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A review by pjdas1012
In Shock: My Journey from Death to Recovery and the Redemptive Power of Hope by Rana Awdish
3.0
"If empathy is the ability to take the perspective of another and feel with them, then, at its best, the practice of medicine is a focused, scientific form of empathy."
A doctor experiences what it's like as a patient and reflects on how it changes here communication with patients.
It's strange and somewhat morbid to think that my favorite genre of books is about people dying or close to death. I gain so many lessons from these people that I may not understand until I am on my own deathbed. This book is very much in that ilk, where the author feels herself die and has to rebuild herself as both a human and a physician. However, this book didn't hit me emotionally quite as much as books like [b:When Breath Becomes Air|25899336|When Breath Becomes Air|Paul Kalanithi|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1492677644l/25899336._SX50_.jpg|45424659] or [b:The Bright Hour: A Memoir of Living and Dying|34104392|The Bright Hour A Memoir of Living and Dying|Nina Riggs|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1507193499l/34104392._SY75_.jpg|55126924]. Regardless, the author certainly had an agenda about the lessons she wanted to teach the reader. She wanted us to understand how empathy is necessary in medicine, and how we have to make sure to humanize patients. Showing empathy is a skill that doctors should already be well-versed in, and the fact that they are not is a systemic problem, as the author illustrates. Similar to other books that talk about empathy in medicine, I felt there was a wealth of figurative language and abstract concepts that are challenging to concretely visualize, which may point to why it is so difficult for doctors to embrace these lessons. For example, the author often talks about "being present in the moment," but rarely do people actually discuss what that looks like in practice. To really get the point across to the intended audience, books encouraging empathy in medicine will need to speak in the concrete, scientific terms that health care practitioners live in.
A doctor experiences what it's like as a patient and reflects on how it changes here communication with patients.
It's strange and somewhat morbid to think that my favorite genre of books is about people dying or close to death. I gain so many lessons from these people that I may not understand until I am on my own deathbed. This book is very much in that ilk, where the author feels herself die and has to rebuild herself as both a human and a physician. However, this book didn't hit me emotionally quite as much as books like [b:When Breath Becomes Air|25899336|When Breath Becomes Air|Paul Kalanithi|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1492677644l/25899336._SX50_.jpg|45424659] or [b:The Bright Hour: A Memoir of Living and Dying|34104392|The Bright Hour A Memoir of Living and Dying|Nina Riggs|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1507193499l/34104392._SY75_.jpg|55126924]. Regardless, the author certainly had an agenda about the lessons she wanted to teach the reader. She wanted us to understand how empathy is necessary in medicine, and how we have to make sure to humanize patients. Showing empathy is a skill that doctors should already be well-versed in, and the fact that they are not is a systemic problem, as the author illustrates. Similar to other books that talk about empathy in medicine, I felt there was a wealth of figurative language and abstract concepts that are challenging to concretely visualize, which may point to why it is so difficult for doctors to embrace these lessons. For example, the author often talks about "being present in the moment," but rarely do people actually discuss what that looks like in practice. To really get the point across to the intended audience, books encouraging empathy in medicine will need to speak in the concrete, scientific terms that health care practitioners live in.