The recipient of extraordinary critical acclaim, this magisterial book provides a landmark account of American medical education in the twentieth century, concluding with a call for the reformation of a system currently handicapped by managed care and by narrow, self-centered professional interests.
Kenneth M. Ludmerer describes the evolution of American medical education from 1910, when a muck-raking report on medical diploma mills spurred the reform and expansion of medical schools, to the current era of managed care, when commercial interests once more have come to the fore,...

The development of American medical education involved a conceptual revolution in how medical students should be taught. With the introduction of laboratory and hospital work, students were expected to be active participants in their learning process, and the new goal of medical training was to foster critical thinking rather than the memorization of facts. In Learning to Heal, Kenneth Ludmerer offers the definitive account of the rise of the modern medical school and the shaping of the medical profession.

In Let Me Heal, prize-winning author Kenneth M. Ludmerer provides the first-ever account of the residency system for training doctors in the United States. He traces its development from its nineteenth-century roots through its present-day struggles to cope with new, bureaucratic work-hour regulations for house officers and, more important, to preserve excellence in medical training amid a highly commercialized health care system.

Let Me Heal provides a highly engaging, richly contextualized account of the residency system in all its dimensions. It also brilliantly...