Overview

In Let Me Heal, prize-winning author Kenneth M. Ludmerer provides the first-ever account of the residency system for training doctors in the United States. He traces its development from its nineteenth-century roots through its present-day struggles to cope with new, bureaucratic work-hour regulations for house officers and, more important, to preserve excellence in medical training amid a highly commercialized health care system.Let Me Heal provides a highly engaging, richly contextualized account of the residency system in all its dimensions. It also brilliantly analyzes the mutual relationship between residency education and patient care in America. The book shows that the quality of residency training ultimately depends on the quality of patient care that residents observe, but that there is much that residency training can do to produce doctors who practice in a better, more affordable fashion.Let Me Heal is both a stunning work of scholarship and a highly engaging account of how one becomes a doctor in the United States. It is indispensable reading for those who wish to understand what it means to learn and practice medicine and what is needed to make medical education and patient care in America better. The definitive work on the subject, it is destined to become a classic that will be consulted by readers far into the future.

Full Product Details

Author:   Kenneth M. Ludmerer (Professor of Internal Medicine and Mabel Dorn Reeder Distinguished Professor in the History of Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine)
Publisher:   Oxford University Press Inc
Imprint:   Oxford University Press Inc
Dimensions:   Width: 16.40cm , Height: 3.50cm , Length: 23.60cm
Weight:   0.728kg
ISBN:  

9780199744541

ISBN 10:   0199744548
Pages:   456
Publication Date:   13 November 2014
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Undergraduate ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   To order  
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Table of Contents

1. ANTECEDENTS The Search for Clinical Experience The Quest for Specialty Training The Passion for Discovery and the Birth of Clinical Science 2. JOHNS HOPKINS AND THE CREATION OF THE RESIDENCY Graduate Medical Education Enters the University The Scientific Practitioner and the Promise for the Nation Work as Play Diaspora 3. THE GROWTH OF GRADUATE MEDICAL EDUCATION Completing the Infrastructure The Maturation of the Internship The Spread of the Residency In Search of a System 4. THE AMERICAN RESIDENCY Educational Principles The Moral Dimension of Graduate Medical Education The Learning Environment Cultural Influences 5. THE LIFE OF A PRE-WORLD WAR II HOUSE OFFICER Obtaining a Residency Experiencing the Residency Education and Service 6. CONSOLIDATING THE SYSTEM The Second Reform of Medical Education The Rise of the Specialty Boards and the Triumph of Residency Graduate Medical Education and the Public Good 7. THE EXPANSION OF THE RESIDENCY IN N ERA OF ABUNDANCE From Privilege to Right The Maturation of Clinical Science and the Creation of Subspecialty Fellowships The Ascendance of Specialty Practice The Propagation of Wastefulness 8. THE EVOLVING LEARNING ENVIRONMENT The Decline of the Ward Service The Preservation of Educational Quality Maintaining the Moral Mission 9. THE LIFE OF A POST-WORLD WAR II HOUSE OFFICER Changes and Continuities Quality, Safety, and Supervision Education and Service, Again 10. THE WEAKENING OF THE EDUCATIONAL COMMUNITY The Marginalization of House Officers House Staff Activism The Discovery of Burnout 11. THE ERA OF HIGH THROUGHPUT The New Learning Environment The Subversion of the Moral Mission Changing Attitudes toward Work and Life 12. THE ERA OF ACCOUNTABILITY, PATIENT SAFETY, AND WORK-HOURS REGULATION Work Hours Restriction Perpetual Dilemmas 13. PRESERVING EXCELLENCE IN RESIDENCY TRAINING AND MEDICAL CARE Challenges, New and Old Aligning Education and Patient Care

Reviews

This thoughtful scholarly treatise on the residency, the most influential learning period for young physicians, is a major contribution to our understanding of how America produces its physician workforce. It notes the educational, scientific, economic, social, legal, ethical, and political influences which produce tensions and conflicts in the training experience. Dr. Ludmerer provides a platform for examining these influences and he proposes ways for the learning environment to be more flexible, while maintaining high standards and the professionalism we all want to retain in our nation's physicians. I heartily recommend this superb book to all who are interested in our nation's healthcare system. Louis W. Sullivan, MD, President Emeritus, Morehouse School of Medicine, US Secretary of Health and Human Services, 1989-1993 In engaging and compelling prose, Kenneth Ludmerer vividly chronicles and insightfully analyzes the medical and social history of the residency phase of American medical education. Based on rich observational and documentary data, he brilliantly evaluates the achievements, tensions, and shortcomings of the residency system. Let Me Heal, the entreaty that he chose for the book's title, has contemporary as well as historic significance. It is associated with Ludmerer's stirring analysis of how the present-day struggles with patient care and health care delivery in the United States create challenges for good medical education, and of how the residency system can contribute to making medical care better and more affordable. This landmark book should be ready by all who are concerned with medical education and patient care in America. Renee C. Fox Annenberg Professor Emerita of the Social Sciences University of Pennsylvania The complete fascinating story of the graduate education of US physicians, its 19th century origins, its 20th century glories, and now its threatened decline in the hands of a commercialized hospital industry and a for-profit health system. A compelling read that all who would understand our health care problems will enjoy, and a masterful study sure to become the definitive reference in its field. Another notable contribution by Ludmerer to the history of medical education and its relation to contemporary society. Arnold S. Relman, MD, Professor Emeritusof Medicine and of Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School, and former Editor-in-Chief, The New England Journal of Medicine Let Me Heal is an eye-opening analysis of residency training and a wonderful exploration of its evolution. This third book in Ludmerer's trilogy on American medicine is a tour de force. I would consider it an indispensable resource for anyone seeking to understand medical education and for those with a stake in what the future might hold. Abraham Verghese, MD Profesor of Medicine, Stanford University Author of Cutting For Steone We ... consider this book an invaluable contribution to the field and encourage everyone involved with residency training to read it. --Editors, Journal of Graduate Medical Education This book represents an important contribution to our understanding of the history and current state of American residency education and of ers a strong foundation for future research. -- Science Magazine This latest text should be required reading for every individual interested or involved in graduate medical education. -- The American Journal of MedicineFeatured in The New York Review of Books

This thoughtful scholarly treatise on the residency, the most influential learning period for young physicians, is a major contribution to our understanding of how America produces its physician workforce. It notes the educational, scientific, economic, social, legal, ethical, and political influences which produce tensions and conflicts in the training experience. Dr. Ludmerer provides a platform for examining these influences and he proposes ways for the learning environment to be more flexible, while maintaining high standards and the professionalism we all want to retain in our nation's physicians. I heartily recommend this superb book to all who are interested in our nation's healthcare system. Louis W. Sullivan, MD, President Emeritus, Morehouse School of Medicine, US Secretary of Health and Human Services, 1989-1993 In engaging and compelling prose, Kenneth Ludmerer vividly chronicles and insightfully analyzes the medical and social history of the residency phase of American medical education. Based on rich observational and documentary data, he brilliantly evaluates the achievements, tensions, and shortcomings of the residency system. Let Me Heal, the entreaty that he chose for the book's title, has contemporary as well as historic significance. It is associated with Ludmerer's stirring analysis of how the present-day struggles with patient care and health care delivery in the United States create challenges for good medical education, and of how the residency system can contribute to making medical care better and more affordable. This landmark book should be ready by all who are concerned with medical education and patient care in America. Renee C. Fox Annenberg Professor Emerita of the Social Sciences University of Pennsylvania The complete fascinating story of the graduate education of US physicians, its 19th century origins, its 20th century glories, and now its threatened decline in the hands of a commercialized hospital industry and a for-profit health system. A compelling read that all who would understand our health care problems will enjoy, and a masterful study sure to become the definitive reference in its field. Another notable contribution by Ludmerer to the history of medical education and its relation to contemporary society. Arnold S. Relman, MD, Professor Emeritusof Medicine and of Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School, and former Editor-in-Chief, The New England Journal of Medicine Let Me Heal is an eye-opening analysis of residency training and a wonderful exploration of its evolution. This third book in Ludmerer's trilogy on American medicine is a tour de force. I would consider it an indispensable resource for anyone seeking to understand medical education and for those with a stake in what the future might hold. Abraham Verghese, MD Profesor of Medicine, Stanford University Author of Cutting For Steone We ... consider this book an invaluable contribution to the field and encourage everyone involved with residency training to read it. --Editors, Journal of Graduate Medical Education

This thoughtful scholarly treatise on the residency, the most influential learning period for young physicians, is a major contribution to our understanding of how America produces its physician workforce. It notes the educational, scientific, economic, social, legal, ethical, and political influences which produce tensions and conflicts in the training experience. Dr. Ludmerer provides a platform for examining these influences and he proposes ways for the learning environment to be more flexible, while maintaining high standards and the professionalism we all want to retain in our nation's physicians. I heartily recommend this superb book to all who are interested in our nation's healthcare system. Louis W. Sullivan, MD, President Emeritus, Morehouse School of Medicine, US Secretary of Health and Human Services, 1989-1993 In engaging and compelling prose, Kenneth Ludmerer vividly chronicles and insightfully analyzes the medical and social history of the residency phase of American medical education. Based on rich observational and documentary data, he brilliantly evaluates the achievements, tensions, and shortcomings of the residency system. Let Me Heal, the entreaty that he chose for the book's title, has contemporary as well as historic significance. It is associated with Ludmerer's stirring analysis of how the present-day struggles with patient care and health care delivery in the United States create challenges for good medical education, and of how the residency system can contribute to making medical care better and more affordable. This landmark book should be ready by all who are concerned with medical education and patient care in America. Renee C. Fox Annenberg Professor Emerita of the Social Sciences University of Pennsylvania The complete fascinating story of the graduate education of US physicians, its 19th century origins, its 20th century glories, and now its threatened decline in the hands of a commercialized hospital industry and a for-profit health system. A compelling read that all who would understand our health care problems will enjoy, and a masterful study sure to become the definitive reference in its field. Another notable contribution by Ludmerer to the history of medical education and its relation to contemporary society. Arnold S. Relman, MD, Professor Emeritusof Medicine and of Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School, and former Editor-in-Chief, The New England Journal of Medicine Let Me Heal is an eye-opening analysis of residency training and a wonderful exploration of its evolution. This third book in Ludmerer's trilogy on American medicine is a tour de force. I would consider it an indispensable resource for anyone seeking to understand medical education and for those with a stake in what the future might hold. Abraham Verghese, MD Profesor of Medicine, Stanford University Author of Cutting For Steone We ... consider this book an invaluable contribution to the field and encourage everyone involved with residency training to read it. --Editors, Journal of Graduate Medical Education This book represents an important contribution to our understanding of the history and current state of American residency education and of ers a strong foundation for future research. -- Science Magazine

Author Information

Kenneth M. Ludmerer is Professor of Medicine, Professor of History, and the Mabel Dorn Reeder Distinguished Professor of the History of Medicine at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.

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