"The DO" book REVIEW

   May 1, 2023 

“Practicing From the Heart (In the Age of Technology),” 

Reza Ghadimi (Foreword by Humayun (Hank) Chaudhry, DO, MACP), 

TH Pulse/PA Pulse, LLC (2021) 264pp.

This enjoyable, self-published volume arrived in the mail on the very same day I first saw something about ChatGPT®. It took me awhile to read the collection of essays and reminisces. By the time I was done, Bard®(Google) had arrived and, as of this writing, there are a half dozen or so more on the way. As a New Jersey native, I’m a diehard fan of Bruce Springsteen, but we might have to tweak one of his lyrics to, “Is that me, baby, or just some brilliant A.I.?”

Now, I don’t think a chatbot, even on a good day, could do what Ghadimi has done. He has organized his musings (vignettes might be a better word) in 12 chapters headed by the calendar months, although the stories told are not in chronological order. He’s been a practicing physician assistant for decades, and even though he’s not a physician, his close professional association to physicians provides a unique observational perspective on where we are and, just maybe, where we’re heading. We’re all prone to parallax, and so a take from another angle can be illuminating.

Ghadimi does not rail against technology or progress, instead he readily admits to using one of the first home computers (from Radio Shack!) to write. He provides dozens of heartfelt reflections on what is central to everything we do — the simple act of caring for another person.

Some of the stories are less than a page, others are much longer. I was struck by the unique voice of each one even though the subjects are many and varied. This would be a good book to keep in your office and maybe read a bit between cases or patients.

Skip around the story selections if you’d like — short or long, each is a stand-alone piece. They’re all personal observations, steeped in the experience of a long career in patient care. Perhaps, in the end, what will separate us from purely programmable authors is our ability to contextualize. I certainly hope so.

 Daniel J. Waters, DO, MA (The DO)

 AMERICAN OSTEOPATHIC ASSOCIATION