Get Inside Your Doctor's Head: 10 Commonsense Rules for Making Better Decisions about Medical Care

by Phillip K. Peterson

Overview

This concise and accessible guide to modern healthcare explains the 10 rules of medical decision-making—and when to break them.

With so many medical tests and treatments to consider and so much information out there—some of it contradictory—it can be difficult to know what’s right for you. In Get Inside Your Doctor’s Head, Dr. Phillip K. Peterson explains the Ten Rules of Internal Medicine. Using real case examples, Peterson shows how following these commonsense rules will help you make better decisions about your medical care.

Get Inside Your Doctor’s Head provides advice about when to seek treatment, when to get another opinion, and when to let time take its course. Using the Ten Rules can help you communicate more effectively with doctors and help you weigh their recommendations.

As with all rules, there are occasional exceptions—and when evidence suggests that you are an exception, the relevant rule should be broken. Follow the Ten Rules to make decisions in the increasingly complicated medical world when you need guidance about health matters for yourself and your loved ones.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781421410708
Publisher:	Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication date:	05/04/2021
Series:	A Johns Hopkins Press Health Book
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	95
File size:	2 MB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Phillip K. Peterson, M.D., is a professor of medicine and an infectious diseases specialist at the University of Minnesota Medical School. He is a fellow of the American College of Physicians and of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. Because many infections are public health threats and many are linked to animals, he is also on the faculties of the University of Minnesota School of Public Health and the College of Veterinary Medicine. Dr. Peterson has served as an internist and infectious diseases consultant at the University of Minnesota Medical Center and Hennepin County Medical Center.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Applying and Breaking the Rules
1. If You Don't Know What You're Doing, Don't Do Anything
2. If What You're Doing Seems to Be Working, Think about Continuing It
3. If What You're Doing Doesn't Seem to Be Working, Think about Doing Something Else
4. Don't Agree to an Invasive Procedure without Understanding Why It's Needed—and without Getting a Second Opinion
5. If You Don't Have Symptoms, a Doctor Can't Make You Feel Better
6. Never Trust Anyone Completely, Especially Purveyors of Conventional Wisdom
7. Most Things Are What They Seem to Be, Except When They're Not
8. What Your Doctor Doesn't Know Could Kill You
9. Timing Is Everything, and Sometimes Time Is the Cure
10. Caring Is Always Important Medicine
Epilogue: The Participatory Art of Medicine
Recap: The Rules Revisited
Acknowledgments
Appendix: Additional Information about the Common Illnesses Discussed in This Book

What People are Saying About This

Charles E. Davis

"In simple direct language Dr. Peterson tells readers how to understand their doctors’ recommendations and ask intelligent questions about their validity. This straightforward information provides valuable tools to help readers evaluate medical advice and become effective self-advocates for the highest quality medical care available."

Editorial Reviews

Peterson, a University of Minnesota Medical School professor and infectious disease specialist, aims to help patients (and doctors) navigate daunting health-care dilemmas with 10 deceptively simple “rules”: “If you don’t know what you’re doing, don’t do anything”; if what you’re doing seems to be working, continue; if it isn’t, think about doing something else; always get a second opinion about a proposed invasive procedure; your doctor can’t make you feel better if you don’t have symptoms; “never trust anyone completely”; most things are what they seem—except when they’re not; “what your doctor doesn’t know could kill you”; “timing is everything, and sometimes time is the cure”; and “caring is always important medicine.” Peterson allows that each rule is nuanced and may need to be broken occasionally (except for the last rule), and he presents both heartening and heartbreaking cases to illustrate each. It’s a small book, but it’s full of big and invaluable advice. “The authoritarian approach of ‘your doctor knows best’ is gone,” Peterson states, and while his sagest wisdom isn’t on the list, it could be a life-saver: patients need to speak up. (Sept. 1)

Publishers Weekly

"Well written and easy to pick up and understand. it is obviously written for the lay person but is definitely not patronising or demeaning, delivery an easy read for professionals and lay persons alike... nice pocket sized companion that if not carried... should remain on hand, on a desk or book shelf."

Nursing Times - Ibadete Fetahu

"A powerful discussion highly recommended as a basic primer to medical professional thought processes, and will appeal to any general-interest health collection."

Midwest Book Review