Peter Dorward – författare

The Human Kind is a compelling account of some of the hardest cases in one doctor’s career.Everyone gets to be a patient sooner or later. Almost everyone has some experience of being misunderstood by doctors; encounters with difficult doctors; of relationships burdened with mutual bafflement, hostility and pain.Every doctor is haunted by memories of difficult relationships with patients, of the decisions made, and the outcomes that followed. People whom, despite all of their patience, persistence, the best communication, diagnostic and reasoning skills, they haven’t helped. People for whose unique suffering it seems medicine has nothing to offer.Dr. Peter Dorward explores the many ethical dilemmas that GPs must face every day, to explain why it is that despite vast resources, time, skill and dedication, medicine is so often destined to fail. His recollections include his worst failures and biggest challenges, ranging from the everyday, the tragic, the grotesque, the villainous and the humorous.The Human Kind presents a fresh understanding of the difficult relationship between doctor and patient, and the challenges which both must face.

‘Doctors will love this book. It speaks to them in profoundly personal ways, and also in stimulating intellectual ways [and] full of source material to help doctors and educators shape a better world in medicine.’ – Moira Stewart, PhD, Distinguished University Professor Emeritus, Centre for Studies in Family Medicine, Western University, CanadaWhat does it mean to be a good doctor? How do we learn to respond well to suffering—both our patients’ and our own—and to sustain ourselves in systems that so often undermine those very values we must hold on to?In this anthology a group of physicians from five countries—ranging from newly qualified doctors to internationally recognized scholars—come together to reflect on the tensions and promises of current medical education and practice. Making a Good Doctor is a weave of academic inquiry, personal narrative, literary reflection, and pedagogical dialogue.Across eighteen chapters, the book explores the emergence of medicalization, over-diagnosis, alienation, burnout, moral injury, and the commodification of care. It celebrates the joy of medicine, its power to heal— the transformative force of listening, of dialogue, of shared presence.Key FeaturesOffers a uniquely holistic combination of personal stories and critical perspectives on current medical education and practiceBuilds around a person-centred ideal that sets the humanity of both patients and professionals at the centre of medical education and practiceExpresses ideas and ideals that have been tested in educational practice and have solid theoretical underpinnings in medical philosophy and psychological and pedagogical researchThis book is directed toward the medical practitioner, educator, or student interested in understanding more about the forces that shape, and distort, medical culture and healthcare systems. It is for those interested in developing insight; in learning techniques for collaboration, resistance, resilience, and change.A PDF version of this book is available for free in Open Access at www.taylorfrancis.com. It has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 International license.