Product Description

Now more than ever patients are taking control of their own health care, leaving many conventional physicians unsure about their role as dispensers of medical knowledge. More waiting rooms are now filled with highly informed medical consumers seeking to partner with their doctors. They want to explore all promising treatiments, both mainstream and alternative, and connect emotionally. To physicians, these patients seem needy and demanding. They expect a lot of attention, but are all too quick to question authority and battle doctors for control of medical care. To patients, though, such physicans come off as distant and stodgy, even arrogant. Many walk away entirely from mainstream medicine seeking a better partnership or they neglect to mention the alternative tretments they're using for fear of disapproval. Less assertive patients simply clam up-put off by doctors' increasingly brusque bedside manner and shorthand use of "medicalese." The unfortunate result in each case is the same: miscommunication and missed opportunities. Patiens fail to receive the best care available to them, and doctor-patient relationships fall far short of the caring and mutually satisfying exchanges they should be. "How to Talk with Your Doctor" is a book for patients and doctors alike. It arms patients with the tools and knowledge they need to communicate better with physicians about using the best high-tech and alternative treatments while also helping doctors balance their skepticism of complementary and alternative approaches with open-mindedness.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #750228 in Books
• Published on: 2006-08-31
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 256 pages

About the Author
Ronald L. Hoffman,M.D., is recognized as one of America's foremost complementary medicine practitioners. He is founder and medical director of the Hoffman Center in New York City, author of numerous books and articles for the public and health professionals, and is host of the popular nationally syndicated radio program "Health Talk." He is active in several medical professional orgnizations and is the immediate past president of the country's largest organization of complementary and alternative doctors, the American College for Advancement in Medicine (ACAM) Dr. Hoffman received his medical degrees from Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He subsequently attended the Tri-State School of Traditional Chinese Medicine, and optained New York State certification to perform acupuncture. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Environmental Medicine and is a certified nutrition specialist

Customer Reviews

Giant step towards harmony in medicine
I have had the very good fortune over the years to be a patient of a doctor who practices conventional medicine but has treated me kindly and with much respect as his "most holistic patient".

Dr. Hoffman's book, HOW TO TALK WITH YOUR DOCTOR" has been a great help for both me and my doctor in bridging these troubled waters over which we, and so many other doctors and patients, must carefully navigate. I would lilke to point out that his title does not suggest talking TO your doctor, but rather with him (her). Neither doctor nor patient appreciates being talked TO>

Physicians do become exasperated as they are caught in a bind by insurance companies requiring them to treat more and more patients in the course of their day. Drug companies bombard us with advertisements telling us to "ask your doctor". They also bombard doctors selling their products. The internet helps us patients to help take control of our health issues, but our understanding as lay persons may not be the most beneficial to our health. And then there are the chilling side effects of some conventional drugs.

We patients who believe complementary and alternative options are more effective for staying healthy, or becoming well, and have the good fortune to have alternative health care professionals to turn to, but also know how important and necessary good conventional medicine is, have been given a great tool to help bring about the harmony we so sorely need in this field. I and so many of my friends to whom I have given this book sicerely thank Dr. Hoffman for helping us to strive to the balanced and good health care we so need and deserve.

How To Talk With Your Doctor
The book was very informative. Some parts weren't new for me, but I did learn new facts and also some sources that are very helpful.

I also liked the way the book was divided, Part One and Part Two. Part two covered the main health problems so prevelent today and alternative ways they could be treated or more importantly prevented.

It was not a book you could read through quickly. I had to read it slowly to absorb important details.
Ida Norgaard