Marianne Perry's Blog - Posts Tagged "brian-goldman"
Make Health A Priority! Book Review: The Secret Language of Doctors.
The Secret Language of Doctors by Brian Goldman
I read this book because it was selected by fellow book club members. Goldman raised a number of issues related to the medical profession plus introduced me to an extensive vocabulary spoken in Canadian and US hospitals.
Dyscopia, for example, refers to patients having difficulty coping. Code White is a missing patient and FTD, failure to die. These terms are part of medical argot; a vocabulary peculair to a particular group.
He also explores why medical slang was developed and the reasons it endures citing doctor bonding, quick communication of information and diffusion of stressful situations.
Some of the terms seemed disrespectful to patients, however, with referring to the obese as "harpooning the whale" an example.
The following quote from Chapter Fifteen represents a major concern Goldman noted with the medical profession today, which I brought to our club's attention. "If you're old, demented, frail, mentally ill, overly anxious about your health, morbidly obese, addicted, in police custoday or if you just call on us too often, we're not keen on having you as a patient. And that is a growing problem for doctors. That's because the "undesirables" I just listed have rapidly become the typical inhabitants of hospitals."
Goldman's comment that current medical education provides only cursory training in geriatrics was troublesome given the aging population of our countries.
A worthwhile read and definite motivation for taking good care of our health.
Marianne Perry
Writing inspired by genealogical research to solve family mysteries.
www.marianneperry.ca
I read this book because it was selected by fellow book club members. Goldman raised a number of issues related to the medical profession plus introduced me to an extensive vocabulary spoken in Canadian and US hospitals.
Dyscopia, for example, refers to patients having difficulty coping. Code White is a missing patient and FTD, failure to die. These terms are part of medical argot; a vocabulary peculair to a particular group.
He also explores why medical slang was developed and the reasons it endures citing doctor bonding, quick communication of information and diffusion of stressful situations.
Some of the terms seemed disrespectful to patients, however, with referring to the obese as "harpooning the whale" an example.
The following quote from Chapter Fifteen represents a major concern Goldman noted with the medical profession today, which I brought to our club's attention. "If you're old, demented, frail, mentally ill, overly anxious about your health, morbidly obese, addicted, in police custoday or if you just call on us too often, we're not keen on having you as a patient. And that is a growing problem for doctors. That's because the "undesirables" I just listed have rapidly become the typical inhabitants of hospitals."
Goldman's comment that current medical education provides only cursory training in geriatrics was troublesome given the aging population of our countries.
A worthwhile read and definite motivation for taking good care of our health.
Marianne Perry
Writing inspired by genealogical research to solve family mysteries.
www.marianneperry.ca
