Washoe County Library System

Bestselling author Adam Kay channels Henry Marsh and David Sedaris to tell us the "darkly funny" (The New Yorker) -- and sometimes horrifying -- truth about life and work in a hospital. Welcome to 97-hour weeks. Welcome to life and death decisions. Welcome to a constant tsunami of bodily fluids. Welcome to earning less than the hospital parking meter. Wave goodbye to your friends and relationships. Welcome to the life of a first-year doctor. Scribbled...

Presents a sequel to "The Christmas Shoes," in which Nathan Andrews, now a third-year medical student, finds himself doubting his abilities but is recalled to the wisdom of his mother who died on Christmas day years earlier when he falls in love with Meghan Sullivan, a young woman born with a hole in her heart.

"In nearly every medical-decision-making encounter, the physician is at the center of the discussion, with the patient the recipient of the physician's decisions. Dr. Robert Alan McNutt starts from a very different premise: the patient should be at the center. McNutt challenges the physician-directed, medical-expertise model of making decisions, presenting a practical approach augmented by formal exercises designed to give patients the tools and confidence...

"A radical new understanding of how medicine is best practiced, from the award-winning author of God's Hotel. Over the years that Victoria Sweet has been a physician, "healthcare" has replaced medicine, "providers" look at their laptops more than at their patients, and costs keep soaring, all in the ruthless pursuit of efficiency. Yet the remedy that economists and policy makers continue to miss is also miraculously simple. Good medicine takes more...

Discusses how to avoid harmful medical mistakes, offering advice on such topics as working with a busy doctor, communicating the full story of an illness, evaluating test risks, and obtaining a working diagnosis.

Three out of four people addicted to heroin probably started on a prescription opioid, according to the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In the United States alone, 16,000 people die each year as a result of prescription opioid overdose. But perhaps the most frightening aspect of the prescription drug epidemic is that it’s built on well-meaning doctors treating patients with real problems. In Drug Dealer, MD, Dr. Anna...

"We live in an age of medical miracles. Never in the history of humankind has so much talent and energy been harnessed to cure disease. So why does it feel like it's getting harder to live our healthiest lives? Why does it seem like "experts" can't agreeon anything, and why do our interactions with medical professionals feel less personal, less honest, and less impactful than ever? Through stories from his own practice and historical case studies,...

"Through stories and solutions, leading physicians tackle the conundrum of how best to care for patients while being thwarted by the business side of healthcare Moves "away from calling doctors' difficulties 'burnout' - thus blaming doctors - to 'moral injury' - like soldiers floundering under unjust orders. "Wendy Dean diagnoses the dangerous state of our healthcare system, illustrating the thumbscrews applied to medical professionals by their...