How Doctors Think

By: Jerome Groopman M.D.

Narrated by: Michael Prichard

Length: 10 hrs and 27 mins

Publisher's summary

A New Yorker staff writer, best-selling author, and professor at Harvard Medical School unravels the mystery of how doctors figure out the best treatments - or fail to do so. This book describes the warning signs of flawed medical thinking and offers intelligent questions patients can ask.

On average, a physician will interrupt a patient describing her symptoms within 12 seconds. In that short time, many doctors decide on the likely diagnosis and best treatment. Often, decisions made this way are correct, but at crucial moments they can also be wrong - with catastrophic consequences.

In this myth-shattering book, Jerome Groopman pinpoints the forces and thought processes behind the decisions doctors make. He explores why doctors err and shows when and how they can, with our help, avoid snap judgments, embrace uncertainty, communicate effectively, and deploy other skills that can have a profound impact on our health.

Groopman draws on a wealth of research, extensive interviews with some of the country's best physicians, and his own experiences as a doctor and patient. He has learned many of the lessons in this book the hard way, from his own mistakes and from errors his doctors made in treating his own debilitating medical problems.

How Doctors Think reveals a profound new view of 21st-century medical practice, giving doctors and patients the vital information they need to make better judgments together.

©2007 Jerome Groopman, M.D. (P)2007 Tantor Media Inc.

Critic reviews

"A revealing, often disturbing look at what goes on in doctors' minds when treating patients....A highly pleasurable must-read. "(Kirkus)
"I wish I had read this book when I was in medical school, and I'm glad I've read it now....Every reflective doctor will learn from this book....every prospective patient will find thoughtful advice for communicating successfully." (Publishers Weekly)

A must read for all new and experienced providers

Excellent reflection on the complex components of clinical and individual decision making. Bravo! Just what I needed at this point in my career!

How to talk to doctors

Valuable advice on how to get the best treatment and consideration from a doctor, as the patient. If you’ve read Daniel Kahneman, some of this will be familiar, but there are so many other unique nuggets that make this audiobook worth a listen.

And why you need to be thinking as well

A great book for everyone to read as it illustrates, as the author states, that a patient has to be an active participant in the process of seeking the care and treatment one needs.

Very informative!

Do you struggle to understand what the heck your doctor is thinking and why he does the things that he does? Is it difficult to get doctors to take you seriously and understand your symptoms? Are medical stories and psychology interesting to you? Are you a doctor who wants to improve your diagnostic and communication skills? If any of the above interests you, then get this book. My only complaint is that some of the stories go on too long after you already understand what the author is getting at.

The narration is fine and I don't know why so many people are hung up on it. The narrator is easy to understand, speaks at a good pace, and conveys emotion properly. He has an old fashioned trans-atlantic accent which I find interesting. You don't hear it too often. The narrator was probably chosen to match the age of the author who is also an older gentleman. Overall, it's an interesting and informative read.

Everyone should read this book.

This book shows you how Dr.s think, the mistakes Dr.s make with reading tests and diagnosing diseases among other things like connections to the pharmaceutical industry...

Very informative

This book provides a fascinating insight into medical decision making in the absence of hard evidence and lives at stake. At the end of the book, I definitely had a much better feel for what doctors could reasonably know when making diagnoses and decide on treatment and how difficult it must be to recommend paths forward for medical interventions. One thing I definitely took away from this book is that doctors are not all-knowing and when in doubt, do get a second opinion even if it is just to get a sense of how differing opinions about a certain condition really are...
Great book, I have already recommended it to many of my friends and colleages as a "must read".

How Lay People Think

Dr. Groopman tells his stories well – keeping you engaged and learning from his tales. It runs a bit counter to the patient's wanting the doctor to have all the answers, but that's good for us. It is likely to make us healthier in the long run.

Great thought-piece on the heuristics of medical decisions

Dr. Groopman is a very insightful hematologist and critique of the art of medicine. I really enjoyed learning of the many heuristics that doctors may fall into and considering the nuance and fallibility of medical practice. Dr. Groopman was an excellent conduit for this critical analysis because he is not only a cancer doctor, but also a surgery patient. He brings an empathetic, curious voice to the topic of care evaluation.

Very interesting

i think this will help me get through to some doctors hopefully before they shut me off like most do when they see a complicated case. i have personally experienced nanny of the doctors mentioned in this book that interrupt the patient within seconds of the patient telling them why they are there.

Thoughtful...

reminiscent of the work of the great surgeon Richard Selzer, Groopman's work gives the reader a wonderful insight into the ways that a doctor thinks, both when he makes the right decision regarding a patient--and when he makes a wrong one. He reminds us of what real critical thinking is--being at once calculating and creative in a realm in which uncertainty reigns.