Articles & Media
When Doctors Feel Fear
I remember the first time I laid eyes on an actual amygdala, after slicing through a brain with a repurposed kitchen knife in neuroanatomyclass. That’s it? I thought. That nickel-size splotch tucked below the temporal lobes was the seat of my fears? It was monumentally underwhelming and even lacked
the poetic almond shape that its Latin name connotes.
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New York Times review of “What Doctors Freel”
This book’s hallmark is honesty, particularly when it comes to the emotional fallout of her medical mistakes. More
Fear is a Primal Emotion
This was it—the first code I was in charge of. After two years of racing to codes as a first- and second-year resident, now suddenly, the code was mine. I was the one to call the shots, to direct the care, to assign the jobs, to make the decisions….Shit! More
Tolerating Ambiguity
When faced with ambiguous situations, most of us — quite humanly — want to run for the tantalizing veneer of the certain. We doctors pride ourselves in the scientific girders of modern medicine. Much of the time, though, we function in an ambiguous zone, without clear-cut answers. More
Danielle Ofri on NPR’s ‘The Takeaway’
Danielle Ofri is interviewed by NPR’s John Hockenberry on ‘The Takeaway’ about whether medical school makes students jaded and bitter. More
The Darkest Year of Medical School?
Next month, your future doctor will take the first steps into clinical medicine. I am not talking about the first day of internship (though that also happens on July 1), but the monumental transition that medical students make at the halfway point of medical school from the classroom years to the clinical years. More
Boston Globe review of “What Doctors Feel”
A fascinating journey into the heart and mind of a physician struggling to do the best for her patients while navigating an imperfect health care system that often seems to value “efficiency,†measured in dollars and minutes, more than the emotional well-being of either physician or patient. More
Medical Errors and the Culture of Shame
It was probably our eighth or ninth admission that day, but my intern and I had given up counting. I was midway through my medical residency, already a master of efficiency. You had to be, or you’d never keep up. This one was a classic eye-roller: a nursing home patient with dementia, sent to the emergency room for an altered mental status. When you were juggling patients with acute heart failure and rampant infections, it was hard to get worked up over a demented nonagenarian who was looking a little more demented. More
Publishers Weekly review of “What Doctors Feel”
An eloquent and honest take on the inner life of medical professionals. Ofri’s passionate examination of her own fears and doubts alongside broader concerns within the medical field should be eye-opening for the public—and required reading for medical students. More
Booklist **STARRED REVIEW** of “What Doctors Feel”
Her insightful and invigorating book makes the case that it’s better for patients if a physician’s emotional compass-needle points in a positive direction. More
Kirkus Reviews: “What Doctors Feel”
An invaluable guide for doctors and patients on how to “recognize and navigate the emotional subtexts†of the doctor-patient relationship. More
Press Release for “What Doctors Feel”
“What Doctors Feel”–coming on June 4th 2013. Called “insightful and invigorating,” “eloquent and honest.” “An invaluable guide.” Pre-orders available. Book Launch on June 5th at Barnes & Noble, Upper West Side More
Creativity in Medicine
“What are you doing creatively these days?” It’s not a question you hear commonly. Medicine is a field with a strong history of creativity, but its daily practice feels less and less creative More
Review of “What Doctors Feel”
“An essential book. Each chapter is like a journey into the hearts and minds of clinicians who are struggling with emotions triggered by the realities of medicine.” More
Review of “What Doctors Feel: How Emotions Affect the Practice of Medicine”
“An essential book. Each chapter is like a journey into the hearts and minds of clinicians who are struggling with emotions triggered by the realities of medicine.” More
