Prompt #1: Asking Questions and Breaking Assumptions

By: Fatamah Esa

When thinking about the medical field, we usually picture nurses checking vital signs or drawing blood for lab tests, doctors asking the patient questions deep in thought while writing on a notepad, medical assistants handling schedule appointments and answering calls, or surgeons in the ER hard at work. There are a lot of preconceptions of the medical field but here is a short list:

• It is difficult to get into medical school.
• Being a surgeon requires an immense amount of skill and intelligence.
• Doctors come up with patient diagnosis and preferred treatment.
• Doctors and surgeons are well compensated.
• Nurses take care of patient needs such as distributing medicine, bringing meals and clean sheets, and reviewing patient’s situation/progress.
• Medical technicians help doctors’ determine diagnosis by analyzing CT scan, MRI, ultrasound results.
  
  

As an introductory textbook for the medical field, I choose Introduction to the Health Professions to examine how useful it is as a resource. Part one of the book, which is six chapters, wasn’t very helpful in the sense that it diverted from the topic of discussion, which is an intro about the medical professions. Instead the book talked about impact of technology on field, an overview of healthcare reform, costs and how one can pay their medical expenses (Medicaid & medicare) and historical events that had impacted health care such as High Deductible Health Plan and history of infectious diseases.

Part Two of the book spans nineteen chapters and this where the book really dives into the topic. Each chapter talks about a specific profession the first being doctors. It gives you an insight about the common perceptions of being a doctor and the realities of what it actually is. I found the book to be extremely helpful because it gave an introduction of not just the medical field but it broke it down to provide information for all professions in the medical field, which is extremely helpful. I think this resource or book is nice resource for those looking into the medical field and looking to pursue a career in the field. I

Sources:

Stanfield, Peggy, Nanna Cross, and Y. H. Hui. Introduction to the Health Professions. Sudbury, MA:

Jones & Bartlett Learning, 2012. Print.