught Me: A Medical Student's Journey

by Audrey Young

Do sleek high-tech hospitals teach more about medicine and less about humanity? Do doctors ever lose their tolerance for suffering? With sensitive observation and graceful prose, this book explores some of the difficult and deeply personal questions a 23-year-old doctor confronts with her very first dying patient, and continues to struggle with as she strives to become a good doctor. In her travels, the doctor attends to terminal illness, AIDS, tuberculosis, and premature birth in small rural communities throughout the world.

Genres: Medicine, Medical, Memoir, Nonfiction, Health, Biography, Health Care

240 pages, Hardcover

First published August 31, 2004

Reviews

[Ahmed · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actually this book turned out to be a little treat for me. I stumbled across this book by going through my wife's library and at first glance thought to myself: it seems a bit cheesy! But nonetheless, I've decided to give it a chance and read it.

It wonderfully chronicles the tale of a medical student who went through her clinical training in non-academic establishments far away from urban civilization. However, to me it was more than just a well written memoir. It opened my eyes towards a very important concept, and that is: the comprehensiveness of the medical profession.

We've come to an era in medicine when super-specialization is the prevailing method of practice and education. While being no doubt, it is absolutely necessary to over come the explosion in medical knowledge and the inherit human fallibility of doctoring, it is not without consequences.

Rural medicine has fallen ill despite the fact that it still remains the most pure and humane form of doctoring. This book shifts the focus towards underserved populations and elucidate the importance of primary care not only in the overall healthcare system of a nation, but in shaping the physicians of tomorrow as well.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in health care systems, medical education and of course family medicine.

Also, to my fellow medical students. This book inspires the notion of getting out of your comfort zone and having the guts to learn on unfamiliar grounds and high-stakes uncertain situations.

[Barbara Carter · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a purchase through BookBub.

A medical student’s journey about becoming a doctor. A memoir about her medical school rotations. Stories I enjoyed.

Hers is a medical student’s journey in the WWAMI experience where it was essential for students to get out where medicine was being practised. The University of Washington being very vocal about the lack of doctors in small towns across the state
so, as part of the medical students training, they would apprentice with rural physicians
in a program to train medical students from the Pacific Northwest to practice as rural doctors.
The idea was that hometown exposure would encourage students to return and practice to those rural communities.

30 years ago, the University of Washington began sent medical students to work alongside small-town general physicians. Some of the places she went to: Bethel on Alaska’s Bering Sea Coast, Dillon, Montana

She learned that telling the story was the crucial first step in taking care of a patient
The first lesson of medicine being that almost everything important comes from the patient’s story.

She also went to Swaziland and on page 34 she writes I remember hearing an African relief worker say the buttocks are the human body’s last reserve and he could predict who was near death by the amount of padding left on the patient’s buttocks.
It was sad to read of the devastation caused by HIV there and the shortage of drugs to treat patients. Where often they had to make the decisions on those who could be saved and those who were left to die. A reminder of COVID19 and how the same kind of triage happened.

Page 135 when a doctor says “I know it’s frustrating,” McDermott said. “Sometimes all you can do is let them choose.”

If you enjoy stories about medical experiences, I recommend this book.

[Mary MacKintosh · Rating 5 out of 5]

After hearing that many foreign doctors practice in my home town, Yakima, because it is considered an underserved rural community (medical-wise) I was interested in reading What Patients Taught Me because it related the experiences of the author in a medical education program run by the UW to increase the numbers of general practitioners in rural regions of Washington, Wyoming, Idaho and Montana. Apparently the program is successful. Young writes very well about her experiences, although she sometimes spends a little purple prose imagining the lives of her patients after they walk out of her exam rooms. In any case, I liked it, and I liked her attitude. I am glad she is now teaching at the UW.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dr. Audrey Young chronicles her varied clinical experiences through her medical school and training. Participating in a program designed to encourage physicians to consider rural medicine, Dr. Young travels from the bustling Seattle metropolis to the tiny town of Bethel, Alaska, for her first experience with “real” patients. Among the heavily Yupik Eskimo population, she begins to glimpse the depth of the challenges that physicians juggle. She discovers that the social and cultural context is vital to understanding the patient's story, a story that she, as a physician, needs to know in order to help relieve suffering, especially when it comes from a place that is foreign to her own experience.

A later rotation in pediatrics takes Dr. Young to Pocatello, Idaho. Her idealism smacks against reality as she sees cases of domestic abuse and alcoholism, child abuse and shaken-baby syndrome. Despite anything she could do as a physician, she begins to realize “how much that outside world mattered.” Her optimistic desire for a “revolution” where patients “snap off their televisions, quit smoking, protect their homes with dogs rather than guns, and ease down from the excesses of the American diet” is tempered by her realization that life is often messier and grayer than that.

Dr. Young continues to draw touching and poignant vignettes. Of her internal medicine rotation is Missoula, Montana where she learns from Martha and Milo that “there was such a thing as dying a good death.” Of John and Ginny who decide not to continue John's chemotherapy against an aggressive cancer so they can “go back to the ranch and enjoy our lives, have one more wonderful summer.” Of the vast chasm that exists between first-world and third-word when she practices in Swaziland – poverty, lack of basic medical supplies like penicillin, the high incidence of HIV and tuberculosis – but the commonalities of the human element.

Through her experiences across the Pacific Northwest and the world, Dr. Young concludes that “doctoring is a human act.” From her time in Swaziland, in particular, she embraces the belief that “a doctor who sees suffering must act, rejecting the choice of not acting, even when futility and risk run high.” What Patients Taught Me conveys not only her awareness of, but also her reverence for the sacred, intimate, vulnerable moments of every human life.

For more book reviews, come visit my blog, Build Enough Bookshelves.

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very thoughtful memoir of Dr. Young's medical school rotations in various parts of the WAMI region. An easy, enjoyable read. I appreciated how she put so much effort into reflecting on her experiences and trying to understand how interactions with patient's impacted her.

[Kathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Audrey Young is on staff at Harborview Hospital here in Seattle. The book is about her beginning days as a medical student, intern and resident. in part, this book was written for young people entering the medical field but it is also appealing to the average patient (or reader). I was pleased to learn about her thoughtful approach to patient care and how she reached this path by carefully observing patients' lives and listening--really listening!-- to their descriptions of their lives. It became obvious to me that a discerning and caring doctor can pick up so much more detail about a patient than mere medical facts. I think it's helpful to patients as well because it enables them to consider their doctor in depth and to seek a doctor with empathy and concern as well as medical knowledge.

[Alysson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked up this book several years ago at a used book sale. In 2022, I started to read it. I had just moved to Dillon, MT. How interesting that the author had experienced working right there in Dillon, and this was discussed in the book!

Very interesting and thoughtful read. I enjoyed it!

[Janet Mahlum · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was disappointed in this book. Being from a WWAMI university town and knowing several people involved one way or another with WWAMI, I was looking forward to reading stories from someone who had been through the program. I have spent the last 3 years in and out of the hospital with dozens of tests and several major as well as smaller surgeries. I'm a physician's daughter and worked in health care for many years. I was looking forward to reading how the author learned things that patients appreciate, i.e., a surgeon who regards surgery as the last option, physicians who bouy up depressed feeliings of ever being well again, kindness and consideration, physicians listening to the patient carefully, physicians allowing patients to be part of the care plan. I found little of that. The writer only gave us thumbnail sketches of what she considered her interesting cases. It was okay, but not great.

[Denise · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've read several of these becoming-a-doctor memoirs. The best of them, by a mile, is Cutting for Stone, but there are several good ones. This one, though - Young is aware that she's young, privileged, left-wing, and naive, and implies that her medical journey has given her some insights. If so, she forgot to write them up, except for "listen to the patient". She serves up vignettes of patients and then moves on to her next rotation without ever finding out what happens to them. She mentions her trepidation about practicing in right-wing Idaho, and never tells us if any conflicts result or any understanding happens. She says she is drawn to patients in underserved areas and then becomes a college professor in Seattle.

Disappointing.

[Denise Spicer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Typical of this genre - young medical student whose professor, in this case University of Washington, influences her to do temporary, short-term internships in remote and/or rural locations nationally and even internationally. Some interesting anecdotes about these experiences as well as, of course, personal events/philosophy. Also typical, the student, when finished with her studies, although touting the importance of providing adequate M.D. for the aforementioned under-served areas, chooses to become -- a professor of medicine at the University of Washington.

[Helen · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author presents her history in a special medical-school program in Seattle. The students are able to choose pre-internships in various rural locations of the northeast USA. She describes various places and people with whom she worked, as well as sample cases. It's very interesting!

[Elle MacAlpine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book and gave some fun insight into the medical field but probably wouldn't be of interest to those beyond it.

[Eileen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book would be 5 stars if it is the type of book you like - I just prefer more patient stories.

[Eric Bias · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little slow to get into, but it picked up towards the end. Not bad, but not my favorite.

[Debje · Rating 3 out of 5]

Much enjoyed this

[Sarah Siner · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think that it was a good book, however some parts weren't very interesting.

[AMS]

I read this for my Life in Medicine class in undergrad.

[Emily DeCocq · Rating 3 out of 5]

Awesome non fiction book I had to read it for school but I really enjoyed it

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this story of a medical student who spent lots of time training in small towns in the northwest instead of a big city; I also liked the account of her time in a hospital in Swaziland.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

What Patients Taught Me by Dr. Audrey Young was an incredible look into medical school rotations. Dr. Young spent her rotations in drastically different places from Seattle hospitals to rural clinics to Africa. Each place had different stories and different people. Each story touched me a different way and gave me insight into what it means to be a doctor.

This book was full of true stories, some I couldn't even believe happened to real people. But they did. And that is what makes this book so powerful. Everything in it is real. These are real people. Real people who were sick and either made full recoveries or went on to a better place. I cried, and I laughed. It made me feel a wide range of emotions. It was truly invigorating.

I devoured this book and wished I had read it slower so that I could have digested each story more before rushing onto the next one. But it was so captivating that I couldn't stop. I had to read about the next patient, the next place. I read this in one day, when I knew I definitely should have been studying for my exams.

My pre-med adviser suggested this book to me, and I'm glad she did. It was heartwarming and gave me a picture of what my medical school experience could be and maybe should be. I know I'll take this book with me when I go on to medical school and read it slower the next time around so that I can let each story engulf me and change me if only slightly.

[Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent. I liked it a lot more than The House of God. It's hopeful and optimistic. She talks about the good aspects of being a doctor as well as the bad/tough/hard parts. She is part of this cool program at the University of Washington called WWAMI, which stands for Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, Idaho.

The school sends the medical students to rural clinics and hospitals in these places (the author also did a rotation in Swaziland) to learn about rural medicine. Practicing medicine in places where there are very few doctors sounded very exciting and like a completely different experience than what has now become the traditional method of practicing a sub-specialty in urban centers.

Again, like the few medical books I've read lately, it makes law look like Nerf ball. But what a great life's calling!

[Duc Hoang · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book is fine, somewhat interesting but not really captivating. It lacks the intense feelings and excitements I got when reading Gawande's books. Nevertheless, there are stories from faraway lands like Alaska and Africa you may enjoy.

The WWAMI system seems promising, maybe we can try it here, in Vietnam so that the burdens on many central hospitals are lessened, patients get better healthcare, and doctors can do their job more efficiently.

[Josephine Ensign · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book of Young's much better than her more recent book The House of Hope and Fear. She does a good job of intertwining her own story of becoming a physician with stories of her patients across a range of settings in 'WWAMI-land' (Washington, Wyoming, Alaska,Montana, and Idaho)--as well as in her brief stint in Swaziland. Engaging and polished with the exception of the last chapter which seemed disjointed and unfinished to me.

[Leeann · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was okay. It opened my mind to the benefits of future doctors traveling.

maybe because I have no intentions of being a doctor I did not feel that the book made a lasting impression on me.

Audrey's travel tales were nice. she depicted her pain of losing an infant patient very well.

still, I would have loved to know more of the action. If she has a book about her experiences working in a Seattle emergency room, I'd love to read the memoir.

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a short series of stories about the transition from book-learning to working with actual people. The stories are interesting but not riveting. While I finished it in one rainy day, it is probably best for a situation where you will be interrupted and want something easy to pick up and put down--perhaps a multi-transfer plane trip.

[Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting first person account of what medical school is like for a Dr. who chooses the less beaten path by doing residences in remote hospitals in Alaska, the West, etc. I enjoyed reading about the alternatives to med school that put Dr.'s in more direct contact with patients for a short time.

[Heather · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was somehow nowhere near as emotional and good or in the trenches as a memoir from a med student could be. i think the biggest thing you take away from it is rural versus urban medicine. i wanted more from it and was a bit disappointed.

[Amber VanDuyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great look into the life of a medical student, the motivations of practicing medicine, and interesting patient cases. Also loved the details about the UW medical school and WWAMI program that are very real to me as a UW student. Easy to read and stay engaged in.

[Alyssa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this perspective and how it focused on her journey through learning from her patients. Patients are the most important part of being a doctor, but is often overlooked. A great and informative read!

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting, but not an attention-grabber.