BOOK REVIEW: 'Attending: Medicine, Mindfulness, and Humanity'

The appointment will probably be brief.

That’s OK, though; you’re informed. You know that when it comes to your health these days, it’s important to make every minute with your doctor count and you’re hoping to be thorough, so you don’t waste her time. The new book “Attending” by Dr. Ronald Epstein might help, by revealing how a good practitioner thinks.

Years ago, as a young medical student, Epstein witnessed a near-catastrophe in an operating room that almost led to a patient’s death. Shaken, he began to think about what makes a good doctor, and he “came to three conclusions – good doctors need to be self-aware… in the moment… and no one had a road map.”

And thus the reason for this book: patients and physicians are both frustrated at what has become of the healthcare system today. On the part of the practitioner, “it is possible to do better” by becoming more mindful.

With ever-shrinking appointment times, it’s especially important for a practitioner to pay attention to a patient, but in different ways. Medical school teaches physicians to deal with the “unexpected and complex,” but they’re not trained to slow their thinking and see the obvious. Even so, in a good doctor, intuition sometimes takes over.

Curiosity is inherently present in mindfulness. It’s asking the seemingly-odd questions, a willingness to see things differently, the cultivation of presence and of active listening and wanting to avoid the mundane. It’s what makes a doctor want to get to know a patient, if nothing but for the sake of knowing.

Practitioners, says Epstein, are taught not to get too close to their patients, but sometimes they can’t help it. They “dread” the “’What would you do it you were me?’” question, and they hope you never become an “interesting” case. They get sick, too, and it makes them just as fearful as it does you. And they know that sometimes, “no” is the absolute right answer.

Though I liked reading “Attending” very much, the main thing I couldn’t ignore was the struggle in determining its intended audience.

Absolutely, Epstein wrote this book with healthcare practitioners in mind; there seems to be abundant advice and reminders on each page, with stories they will understand and to which they can relate. This is a thoughtful, quiet book and, for medical personnel, it’s a phenomenal look at being the kind of healer patients want.

But is it accessible for lay-people?  There’s where I struggled.

I can see where a patient might want to read this book; surely, just as doctors can improve, it’s nice to know how to be a better patient. I’m not sure the new-agey-ness will hold the average reader’s interest – that’s more physician-based – but I think there are lessons to learn.

Even so, while this book is good and does offer an imagined future for healthcare, those in the field will get much more from it. If that’s you, then you’ll appreciate it. If not, then your time with “Attending” might be brief.