Short White Coat: Lessons from Patients on Becoming a Doctor

Book excerpt: Most people will, at some point or another, either find themselves dressed in a tiny hospital gown or staring at someone else dressed in a tiny hospital gown. Whether from the perspective of a patient, a family member, or a medical professional, we all have a significant stake in the process of medical education. While numerous memoirs recount physicians’ grueling experiences during residency, few focus on the even more formative portion of medical training: the third year of medical school—the clinical year. Short White Coat: Lessons from Patients on Becoming a Doctor is the disarmingly honest, yet endearing and sometimes funny account of a medical student’s humbling initiation into the world of patient care. Written during his third year of medical school at the University of Pennsylvania, James Feinstein’s Short White Coat uses a series of engaging narrative essays to illustrate the universal life lessons that his very first patients teach him. He examines some of the most common issues and feelings that medical students encounter while learning how to meet, talk with, touch, and care for their patients. Along the way, he learns from his own mistakes before discovering the answer to the question that plagues every medical student: “Do I have what it takes to become a doctor?”