Product Description

How Doctors Think defines the nature and importance of clinical judgment. Although physicians make use of science, this book argues that medicine is not itself a science but rather an interpretive practice that relies on clinical reasoning. A physician looks at the patient's history along with the presenting physical signs and symptoms and juxtaposes these with clinical experience and empirical studies to construct a tentative account of the illness.
How Doctors Think is divided into four parts. Part one introduces the concept of medicine as a practice rather than a science; part two discusses the idea of causation; part three delves into the process of forming clinical judgment; and part four considers clinical judgment within the uncertain nature of medicine itself. In How Doctors Think, Montgomery contends that assuming medicine is strictly a science can have adverse side effects, and suggests reducing these by recognizing the vital role of clinical judgment.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #211895 in Books
• Published on: 2005-11
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 256 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780195187120
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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Review

"This is a book that will be read with pleasure by anyone interested in how medicine is done and it is a book that should be required reading for all students starting their clinical training."--Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine
"Montgomery has certainly written a piece that will stimulate people to think more deeply about medical and wider health professional practice. It is a text I will recommend to students and colleagues."--PsycCRITIQUES

About the Author
Kathryn Montgomery is at Northwestern University.

Customer Reviews

A Masterpiece!!!!
K Montgomery's book is the culmination of many years of working with physicians trying to dissect their way of reaching a complex diagnosis. She has an exceptional hability to put in words what takes 20 years of medical practice. Her concept of medicine not as science but a progressive growth based on experience ( memory of previous encounters with thousands of patients) and...science + new developments is simply revolutionary. Practical reasoning is the essence of how doctors think in the practice of medicine!!!!! This is one of the best books I ever read. I recommend HIGHLY
Daniel Sette Camara, MD,FACP,FACG, FASGE

Brilliant
I was thrilled when I first began reading How Doctors Think, and my feelings did not change when I finally finished the last page of the book. In honest,lyrical prose, Kathryn Montgomery eloquently articulates the complicated tapestry of the clinical decision-making process physicians often encounter in the face of clinical uncertainties and probabilistic medicine. Kudos to a beautifully structured deconstruction of the culture of medicine and medical training! I highly recommend this book to those involved in medical education curricular development. For those who are already medical students, residents, fellows, and attending physicians, I would suggest this as a must-read book on your reading list.

How Doctors Think
The best overview of physician thought processes I have read. Well written;thorough; should help non-medical persons understand the challenges physicians face in the diagnostic process and is an excellent guide for physicians who wish to organize and improve there clinical judgment. An MD