Becoming a Doctor: 2a Journey of Initiation in Medical School

by Melvin Konner

Book Overview

Melvin Konner-well-known scholar, tenured professor, respected writer, husband, and father-entered medical school at the age of thirty-three. Becoming a Doctor is his account of the third year of medical school, when students first apply the results of their endless book-learning and test-taking to actual patients in life-and-death situations. While taking the reader on his "rounds," Konner portrays candidly and eloquently that hectic, life-changing...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0670805548
• ISBN13: 9780670805549
• Release Date: August 1987
• Publisher: Viking Books
• Length: 390 Pages
• Weight: 1.68 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Great book!

I would recommend this to anyone who is in the early stages of their training or those contemplating applying to medical school. It gives great insight into the thoughts and emotions of those going through their training. I have read it a number of times, and still enjoy it as a 4th year medical student.

An Honest & Moving Account

I can hardly believe some of the reviews here. Perhaps some readers are threatened by Konner's words and views? I find his writing to be engaging, his attitudes to be refreshing, and his honesty about the profession and some of its practitioners amazing. I certainly hope he decides to practice medicine, especially psychiatry, as he seems empathetic and kind. It is true that he didn't focus much on his personal life, but this was not the purpose of his book. I found this a fascinating and informative read.

Must read

I will fall into the camp of reviewers who found this book to be insightful and valuable. People who see Konner as arrogant, pompous, and overly critical of the medical field are missing the point. It is Konner's prior experience as an anthropologist that allows him to analyze the social and cultural dynamics of medical workers. I don't know where Konner's arrogance is being perceived. Konner certainly judges actions and deeds according to his own values, but those values are neither elitism or pomposity, but empathy and humanism.The premise of the book is such: at Harvard Medical School, the "best" in the country, one should receive the finest medical education and be exposed to medicine at its best. Read the book and find out what it's really like.

Dr. Melvin Konner deflates balloon of arrogance & ignorance

The book is one of the best books I have read in a long time. I could not put it down. Dr. Konner looks at the MD training with a view of reforming the robotic and often useless initiation rituals that hinder Human healing and growth.I shudder to think that there are many sad and uncompassionate individuals running around as Health care givers. What the MD training needs are more leaders such as Dr. Melvin Konner that can reform the broken canal where all the hapless individuals suck water unnecessarily. I will always remember his "pearls" such as "Light your corner". Amid all the mercilessness and haughty arrogance he found a way to be himself and let the arrogant and often mean individuals to their own devices.This is a great book.

Very well written, focuses on third year.

I had read about the horrendous hours before, but this was the first time I really understood them. I mean, Konner reports to work at 6:00 am, works all day, is on call all night, which means he works all night, 3:00 am, 4:00 am, 5:00 am, and at 6:00 am, he has another 12 hours of work, which means he ends up working 36 straight hours. Of course this affects patient care. No one would design medical education this way. These hours only continue because the status quo is given so much deference. 'Oh, if we change things, this will happen, and that will happen . . .' We also need to consider what will happen if we don't change things. Humanitarianism is not something to be driven out of someone. It's not something to be abandoned with some vague plan of regaining it in the future (that may end up being 20 years). It's a set of skills to be developed. How do you push/coax a patient to help himself when he's given up? How do you help a hypochondriac? How do you keep your sense of humor? Where do you draw inspiration from this week? Maybe somewhere else next week. How do you find projects that put a skip in your step? Etc. Etc. One of the heroes of the book is Johann Ringler. He has his own style of humanitarianism, in accordance with his own personality, and he's highly effective. The shame of it is that medical education works against people developing their own effective styles. (This book also explains why doctors put up so little fight against HMOs. They get used to an authoritarian system.) What we need are some courageous older doctors who make a conscious decision not to inflict on medical students what was inflicted on them. Yes, there is disappointment in this book, but there's also much life. Melvin Konners is a guy who was an anthropology professor and then attended medical school in his mid 30s. His age and life experience made it both easier and harder for him. He writes a deeply personal story.