The first habit of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People – be proactive. Read more  

I received an e-mail yesterday from Baylor College of Medicine stating that students should read The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People before orientation. I’m sure many of my classmates have already read this very popular book on personal change, so to avoid procrastinating on my first medical school “assignment”, I immediately purchased the book and read the first pair of chapters entitled ” Inside-Out” and “The Seven Habits – An Overview”.
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The final chapter of How Doctors Think by Dr. Groopman deals with the experiences of the author (an oncologist by training) and his colleagues as they diagnose and treat cancer patients. This was of special interest to me since I’m considering hematology/oncology as a possible career. The author explains the nuances of dealing with terminal diagnoses. Everything from making the grim but accurate diagnosis to communicating it with the friends, family, and patient him/herself seems to require a special mindset rooted in compassion above all else.
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In the latest chapter of How Doctors Think, the author disclosed his years of struggling with a hand problem which no specialist seemed to properly diagnose. He visited four hand surgeons in the course of several years, and each seemed to provide a unique approach in resolving the author’s ailment. For a single problem, there were four different diagnoses.
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So I’m almost half-way done with How Doctors Think. Impressed? I sure am! The author made an interesting point in the last chapter – the more specialized the trade, the less likely an error will occur in the diagnosis.

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“How Doctors Think is a window into the mind of the physician and an insightful examination of the all-important relationship between doctors and their patients.” This is an excerpt from the back cover of the book, and after reading the first two chapters, I can attest to its validity. Several anecdotes are given by the author (Dr. Jerome Groopman) and his colleagues regarding instances in their career where the patient-doctor relationship’s significance became all too clear.

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Those closest to me know that I’m not a reader. Not even close. In fact, I can’t even remember the last novel I read for school, and as far as outside reading goes, it’s literally nonexistent. I’m just not the type of person who can sit down with a book and read for pleasure without constantly wondering how many pages are left before the end of the chapter. My interests are reading short, journal-like articles… but not necessarily related to science. I love reading other people’s blog entries as they’re usually concise, original, and straightforward enough to keep me interested for the duration of the piece. But in preparation for medical school, I need to “learn how to read” all over again.

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