Recommended Series: Practical Handbook Series for County-Level Hospitals Nationwide

I have recently been reading the Practical Handbook Series for National County-Level Hospitals on the WeChat Reading app, and have gained a great deal. Free electronic books indeed save money and take up no space. But as I kept reading, I still selected some volumes from this series and bought the paper versions. The reason is simple: paper books feel more tangible and are more convenient for taking notes.

This series consists of 25 volumes in total: Handbook for Psychiatrists, Handbook for Oncologists, Handbook for Obstetricians and Gynecologists, Handbook for Radiologists, Handbook for Laboratory Physicians, Handbook for Rehabilitation Physicians, Handbook for Anesthesiologists, Handbook for Otorhinolaryngologic-Head and Neck Surgeons, Handbook for Pain Physicians, Handbook for Infectious Disease Physicians, Handbook for Pediatricians, Handbook for General Practitioners, Handbook for Stomatologists, Handbook for Emergency Physicians, Handbook for Critical Care Physicians, Handbook for Surgeons, Handbook for Hospital Directors, Handbook for Referral, Handbook for Doctor-Patient Communication, Handbook for ENT Physicians, Handbook for Ophthalmologists, Handbook for Internists, Handbook for Pediatric Nursing, Handbook for Surgical Nursing, and Handbook for ENT Nursing. Basically, it covers all the common medical problems encountered at primary-level hospitals.

Paper books are expensive. The full set costs over 1,400 yuan, and buying the entire set is unnecessary and would take up too much space at home. So I selected the volumes most closely related to my work: Handbook for Oncologists, Handbook for Pain Physicians, Handbook for Psychiatrists, Handbook for Internists, Handbook for Infectious Disease Physicians, Handbook for Pediatricians, Handbook for Emergency Physicians, Handbook for General Practitioners, Handbook for Rehabilitation Physicians, and Handbook for Doctor-Patient Communication. I bought them online from Taobao; even after the discount, they cost six or seven hundred yuan. There is no helping it—studying medicine is expensive, and medical books are costly.

I first learned about this series by reading the Handbook for Pain Physicians, and later read the Handbook for Oncologists, Handbook for Psychiatrists, and Handbook for Doctor-Patient Communication. Reading this series is a pleasant experience; even someone of average intellect like me can easily understand it.

This series was compiled by experts from major hospitals nationwide, organized by People's Medical Publishing House. The content is highly practical, and reading it does not take too long—each book can basically be read in 5–10 days. Finishing one book gives you a holistic impression of the common issues in that specialty. I plan to read the paper copies I purchased several times and take careful notes, because the volumes I selected have high practical value in my daily work. For the other books, I plan to read the electronic versions to get a rough understanding.

After studying medicine for so many years and practicing on the front lines of clinical work, I personally feel that anyone studying medicine should have a holistic perspective and be familiar with the diseases and common problems across all clinical specialties. Because every patient and family member we encounter is complex, and their health problems often cannot be understood at a glance by a specialist. To reduce misdiagnosis and provide patients with the most professional help, whether in TCM or Western medicine, we must consciously raise our cognitive level and have a comprehensive understanding of clinical medicine. At the same time, we should also deeply understand issues that are not purely medical technology but are closely related to the work of medical staff—such as doctor-patient communication and referrals—and keep our awareness up to date.

Being a doctor is truly not easy. There is a lot to learn, and the responsibility concerns human life. In this era of sharp social contradictions, doctor-patient relationships are particularly tense, and medical staff face high occupational risk. I had a teacher who, when she mentored me in clinical work, was in a rehired-after-retirement status. At that time, I was doing both clinical and management work in the hospital. She said to me, "Your work is very difficult, and your responsibility is even greater than that of an ordinary doctor. You must always remember: only when patients are safe can doctors be safe. To ensure patient safety, doctors can only raise their own level and prevent various risks." Her advice to me was to spend a few years thoroughly working my way through the physician handbooks of all clinical specialties. My teacher told me that only when one has a holistic understanding of problems across all clinical specialties can one become a good specialist.

I now have a deep personal appreciation for her teaching. Lack of experience and knowledge is the main cause of misdiagnosis. According to statistics, the outpatient misdiagnosis rate in hospitals nationwide exceeds half. The reason for such a high misdiagnosis rate is that doctors do not recognize diseases; many doctors know almost nothing about diseases outside their own specialty. A misdiagnosis naturally means inappropriate treatment, while patients' expectations for medical quality keep rising. This inevitably leads to a sharp increase in doctor-patient disputes. Statistics show that from 1996 to 1999, the average monthly number of medical complaints nationwide soared from 2,164 to 22,125. In three years, complaints increased tenfold. No wonder doctors all feel that the profession is becoming harder and harder.

Not to mention that among the patients and family members we face every day, there are also a large number of psychiatric patients. Dealing with these patients and their families requires doctors to have a high level of recognition for mental illness. If we cannot identify them and treat them as ordinary people, it is easy to brew serious doctor-patient dispute incidents.

Many medical staff suffer from depression, because the pressure and difficulty of medical work are both very high. But when we have a comprehensive understanding of human physical and mental illnesses, we will not feel so much pressure. However, this requires more than twenty years of extensive study. Such study must be comprehensive: not only must one thoroughly understand diseases across all specialties, but it is best to also read a large number of humanities books—we must not only understand diseases comprehensively but also comprehensively understand the characteristics of the human species, and understand ourselves.

In short, do not confine yourself to a very narrow circle. Keep reading more literature, improve your cognitive and diagnostic skills, and reduce risk for both your patients and yourself.