Doctor Confidential: Secrets Behind the Veil

by Richard Sheff, MD

Overview

Doctor Confidential: Secrets Behind the Veil tells the autobiographical story of Dr. Rick Sheff’s training as a family physician in medical school and residency. Told in the genre of a hero’s journey beginning with his first, tentative cut into a cadaver, the reader is drawn in by the author’s compelling story telling, quickly coming to care deeply both about Dr. Sheff and each patient he encounters. Yet this book is so much more than a memoir of medical training. Written more than 25 years after the events it describes with the wisdom and insight of a nationally recognized leader of American medicine, each story is carefully crafted to teach profound lessons about the journey of doctor and patient together as they discover that the deepest healing, the healing we all seek, is ultimately an act of love. Dr. Sheff’s poignant insights go beyond medicine to teach us lessons in living well. In the end, readers feel that they themselves have been healed, have had their hearts touched, through the gift of this extraordinary literary work.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940012487605
Publisher:	Listen to Your Heart Press
Publication date:	04/29/2011
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	342
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Richard Sheff, MD is a family physician with over 30 years of experience in medicine. He chose the specialty of family medicine because he wanted to see and treat patients as whole people whose illness and wellness are a result of the complex interplay of their biological, psychological, social, and cultural circumstances. The years have taught him that to this must be added recognition of each patient's spiritual circumstances if they are truly to be seen as a whole person, including understanding their illness and wellness.

Dr. Sheff practiced family medicine in Massachusetts for 12 years, seeing adults, children, the elderly and, for the first part of his practice, delivering babies. Over the years he was asked to assume greater leadership responsibilities, including serving as medical director of his group practice, vice president for medical affairs of his hospital, president of a corporation that owned and operated physician practices, and vice president for medical affairs of an integrated delivery system. He left there to launch a new company, CommonWell, to help our healthcare system integrate the best of complementary and alternative medicine with the best of conventional medicine. At the same time, he began to consult with hospitals and physician organizations throughout the United States, and more recently internationally. He now serves as chairman and executive director of The Greeley Company, a highly respected healthcare consulting and education company dedicated to helping physicians and hospitals provide outstanding care to the communities they serve. Dr. Sheff has consulted, authored and lectured on a wide-range of healthcare management and leadership issues, including quality, patient safety, physician performance and accountability, and conflict resolution. “I went into medicine to heal and teach," he says, "and today I find myself continuing this work, but with a national and even international ministry. My goal is to heal healthcare for those who provide care and for all the patients and families who entrust their vulnerability to physicians and our healthcare system.”

Dr. Sheff is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and the Brown University residency program in family medicine. He was an undergraduate at Cornell University and recipient of the Keasbey Scholarship for the study of politics and philosophy at Oxford University.