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On Becoming a Healer: The Journey from Patient Care to Caring about Your Patients
Medical students and physicians-in-training embark on a long journey that, although steeped in scientific learning and technical skill building, includes little guidance on the emotional and interpersonal dimensions of becoming a healer. Written for anyone in the health care community who hopes to grow emotionally and cognitively in the way they interact with patients, On Becoming a Healer explains how to foster doctor-patient relationships that are mutually nourishing.
Dr. Saul J. Weiner, a physician-educator, argues that joy in medicine requires more than idealistic aspirations--it demands a capacity to see past the otherness that separates the well from the sick, the professional in a white coat from the disheveled patient in a hospital gown. Weiner scrutinizes the medical school indoctrination process and explains how it molds the physician's mindset into that of a task completer rather than a thoughtful professional. Taking a personal approach, Weiner describes his own journey to becoming an internist and pediatrician while offering concrete advice on how to take stock of your current development as a physician, how to openly and fully engage with patients, and how to establish clear boundaries that help defuse emotionally charged situations.
Readers will learn how to counter judgmentalism, how to make medical decisions that take into account the whole patient, and how to incorporate the organizing principle of healing into their practice. Each chapter ends with questions for reflection and discussion to help personalize the lessons for individual learners.
Dr. Saul J. Weiner, a physician-educator, argues that joy in medicine requires more than idealistic aspirations--it demands a capacity to see past the otherness that separates the well from the sick, the professional in a white coat from the disheveled patient in a hospital gown. Weiner scrutinizes the medical school indoctrination process and explains how it molds the physician's mindset into that of a task completer rather than a thoughtful professional. Taking a personal approach, Weiner describes his own journey to becoming an internist and pediatrician while offering concrete advice on how to take stock of your current development as a physician, how to openly and fully engage with patients, and how to establish clear boundaries that help defuse emotionally charged situations.
Readers will learn how to counter judgmentalism, how to make medical decisions that take into account the whole patient, and how to incorporate the organizing principle of healing into their practice. Each chapter ends with questions for reflection and discussion to help personalize the lessons for individual learners.
- GenresMedicineNonfiction
208 pages, Paperback
Published April 7, 2020
13 people are currently reading
189 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
November 10, 2023
Weiner argues that while medical school does a great job training doctors it leaves them woefully unprepared to actually take care of people.
So how can doctors do better? They can be more curious about their patients and their lives, and how it may be affecting their health. Nonjudgmental engagement, with a healthy side of boundary clarity, is the key. A doctor needs to truly listen to their patient without judgement and determine what is best for them at this time, not what the doctor would want for themselves, nor what they imagine the patient wants for themselves.
The nonjudgmental part is especially important. A doctor may be called to treat someone who has perpetuated child abuse but needs medical care of some sort. How do you look at them with anything but disdain?
Overall Weiner does an incredible job examining the human side of doctoring, specifically how bringing your humanity into the exam room makes for better engagement and better care. There are also sections about ethics outside the exam room, for example how to decide when to leave a less than ideal workplace ("when you’ve made a positive difference and learned all you can, not when you are unhappy", he says).
On Becoming a Healer reminded me why I love working in medicine, and made me even more determined to connect with patients every chance I get. It's a perfect book for those just starting in the field or those who have been in the trenches for a while and want a reminder of what true caring looks like.
Caring for patients with chronic conditions, or simply the vagaries of old age, isn’t just about ordering lab tests, CT scans, and pills while watching them slowly recede toward death. It’s about helping people cope with and adapt to what’s happening to their bodies as they live their lives. But to serve patients in that way requires emotional and cognitive capabilities that aren’t discussed in medical school and are rarely modeled by faculty.
So how can doctors do better? They can be more curious about their patients and their lives, and how it may be affecting their health. Nonjudgmental engagement, with a healthy side of boundary clarity, is the key. A doctor needs to truly listen to their patient without judgement and determine what is best for them at this time, not what the doctor would want for themselves, nor what they imagine the patient wants for themselves.
The nonjudgmental part is especially important. A doctor may be called to treat someone who has perpetuated child abuse but needs medical care of some sort. How do you look at them with anything but disdain?
In such situations, I find it helpful to think of individuals as accountable rather than responsible for their actions. An abuser may have suffered untold abuse themselves, and aggression may be the only way in which they know how to react to stress and conflict in parenting relationships. In this context they are no more responsible for their actions than a ball is responsible for breaking a window. Nevertheless they must be held to account for their actions in order to maintain a safe and orderly society.
Overall Weiner does an incredible job examining the human side of doctoring, specifically how bringing your humanity into the exam room makes for better engagement and better care. There are also sections about ethics outside the exam room, for example how to decide when to leave a less than ideal workplace ("when you’ve made a positive difference and learned all you can, not when you are unhappy", he says).
On Becoming a Healer reminded me why I love working in medicine, and made me even more determined to connect with patients every chance I get. It's a perfect book for those just starting in the field or those who have been in the trenches for a while and want a reminder of what true caring looks like.
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December 13, 2023When Saul Weiner, MD, decided as a young boy that he wanted to study medicine, his learning disability made that road even bumpier than it is for most people. His problem was diagnosed early, and he got help with his learning disability. In addition, he had the incredibly good fortune to have renowned physician and educator Simon Auster, MD, as his godfather.
Dr. Auster was on the faculty of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences F. Edward Hébert School of Medicine and taught the course, “Human Context in Health Care,” to thousands of medical students. As his godson, Dr. Weiner enjoyed personal access and interaction that challenged him to lean in more completely and engage on a very human level.
Dr. Weiner developed a strong interest in medical education, and is now a professor of medicine, pediatrics and medical education at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Read our entire review and see more book club selections on The DO!
Dr. Auster was on the faculty of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences F. Edward Hébert School of Medicine and taught the course, “Human Context in Health Care,” to thousands of medical students. As his godson, Dr. Weiner enjoyed personal access and interaction that challenged him to lean in more completely and engage on a very human level.
Dr. Weiner developed a strong interest in medical education, and is now a professor of medicine, pediatrics and medical education at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Read our entire review and see more book club selections on The DO!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 3, 2022
A book that everyone going into healthcare — or anyone who wants to learn how they can positively connect with those around them to create healing interactions — should read. Will keep coming back to this book to make sure my values/organizing principles stay true to what I believe and with what Dr. Weiner eloquently describes.
August 30, 2020
I wonder how often I've missed Saul's sign. With the hell of this book, I hope I will miss it much less often.
December 29, 2021
Excellent, insightful, and thought provoking. A must for clinicians across the board- MD, PA NP. Academia fosters technicians but it's being human and connection that makes a good practitioner.
April 24, 2025
DNF. I feel like this book probably had a lot of good things to say along the way but it was meandering, a little preachy, and “everyone else gets it wrong except me.” I may pick this up again one day but I found myself reading the same paragraph multiple times and making no headway. Would not recommend.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews