Caring for Patients: A Critique of the Medical Model

by Allen Barbour

Overview

"See your patient as a person, not a disease." This is the essential message of an experienced and compassionate physician who questions the prevailing medical model of patient care - that every illness has a physical cause that can be identified and treated medically - and who argues for the necessity of taking the psychological and social circumstances of the patient into account in the process of diagnosis and treatment.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780804723893
Publisher:	Stanford University Press
Publication date:	06/01/1995
Edition description:	1
Pages:	420
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

The late Allen Barbour, M.D., was Professor of Clinical Medicine at Stanford University. He served as Chief of the Stanford Diagnostic Clinic at the Stanford Medical School from 1971 until his retirement in 1981. During his tenure, he received six awards for outstanding clinical teaching.

Editorial Reviews

"The late Allen Barbour, a master clinician-educator . . . has distilled 40 years of experience into a book that is both practical and scholarly. . . . A book to be read cover to cover by health care providers of all types, in training as well as midway through their careers. Were he alive today, Osler would be pleased to write the preface."—Annals of Internal Medicine

"A legacy of Barbour's 40-year career in teaching, scholarship, and patient care, Caring for Patients is an excellent read. The writing is crisp and lucid. . . . A gem of a book."—New England Journal of Medicine

"A book to be read cover to cover by health care providers of all types, in training as well as midway through their careers. Were he alive today, Osler would be pleased to write the preface."—Annals of Internal Medicine

"Extremely thoughtful and well researched, this book offers practical approaches to typically difficult patient problems. . . . I highly recommend this book to anyone teaching or practicing primary care—physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and behavioral scientists."—Family Medicine

"The author is to be congratulated for assembling a most readable, concise, yet scholarly review of the importance of using a biopsychosocial approach in conceptualizing and treating mental illness."—American Journal of Psychiatry

From the Publisher

"Extremely thoughtful and well researched, this book offers practical approaches to typically difficult patient problems. . . . I highly recommend this book to anyone teaching or practicing primary care—physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and behavioral scientists."

Family Medicine

A physician questions the prevailing model of patient care--that every illness has a physical cause which can be identified and treated medically--and argues for the need to take the patient's psychological and social situation into account. He offers case histories to emphasize the difference between disease (what the doctor finds) and illness (what the patient feels). Barbour, who taught at Stanford U. for many years and died in 1993, outlines the goals and methods of a more effective person- centered care. Aimed at doctors, medical students, psychotherapists, counselors, nurses, and paramedical personnel. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews

"A legacy of Barbour's 40-year career in teaching, scholarship, and patient care, Caring for Patients is an excellent read. The writing is crisp and lucid. . . . A gem of a book."

New England Journal of Medicine

"The late Allen Barbour, a master clinician-educator . . . has distilled 40 years of experience into a book that is both practical and scholarly. . . . A book to be read cover to cover by health care providers of all types, in training as well as midway through their careers. Were he alive today, Osler would be pleased to write the preface."

Annals of Internal Medicine

"The author is to be congratulated for assembling a most readable, concise, yet scholarly review of the importance of using a biopsychosocial approach in conceptualizing and treating mental illness."

American Journal of Psychiatry