**Honorable Mention, Sociology of the Body and Embodiment Best
Publication Award, given by the Body and Embodiment Section of the
American Sociological Association
**
The emotional and social components of teaching medical students to be
good doctors
The pelvic exam is considered a fundamental procedure for medical
students to learn; it is also often the one of the first times where
medical students are required to touch a real human being in a
professional manner. In Feeling Medicine, Kelly Underman gives us a
look inside these gynecological teaching programs, showing how they
embody the tension between scientific thought and human emotion in
medical education.
Drawing on interviews with medical students, faculty, and the people who
use their own bodies to teach this exam, Underman offers the first
in-depth examination of this essential, but seldom discussed, aspect of
medical education. Through studying, teaching, and learning about the
pelvic exam, she contrasts the technical and emotional dimensions of
learning to be a physician. Ultimately, Feeling Medicine explores what
it means to be a good doctor in the twenty-first century, particularly
in an era of corporatized healthcare.