Doctors are being encouraged to learn empathy skills by reading books, says Bryan Hubbard
Medical students at one UK university are being encouraged to read books to improve their empathy. A lack of empathy is widely recognized as one of the main failings of doctors, and it’s hoped that reading will widen their understanding of the sufferings of patients and relatives.
Leading the initiative is Dr Felicity James from the university’s English department, who thinks it will give medical students the chance to reflect on the profession and their treatment of patients. The first book in the program was Dr Benji Waterhouse’s You Don’t Have to Be Mad to Work Here (Jonathan Cape, 2024), an original title, for sure, and a funny review of the world of psychiatry.
So, inspired by the initiative, WDDTY has put together its own list of 10 books every doctor should read:
The Old Man and Vitamin C: A cautionary tale involving a cantankerous old man who refuses to take a host of prescription drugs recommended by his doctor and instead opts for high-dose vitamin C. The fact the old man lives to a glorious and healthy great old age is beside the point.
The Day of the Jab-All: An edge-of-the-seat thriller in which a crazed anti-vaxxer tries to leaflet a health minister and is pursued by a fully vaxxed government agent. As the terrain gets tougher, the anti-vaxxer starts to pick up disease after disease, while the government agent remains strong and healthy. An important warning to stay fully up to date with the vaccine schedule.
Lord of the Files: A timely reminder that a doctor’s main task is administrative. Keep up to date with those forms, file properly, keep your handwriting illegible. The average time with a patient should look something like this:
Includes handy tips for color-coding records.
198.4: An absolutely hilarious picture of an inept trainee doctor who thinks the average body temperature is 198.4°F. Although he continues to cling to this belief, he rises through the medical ranks to become a senior consultant responsible for the lives of thousands of trusting patients. Hilarious, yes, but also truly inspiring.
A Farewell to Arms: If you ever doubt the reason you became a doctor, pick up this book, and it’ll all come flooding back. It’s about a man who comes in for minor surgery, but the surgeon misreads the notes and amputates both his arms—one of those hilarious mistakes any of us can make. It’s also a clever play on the Hippocratic oath: First, do no arms!
Finnegan’s Awake: The story of a night in a busy hospital ward in Dublin where one patient, Patrick Finnegan, tries desperately to get some restorative sleep. As he’s nodding off, a nurse deliberately drops a tray next to his bed and shouts out to the other nurses, “Finnegan’s awake!”
Frank Enstein: There are doctors, and then there are trailblazers. Dr Frank Einstein won a Nobel Prize for his pioneering work, which included replacing a man’s brain with a dog’s. It was an enormous success, although afterward the man always lingered a little too long around lampposts.
Dr Zhivago-go-go: One of those feel-good novels with lots of exotic locations, sunshine and cocktails on the beach. The hero, Dr Zhivago, is a newly qualified doctor who immediately leaves to enjoy a better life in Australia. An inspiration to us all and a salutary reminder of why doctors enter the profession in the first place.
Crime and No Punishment: A heartwarming tale of how medical errors are covered up. Incriminating files get lost, and grieving relatives are kept in the dark. The message is simple: No matter what you do, someone’s always got your back. It will bring a tear to the eyes of even the most hardened reader.
Nostromo: A fascinating examination of how a new and untested pharmaceutical, Nostromo, gets prescribed by doctors. It starts with a fraudulent study paid for by the manufacturer, which is shown to the doctor. Wrapped inside the study are enormous sums of money.
The doctor continues to be rewarded for his bravery in prescribing the untested drug to unwary patients. Truly inspiring and enriching, especially for the doctor.
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