Abraham Verghese Quotes

Bedside manners are no substitute for the right diagnosis.

We sometimes think that the best doctors are the ones who have the most specialized knowledge or the fanciest degrees, but in fact, study upon study, including one published in the 'New England Journal of Medicine,' show that the best doctors are the ones who also know how to connect with their patients.

I never let on I was a comedian. I never acted out. It was really important to me, like, to not be Patch Adams. I was so super serious as a doctor, I would bark orders to my nurses. I was hard-core. I wanted to make sure I did my job right. I was perfectly trained to be a physician. You know, it wasn't a fluke. I worked hard at it.

I think, in picking a doctor, you should focus less on the degree and more on their knowledge, bedside manner, communication, and patients' experiences.

As a medical doctor, it is my duty to evaluate the situation with as much data as I can gather and as much expertise as I have and as much experience as I have to determine whether or not the wish of the patient is medically justified.

What we have now is doctors who are actually better technically at what they're doing in their specialty than 30 or 40 years ago, but we lost the relationship, when the doctor would look people in the eye and say, 'I care about you. We can do this together.'

I truly feel the best doctors are ones who are criticized by nurses, patients and family. They do not make excuses and learn from their mistakes.

Practise things you're good at. Keep on top of things you're not so good at, but be world-class at your best. Never think, 'I'm very good at this and that, I can leave those for a bit.'

The kind of doctor I want is one who when he's not examining me is home studying medicine.

I feel like if I had my personality but was an OB/GYN, you would be psyched. You'd be like, 'My chatty, pop-culture-interested but plainspoken, wants-to-talk-about-clothes but serious-minded doctor.' I feel like I would clean up with patients. That's kind of a cocky thing to say.

I like to do enough work to keep myself sharp and relevant without trying to be trendy.

Whatever plays are called, I'm just going out there and doing my job.

As a professional, I cannot afford to be complacent.

Serving people is never a problem for me, because I've already served all my patients. Even as a doctor, I also wasn't purely a doctor.

When I opened my solo practice, I made it a priority to put my patients' experience first and foremost. This involves making them feel comfortable, both literally and figuratively.

I've always shown up, always been prepared. Everything I do comes back to the example I want to set.

There will never come a time when you don't have to practice

Care more for the individual patient than for the special features of the disease. . . . Put yourself in his place . . . The kindly word, the cheerful greeting, the sympathetic look - these the patient understands.

Do you think that was kind? Do you think it was godlike? What would you think of a physician, if a woman came to him distressed and said, "Doctor, come to my daughter, she is very ill. She has lost her reason, and she is all I have!" What would you think of the doctor who would not reply at all at first, and then, when she fell at his feet and worshiped him, answered that he did not spend his time doctoring dogs? Would you like him as a family physician?

You need a good bedside manner with doctors or you will get nowhere.

I think that drive to fight the fight day in and day out, I think that can go away. You can lose that. As long as you continue to be consumed and overwhelmed with the desire to get better and find another way and keep competing to figure out what you can do to help make this guy be better than he was a day ago, as long as that's there, I don't agree.

I try to treat every job with the exact same level of respect. When I go into it, it doesn't matter what the budget is or who the lead actor is. You should have the same focus and the same drive, and you should have as much empathy for your character and understanding of them as you would, no matter what.

In your career you have a lot of good moments and bad ones. The important thing is to have enough motivation to keep working all the days with humility and trying to be a better player than before. I am going to try to continue doing this.

I know writers who write only when inspiration comes. How would Isaac Stern play if he played the violin only when he felt like it? He would be lousy.

Nursing is an art: and if it is to be made an art, it requires an exclusive devotion as hard a preparation as any painter's or sculptor's work.