Alpha Docs: The Making of a Cardiologist

by M. D. Daniel Muñoz

In the tradition of Scott Turow’s One L and Atul Gawande’s Better comes a real-time, real-life chronicle from an impassioned young doctor on the front lines of high-stakes cardiology.  It takes drive, persistence, and plenty of stamina to practice cardiology at the highest level. The competition for training fellowship spots is intense. Hundreds of applicants from all over the world compete to be accepted into the Cardiovascular Disease Training Fellowship at Johns Hopkins. Only nine are chosen each year. This is the story of one of those fellows.   In Alpha Docs, Daniel Muñoz, M.D., recounts his transformation from wide-eyed young medical student to caring, empathetic professional—providing a rare inside look into the day-to-day operations of one of the world’s most prestigious medical institutions. The training is arduous and often unforgiving, as Muñoz and his colleagues are schooled by a staff of brilliant and demanding physicians. How they learn the art and science of untangling cardiac mysteries, how they live up to the standards of an iconic institution, how they survive the pressures and relentlessly push themselves to reach the top ranks of American medicine, supplies the beating heart of this gripping narrative.   Readers accompany Muñoz as he interacts with his mentors, diagnoses and treats patients, counsels worried family members, and struggles to stay awake for days and nights on end. Lives are saved—and sometimes lost. But the rewards are immediate and the incentives powerful. As Muñoz confides after helping to rescue one man from the throes of a heart “I knew where I wanted to not watching but doing, on the side of the glass where I can help shape a patient’s fate. I would be a cardiologist.”   A unique yet universal story about striving to be the best in a high-risk, high-impact field, Alpha Docs provides fresh perspective on the state of America’s healthcare system as it captures all the fulfillment and frustrations of life as a doctor in the twenty-first century.From the Hardcover edition.

Genres: Medicine, Nonfiction, Medical, Memoir, Science, History, Audiobook

1 pages, Audio CD

First published July 24, 2012

Reviews

[Susannah Clarke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not particularly exciting or thrilling, but if you enjoy books about medicine or health, you might like this one. It was easy to understand and had a fair amount of personal insight into why one chooses to become a doctor.

[Harrison Drummer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was really informative of the life of a Cardiology Fellow in America. It had many gripping stories. If you don’t have a health or medical background, some of the terms are not in laymen’s terms so may be more taxing to read.

[Gkaur · Rating 4 out of 5]

Copy provided by publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review, Thank you!

I will begin by saying I am a pre-med student and any novels/memoirs/autobiographies i tend to gravitate toward. This was an interesting insight into the cardiology fellowship with kept me engaged. Dr. Munoz does a pretty job in explaining the world of cardiac medicine in lay-mans terms which is very reader friendly. There were detailed specific cases and some more general ones. A good read i would say.

Recommendation:
This is a good book for pre-med person or even someone considering going to cardiac medicine. Also don't be afraid to pick it up even if you aren't a medicine friendly person! :)

[Edy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now that my husband sees a cardiologist regularly, that specialty is of interest to me. In this book, Muñoz takes the reader through his first year of fellowship as he prepares to be a cardiologist and decides on what type of cardiology he wants to practice. I have always known how much education doctors have to have, but this gave me a new perspective on that education. Muñoz allows the reader to see that in the beginning of his fellowship, even though he was an MD, he didn't have all the answers. I felt this was well worth my time to read it.

[Allyson Dyar · Rating 5 out of 5]

I purchased this book back in 2018 because the ebook was being offered at a great price, but I kept skipping over the book on my Kindle app because I thought that the title of the book, Alpha Docs implied the doctors being discussed in the book were seriously full of themselves.

Instead, I was treated to the story of Dr Munoz and his time spent as a cardiac fellowship at Johns Hopkins where he rotated through the various cardiac specialties: consultation, preventative cardiology, nuclear medicine, heart transplantation, cardiac intensive care, electrophysiology, and interventional cardiology.

I was totally captivated by Dr Munoz's journey through the various aspects of his cardiac fellowship and tried to guess what specialty he would end up in.

This book would appeal to anyone interested in what constitutes cardiology or just enjoys a good read.

[J. Joseph · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you’ve ever wondered about the various ways a physician can specialize in hearts, this is a good book. Muñoz’s experiences during his Fellowship year highlight the different ways heart doctors focus on treating patients (or problems, depending on how much patient-facing time they get). It was super clear and from my perspective as someone in healthcare it gave a realistic picture of what goes on behind the scenes. Not only did they focus on the patients, the authors also highlighted the interpersonal relationships, types of supervisors who can make or break a physician, and the continual education they receive.

Where things fell flat for me is in the “so what” of it all. If this is your first medicine nonfiction it’ll probably be great. But if this is not, or if you’re in healthcare-adjacent careers, you’ll find the book lacking that certain element that justifies it being written among the sea of all other books. I think this may come down to the face that it’s Muñoz’s experiences turned to prose by Dale. This is how the authors split the task — Muñoz providing interviews and content expertise, Dale providing the writing and editing expertise. Because of this separation, it means a nonclinical person was left to have the final say on the narrative, and I feel that is what hurt the book most.

[Kathleen Pooler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Riveting and educational

A vivid glimpse into the day-to-day life of a cardiologist-in-training. Characters and scenarios are believable and author's honest introspection helps the reader experience the intensity of the events. The writing is engaging , at times entertaining and descriptive. A real page-turner. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the medical field, health care workers and patients alike. Certainly anyone considering a career in cardiology will benefit from reading it.

[Betty Burkman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book for doctors and their heart patients

Its not too technical that the heart patients are turned off. They read about procedures they have had or may have explained in understandable detail. They are made aware of all the specialities and sub specialities in cardiology. A whole picture of the field. For doctors it emphasizes that in spite of all the technology listening and observing the patient has a place and is important to diagnosis.

[Andres Anglade · Rating 5 out of 5]

Back to residency!

Reading this book was like reviving my first residency in the early 1970’s and the then more hands on experiences during Medical School years. Of course today specialties and sub sub ones were not available then, and back up was less available. I wonder how the burn out numbers differ between now and then?

[Carl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting... The author does a great job taking you through the various "rotations" he goes through during fellowship as a Cardiologist. He really does an excellent job explaining the medical processes without being overtly confusing and complex.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining medical stories, not too much personal stuff, exactly what I wanted.

[J · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Bsldavio · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nonfiction

[Katia · Rating 3 out of 5]

He tells stories about his fellowship in Cardiology at one of the best American hospitals
Interesting...

[Barb]

I just couldn’t keep up with the medical terminology. And it was less of a memoir than I thought.

[Thoopmania · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was written by someone very passionate in his carreer as a doctor. Its a lot of good vibes, which is quite different from other medical memoir books I have read.

[Tina]

A behind the scenes look at a cardiologist's work life. Makes me wish medicine was more cut and dried with fewer gray areas.

[Mike Shaw · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting look into cardiology

I liked it. I found the various aspects of cardiology interesting. I hope to never meet these people professionally, but if I must, I’m glad to know how seriously they treat their difficult profession.

Reading about the rotations as segments made it easier to appreciate each of the disciplines.

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

recaps his fellowship year at Johns Hopkins. very very self-impressed with being at Hopkins. I guess I have more of a law school than medical school alter ego -- i enjoy the "One L"-esque books about being in law school but found this one pretty boring. He does 2 weeks in this rotation and thought the attending was a good teacher, then 3 weeks in that rotation and thought the attending was a bad teacher. He likes patient care and dislikes subjectivity of reading scans, etc. etc. Nothing wrong with that, and if you were a friend talking to him at dinner about his work day I guess it would be fine. Just doesn't add up to a compelling book in my reading.

Minor nit pick: I'm sure this guy knows 1000x what I do about the heart, but he exaggerates rarity of bradycardia. From p. 98: "there are trained Olympic athletes or some young, very fit people who have very slow resting heart rates. But in an ordinary person, if the rate falls below 50 bpm, symptoms such as fainting, shortness of breath, dizziness, light-headedness, chest discomfort, palpitations, and possibly death can occur."

I suppose anything CAN occur, but I've had RHR in mid-30's (never over 40 unless I'm seriously sick) for the past 40 years without any trouble, and unless you count the Maryland Senior Olympics I'm neither an Olympic athlete nor young. This is not especially unusual -- every time the topic comes up on letsrun.com message board, there is a host of "me too, 38." "mine is usually 40" etc. etc. posts.

When you donate blood, they question anything below 50 but are satisfied with a simple "do you exercise regularly?" "yes".

[Jane Night · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall this is an awesome book if you are interested in medicine. I work in a hospital doing clerical work so I really enjoy books about the medical field. The author made sure to break down words and processes so that even those with minimal amounts of medical understanding could understand the book. I thought that was really great. There is always a risk when you read a memoir involving doctors that they will overwhelm you with jargon. That didn’t happen in this book.

Daniel takes us on his journey through different training areas as he tries to decide what kind of cardiology he wants to practice. Some of the areas such as nuclear are more technical than patient centered and Daniel (as well as this reader) doesn’t find them as fun and interesting as the centers where he offers patient centered care such as during his time in the cardiac intensive care unit.

Readers will learn about the different kinds of cardiology that Cardiology Fellows study and will also learn some about heart health.

The most enjoyable part of this book to me is to read the patient stories (all changed to protect patient privacy of course). I felt like the book could have used more of these for sure as they were my favorite part of the book.

Overall this is an awesome book and I would recommend it. There are a few places where it gets slow and I would have really enjoyed more patient stories but I still highly recommend this book.

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would like to thank Random House and NetGalley for providing me with an electronic copy to review. Unlike such medical television dramas like ER and Grey's Anatomy, Alpha Docs chronicles real life doctors in one of the top ranked hospitals in the United States. Johns Hopkins is surrounded by welfare housing and crack dens, with drug deals common in the park nearby. With one of the best Cardiovascular Disease Fellowship programs in the country, Johns Hopkins routinely receives 500-700 applications for only 9 spots each year. The author is one of the nine. A fellowship follows residency and is a more specialized program. Dr. Munoz, and the other Fellows, cycle through different areas of cardiac medicine with the different doctors that are available to supervise their training. Dr. Munoz does an excellent job in explaining the convoluted world of cardiac medicine in a way that even a lay person would understand. At times, the Doctor went into too much detail about certain individual cases, but not enough for the others. That being said, Alpha Docs was a clear picture of the life of a Cardiac Fellow and I highly recommend it.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book goes through Danial Munoz's first year of cardiology fellowship through the Johns Hopkins hospital system. The entire time, Munoz is struggling to determine which cardiology specialty he wants to pursue and this is one of the overarching themes. One of my main take-aways from the book is that there are many doctors who want to do their best and they do what they can, while at the same time, the patient needs to understand that the doctors are still human. While Munoz doesn't write about his mistakes, others' mistakes are documented in a somewhat objective manner to illustrate that mistakes do happen, despite a doctor's best efforts. Another takeaway that Munoz attempts to get through is that medicine doesn't necessarily have all the answers, nor does it explain why some people have the worst health habits, yet live longest while seemingly healthy people run into very unhealthy situations. All in all, a decent book from a doctor's perspective. Not great, but good.

[Gkaur · Rating 4 out of 5]

Copy provided by publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review, Thank you!

I will begin by saying I am a pre-med student and any novels/memoirs/autobiographies i tend to gravitate toward. This was an interesting insight into the cardiology fellowship with kept me engaged. Dr. Munoz does a pretty job in explaining the world of cardiac medicine in lay-mans terms which is very reader friendly. There were detailed specific cases and some more general ones. A good read i would say.

Recommendation:
This is a good book for pre-med person or even someone considering going to cardiac medicine. Also don't be afraid to pick it up even if you aren't a medicine friendly person! :)

[Sara Schapiro · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved Alpha Docs! The book gave me a view into a world I didn't know much about and made it easy for a layperson to understand. Dr. Munoz and the team at Hopkins are the best of the best - only 9 fellows a year are accepted into this prestigious cardiology fellowship - and you are granted special access into this elite training with Dan Munoz as a guide. I really enjoyed how Munoz and Dale not only dig into the training, but also the patient stories. Super interesting read. Highly recommended!

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interesting book. You follow Dr. Muniz through his fellowship year at Johns Hopkins. The program has him working in all the specialties of cardiology, and he relates his experiences as he decides in which area he wants to specialize. Other than the title, I liked this book and learned a bit about heart health.

[Nicolle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really just want to read books like this all the time. This account is supposed to be about our best and brightest, so don't be surprised if it sounds cocky at times. Not terribly insightful, but is otherwise a few hours well spent.

[Carol Cleaveland · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good read for medical professionals.

The discussion of patient encounters and procedures is compelling. The discussion of his thoughts on his career decisions is probably only interesting to ! medical students.

[Katelyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting insight into a cardiology fellowship.

[Barbara Brockhaus · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked this book and getting a behind the scenes look at becoming a doctor. It was very interesting seeing the various types of cardiologists and what goes into the profession.

[Carmen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This books has served me that humanity of being a doctor.. a good doctor. Dr. Muñoz is one of those and this books takes us along his path on how he became one.