How to Be a Good Doctor in Under an Hour

Based on 50 years of experience in the medical field, Dr. Berberich has written a plea to remember what often is called the Art of Medicine. This emphasizes the inter-relational aspects of medical care, the interactions between people in the health care field. The Art of Medicine, he argues, has been undermined by burgeoning technology, expanding complex business models, and an avalanche of tasks and requirements. Resulting burnout has short circuited the time and effort needed for compassionate rapport and sensitive communication. Each of the ten sections in the book highlights a "good doctoring" ingredient. Written in a short format, each is designed to be read separately or as a continuum. It is the author's goal to redirect attention to the less data-driven aspects of medical care, and to do so across all specialties and personnel.

Based on 50 years of experience in the medical field, Dr. Berberich has written a plea to remember what often is called the Art of Medicine. This emphasizes the inter-relational aspects of medical care, the interactions between people in the health care field. The Art of Medicine, he argues, has been undermined by burgeoning technology, expanding complex business models, and an avalanche of tasks and requirements. Resulting burnout has short circuited the time and effort needed for compassionate rapport and sensitive communication. Each of ten sections in the book highlights a "good doctoring" ingredient. Written in a short format, each is designed to be read separately or as a continuum. It is the author's goal to redirect attention to the less data-driven aspects of medical care, and to do so across all specialties and personnel. For example, listening to patients and fellow staff is an oft neglected art form. Filled with knowledge and experience, yet short on time, a clinician may be tempted to break silence and interrupt a patient's narrative. If that happens, valuable and impactful information may be lost, never to be retrieved. Or that information may resurface too late to be of use. Or interrupting may offend, which in turn can impact cooperation. Similarly, the way time is used, the way respect and trust are cultivated, deeply affect medical encounters at every level of care. Dr. Berberich takes the reader through a series of touchstones to support The Art, presenting the patient's point of view along with other illustrative examples. Attending to the non-technical aspects of medicine during every encounter can only improve the overall quality of health care.

F. Ralph Berberich, MD, enjoyed a 50-year long career in clinical medicine before retiring in the year 2021. His journey began in earnest when he committed to pediatrics and then again when he developed a particular interest in hematology and oncology. After completing residency and a series of fellowships and two years of military service, Dr. Berberich joined the clinical faculty at the Children's Hospital at Stanford in Palo Alto, California. Several years later, his career took another turn when he became a founding member of a new pediatric practice in Berkeley. This change introduced him to the more practical aspects of pediatric care following the longitudinal lives of children within their families. As the years passed, the learning continued and Dr. Berberich added a humbling appreciation of recurring themes in childhood development, illness, and injury. Again and again, he learned that words really mattered. In 2005, Dr. Berberich stumbled upon yet another subspecialty when he was introduced to medical hypnosis, then a relatively young field straddling medical science and so called "alternative" practices. Since that time, its validation and acceptance have grown. Despite unfortunate and inaccurate representations in the entertainment world, hypnosis has become a recognized treatment modality for adults and children. Dr. Berberich became a certified consultant through the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis. While pursuing that interest, he sought to apply what he learned to lessen acute, medically induced pain, that leading to the development of a hypnosis-informed approach to childhood immunizations. An accumulation of knowledge and experience over the years has resulted in a series of articles in peer-approved journals, chapters in books, and three books he authored, one of which tells of his own experience as a cancer patient. Dr. Berberich is Board certified in Pediatrics and Pediatric Hematology/Oncology and is on the faculty of the National Pediatric Hypnosis Training Institute.