Recently, Dr. Peter Kramer published an intriguing, well-written, but poorly reasoned and potentially dangerous “thought piece” in the New York Times. His article, “Why Doctors Need Stories,” contains several logical flaws and erroneous arguments, but the overarching concept is a classic “straw man” argument.
Education
Editor’s Note: On November 10, 2014, Jennifer Hatfield, Ph.D., associate dean for global health & international partnerships at the University of Calgary, will speak at Albert Einstein College of Medicine’s Global Health Conference. She’ll address ethics in global health partnerships. We asked her to share some of her thoughts on the subject in advance of Read more
How we think about emotion affects not only the meanings we ascribe to situations, events or people but also our possible future actions. In medicine, emotion is central to the work carried out by health professionals daily. Understanding, reflecting on, engaging with and expressing emotion are important aspects of practice. That healthcare professionals need to Read more
A recent Viewpoint column by Melissa L. Rethlefsen et al. in the Journal of the American Medical Association, “Engaging Medical Librarians to Improve the Quality of Review Articles,” examined the value medical librarians bring to the research process. Librarians’ expertise includes selecting databases, employing advanced search skills, refining topics, developing search strategies and managing results Read more
It was the fall of 1984 when I interviewed at Einstein to become a medical student. I can still remember the jitters I felt. I was the first person in my Puerto Rican family who was born in the U.S., the first to pursue a graduate degree, the first to attempt to become a physician Read more
There are certain people who enrich lives, shape careers and inspire excellence. Einstein’s Dr. Roger Duvivier is one of those people. From his upbringing in Haiti, Duvivier grew from a young man with a dream—who knew almost no English when he came to the U.S. at age 18—into an accomplished obstetrician/gynecologist, mentor and global health Read more
