Also Human

The Inner Lives of Doctors

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Also Human

By: Caroline Elton

Narrated by: Rachel Bavidge

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Random House presents the audiobook edition of Also Human by Caroline Elton, read by Rachel Bavidge.

Doctors are the people we turn to when we fall ill. They are the people we trust with our lives, and with the lives of those we love. Yet who can doctors turn to at moments of stress, or when their own working lives break down?

What does it take to confront death, disease, distress and suffering every day? To work in a healthcare system that is stretched to breaking point? To carry the responsibility of making decisions that can irrevocably change someone’s life – or possibly end it? And how do doctors cope with their own questions and fears, when they are expected to have all the answers?

Caroline Elton is a psychologist who specialises in helping doctors. For over twenty years she has listened as doctors have unburdened themselves of the pressures of their jobs: the obstetrician whose own fertility treatment failed; the trainee oncologist who found herself unable to treat patients suffering from the disease that killed her father; the brilliant neurosurgeon struggling to progress her career in an environment that was hostile to women. Drawing on extraordinary case studies and decades of work supporting clinicians, Also Human presents a provocative, perceptive and deeply humane examination of the modern medical profession.

'Crucial and timely.' Atul Gawande

'Haunting, beautiful and urgent.' Johann Hari

Caroline EltonRachel BavidgeCornerstone Digital

Medicine & Health Care Industry

Mental Health

Physician & Patient

Psychology

Psychology & Mental Health

Health Care

Medicine

Thought-Provoking

Health

Medical Education

Social justice

Medicine & Health Care Industry Mental Health Physician & Patient Psychology Psychology & Mental Health Health Care Medicine Thought-Provoking Health Medical Education Social justice

Critic reviews

All agree there is a crisis in health care, but this book looks behind the headlines and tots up the human cost of a flawed system. Written with perceptive sympathy for the wounded healer, it is necessary reading for both doctors and patients. (Hilary Mantel)

With a compassionate eye for detail and a deep understanding of just how the systems we train and practice in as doctors can fail us as human beings, Caroline Elton offers a crucial and timely reminder that doctors are Also Human. (Atul Gawande, author of Being Mortal)

This furious dispatch from the front line of the hospital system argues we must care for our medics more... a book that may have found its popular moment. (Helen Rumbelow)

Caroline Elton is an occupational psychologist who has worked with medics for more than 20 years. She is uniquely qualified to comment... I’d be surprised if anyone who reads it will ever look at doctors in the same light again. (Decca Aitkenhead)

Also Human describes, through a series of case histories... the emotional and psychological problems that doctors can face. The interesting question... is how doctors overcome such feelings and carry on working, despite often having to witness, and sometimes cause, terrible suffering for our patients. At the heart of this book is the problem of how emotional resilience can be identified in prospective doctors and strengthened in practising doctors. We are fallible human beings, not omniscient gods. (Henry Marsh)

Her descriptions of the psychological forces underlying the way doctors act … is fascinating, with succinct explorations.

Fascinating, troubling, educative. Read Elton and weep and then think, argue and implement what needs doing to support not squander our medics. (Susie Orbach)

Have you ever wondered what your doctor thinks and feels once you walk out the door? Also Human is the uncensored answer - and it’s haunting, beautiful, and urgent for all of us to know. (Johann Hari)

An important, necessary book. Also Human shows that doctors are indeed all so human. (Dean Burnett, author of The Idiot Brain)

Doctors are people, too. They possess the same virtues, faults, fears and desires of the rest of us but it's easy for patients to forget this obvious truth. Caroline Elton's revelatory, sometimes disturbing, book, is a welcome reminder of this. For doctors and patients alike, this book is required reading. (Nick Rennison)

Most relevant

As a Junior Doctor 10 years post graduation I was sceptical about this book but curious.
I was struck by the affinity I felt with soooo many of the case examples discussed and the issues discussed.
This really does shin a light on the reality of being a junior doctor working in the nhs, and how much change still needs to happen.
This book shins a light on progress still required, it is very brave, I have great admiration for Caroline and the work she does.
I only wish I had access to her help sooner!!!!!
She does amazing work.