Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science

by Atul Gawande

Nonetheless, attending surgeons say that what’s most important to them is finding people who are conscientious, industrious, and boneheaded enough to stick at practicing this one difficult thing day and night for years on end.

This was not guilt: guilt is what you feel when you have done something wrong. What I felt was shame: I was what was wrong.