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On Becoming a HealerAuthor: Saul J. Weiner and Stefan Kertesz
Doctors and other health care professionals are too often socialized and pressured to become "efficient task completers" rather than healers, which leads to unengaged and unimaginative medical practice, burnout, and diminished quality of care. It doesn't have to be that way. With a range of thoughtful guests, co-hosts Saul Weiner MD and Stefan Kertesz MD MS, interrogate the culture and context in which clinicians are trained and practice for their implications for patient care and clinician well-being. The podcast builds on Dr. Weiner's 2020 book, On Becoming a Healer: The Journey from Patient Care to Caring about Your Patients (Johns Hopkins University Press). Language: en Genres: Health & Fitness, Medicine, Relationships, Society & Culture Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it Trailer: |
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Poems about the wretched illness experience when your doctor is"clinically detached"
Episode 68
Tuesday, 16 December, 2025
Writing about the illness experience, medical sociologist Richard Frank described an unspoken agreement with his doctor that if he adopted their detached and clinical language when discussing his illness, "I would have at least a junior place on the management team." Initially it seemed like "not a bad deal," until he experienced the toll it took, concluding that, "No one should have to stay cool and professional while being told their body is breaking down, though medical patients always have to do just that." Through three poems selected by our repeat guest, English professor Laura Greene of Augustana College, we see the pain and cost to patients when their doctors and nurses hold them at arm's length, unable or unwilling to see their humanity. We reflect on why, and what to do about it.
