Jenicek M. How to Think in Medicine: Reasoning, Decision Making, and Communication in Health Sciences and Professions

New York: Productivity Press, 2018. — 569 p.Mastery of quality health care and patient safety begins as soon as we open the hospital doors for the first time and start acquiring practical experience. The acquisition of such experience includes much more than the development of sensorimotor skills and basic knowledge of sciences. It relies on effective reason, decision making, and communication shared by all health professionals, including physicians, nurses, dentists, pharmacists, and administrators.
How to Think in Medicine, Reasoning, Decision Making, and Communications in Health Sciences is about these essential skills. It describes how physicians and health professionals reason, make decision, and practice medicine. Covering the basic considerations related to clinical and caregiver reasoning, it lays out a roadmap to help those new to health care as well as seasoned veterans overcome the complexities of working for the well-being of those who trust us with their physical and mental health.
This book provides a step-by-step breakdown of the reasoning process for clinical work and clinical care. It examines both the general and medical ways of thinking, reasoning, argumentation, fact finding, and using evidence. It explores the principles of formal logic as applied to clinical problems and the use of evidence in logical reasoning. In addition to outline the fundamentals of decision making, it integrates coverage of clinical reasoning risk assessment, diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis in evidence-based medicine.
Presented in four sections, this book discusses the history and position of the problem and the challenge of medical thinking; provides the philosophy interfacing topics of interest for health sciences professionals including the probabilities, uncertainties, risks, and other quantifications in health by steps of clinical work; decision making in clinical and community health care, research, and practice; Communication in clinical and community care including how to write medical articles, clinical case studies and case reporting, and oral and written communication in clinical and community practice and care.ForewordHistory and position of the problem, and the challenge of medical thinking. Philosophy for medicine: yesterday and today
How did we get where we are today?
Philosophy and medicine. How much are we philosophers?
Art, craft, science: aren’t we also all this and above?
Ways we see, learn, and practice medicine today
General rules of critical thinking, argumentation, and logic in medical research and practice
The scientific method. Not only for science but for practice too!
Evidence-based medicine, patient-centered and otherwise centered medicines, and clinical practice sharing a common line of thought.
Philosophy interfacing topics of interest for health sciences and professions across the cognitive process in health care and research
Definitions of What we want to see and what we can do.
Probabilities, uncertainties, risks, and other qualifications in health by steps of clinical work
Cause-effect relationships
Thinking by steps of clinical and community care.
Decision making in clinical and community health care, research, and practice
Fundamentals of decision analysis and decision making
Decision making in clinical and community care.
Communication in research and practice.
Writing medical articles; essays, scientific papers
Clinical case and case series reporting
Oral and written communication in clinical and community practice and care
Other references