When Washington University School of Medicine students Elisabeth Askin and Nathan Moore wanted to learn more about the nation’s health care system, the majority of resources they found were narrowly focused, opinion-based publications or dense reference books.
The students collaborated to produce a clear and concise guide to the overhauled system. The book — The Health Care Handbook: A Clear and Concise Guide to the United States Health Care System — is a topical overview of the health care system. It is aimed primarily at undergraduate and graduate health professions students but is also accessible to lay readers.
About 13,000 copies of the book have been sold, and it is being used in 48 health professions training programs. The book was written about in The New York Times and has received positive reviews.
Somehow, the two authors managed to write the book while juggling the demands of medical school. Askin will receive her medical degree this month and will head to the University of California, San Francisco, for residency training in internal medicine. Moore received his MD last year.
“Their book is a superb primer on our system, written in an accessible style that will appeal to students of any age, from 18 to 80. Talk about precocious — when I was a medical student, I was trying to survive anatomy and physiology.”
— Robert Wachter, MD, professor and chief of the division of hospital medicine at the University of California, San Francisco
Related Stories
2014 Class Acts: Achieving Excellence
2014 Class Acts: Making Memories
2014 Class Acts: Serving the Community
2014 Class Acts: Shaping the Future
2014 Class Acts: Sparking Innovation