emotions

“What Doctors Feel” in Chinese

你好 Nǐ hǎo! Beacon Press is excited to announce that “What Doctors Feel” is now available in Chinese! More

Covid Vaccination: the Last Mile

The COVID vaccine engenders a unique obstinacy that seems to blot out conversation. We doctors and nurses are exhorted to listen to our hesitant patients and hear their concerns, but this is difficult to do when patients don’t even want to talk. More

Danielle Ofri in conversation with Oliver Sacks–Video

Danielle Ofri in conversation Oliver Sacks. Hear the full conversation, ranging from the ethics of using patients’ stories, to the ins and outs of hallucinations, to the relative merits of Bach versus Beethoven. More

Danielle Ofri’s TED Talk on “Deconstructing Perfection”

Shame, guilt, fear—you can’t tally these on a spreadsheet, but they are the biggest elephants in the room when it comes to medical error. Danielle Ofri makes a powerful, against-the-grain case about perfection that could lead to dramatic improvements in care and ultimately could save lives. More

Losing a Patient

He made his way into my exam room supported by two metal crutches that braced at the elbow, lurching his withered legs forward, step by excruciating step. He was a wisp of a man, barely clocking in at 100 lbs—wasted away, it looked like, from untreated polio and a lifetime of subsistence living. Yet somehow here he was in bustling Manhattan, having managed to navigate our bureaucratic hospital system just a few months after arriving from East Africa. More

Danielle Ofri’s TED Talk on “Fear: A Necessary Emotion”

Fear is a perfectly human state for a doctor to be in. However, it’s not necessarily the most ideal situation for your patient to be in. Danielle Ofri’s TED talk is a harrowing journey through the intricacies of fear. More

“Healing Words” interview

Danielle Ofri interviewed at the Mayo Clinic about writing, healing, and medicine. More

“What Doctors Feel” in Japanese

こんにちは “What Doctors Feel” is now available in Japanese! The perfect complement to your sushi-and-sake lunch. More

Should Doctors Care About Happiness?

We in the health care professions need to notice and inquire about happiness the same way we do other aspects of our patients’ lives. More

Patients, and Doctors, Aren’t Dying at Home

Doctors, it turns out, aren’t much different than everyone else when it comes to where they die. More

Fear of Dying Alone

What if a patient dies and nobody is there to mourn? Is it like a tree falling soundlessly in the forest? More

Radio Interview about emotions in medicine

Danielle Ofri speaks about doctors, patients, and the emotions that flow between…. More

Giving the Doctor a Second Chance

“Someone had said you were a good doctor,” my patient said derisively, “but I was not impressed.” What had I done? More

Keeping Perspective on Ebola

Irrational fears are highly contagious, and there’s no vaccine for that. So just like in the hospital, we need to use universal precautions. Be skeptical of hype. Get your facts from reliable sources and keep things in perspective. More

The Little Things

Although technically these are the little things, in a sense they’re actually the big things. Indeed, for some patients, the little thing may be the only thing that matters. More

Books by Danielle Ofri

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