The Doctor's Perspective.

A study in which a representative group of practicing physicians in a midwestern city were asked what they consider to be effective practice and what satisfactions they find in working with patients forms a picture of how the physician functions in the United States today and how he sees himself.

Abstract

"This is a book about doctors. It reports a study in which a representative group of practicing physicians in a midwestern city were asked what they consider to be effective practice and what satisfactions they find in working with patients. Their responses, compared and correlated with their personal and professional characteristics, form a picture of how the physician functions in the United States today and how he sees himself." Thus the authors (an internist, two psychologists, and a psychologist-physician all working during 1960 to 1966 at Western Reserve University) preface their report, for in essence it is a report rather than a book; perhaps it could be called a "non-book." Its 215 pages, of which approximately one half are tables and listings (many of little interest to the reader), could have been condensed to an article (or a series), for a journal such asThe Journal of Medical Education. In