Reality Stories of Medicine

Things About Patient Care You Don't Learn at School

This e-book is intended for healthcare providers at any level, students or practitioners. It contains six chapters of "real life" medical stories with over 300 observations learned from the day to day life of a practicing internist and subspecialist. Dr. Gullberg is a physician who has been accumulating knowledge about patient care for three decades and spends all of his time daily taking care of patients in the office and hospital, as well as teaching medical students at all levels. The chapters include: 1) Office or Hospital: Patient observations 2) Views on family members of patients 3) Views on the healthcare provider 4) General views on healthcare 5) Patient and provider interaction, and 6) Paramedical observations. Some of the viewpoints are sobering, some are humorous, some are soul searching, and some are downright surprising. Many of the stories just give plain, sound advice. With short and easily readable vignettes, this book will help you navigate for the years ahead. This e-book is meant to be a pragmatic look at patient care. It represents a best effort to provide a much-needed book on the realities of patient care and issues in day to day medical life. The genuine day to day practice of medicine is a long way from medical school, PA/NP school, and internship or residency. Some students may say, "Why should I read this? How will this book help me run a code blue? Don't I need to just read medical journals?" That attitude misses the point. Soon after one starts their career in patient care, one will find that the practice of medicine is far more than an academic pursuit. A general understanding of these real life observations will serve medical students and healthcare providers well for the future. Robert M. Gullberg, M.D., F.A.C.P.