Review of “The Doctor's Voice” by Dr. Pietro Emanuele Garbelli, Narrated by Damian Lynch

​Score: 94/100 (9.4 out of 10)

The Doctor's Voice by Dr. Pietro Emanuele Garbelli, the owner of Transforming Healthcare LTD, is more than just a typical professional development and healthcare management book. It's a spirited critique of modern healthcare and medicine, particularly as it pertains to doctors.

Many of us put doctors on a pedestal. We think of them as having all the answers, high pay, and having everything together. Some of us think of them as superheroes, forgetting that they're not superhuman.

However, did you know that doctors have higher-than-average rates of suicide, burnout, low job satisfaction, and mental health issues?

Dr. Garbelli passionately discusses the many potential causes and—invaluably—potential solutions to these issues.

One of the key things that we took away from this book is that doctors constantly suffer from disruptions, speed bumps, and—what we like to call—“bottlenecks” that inhibit and interfere with their work. These inefficiencies in the current existing healthcare system limit the amount of patients that doctors can see during a shift and the amount of care and attention they can provide to each individual patient.

They also cause needless and increased frustrations and agitations for doctors.

The author compares this to incessant and overlapping red alerts on the Starship Enterprise (from Star Trek), inviting readers to think about how many “red alerts” doctors are currently dealing with at any one time.

For example, junior doctors often have to gain permission and access from senior doctors. That shows that many doctors aren't trusted to make decisions on their own. This creates hurdles and hoops for them to jump through, bottlenecking the care process.

The author argues: If doctors are expected to have full accountability (having responsibility if anything goes wrong), then why don't they have independence of authority and action?

The author tells us that a full waiting room isn't a badge of honor or a sign of being busy, it's a sign of an inefficient healthcare system, one that is overburdened, overworked, underfunded, and understaffed.

Gabelli compares the environment in hospitals as being like a “street market” or “zoo.” In other words, it's full of disorder and chaos rather than being streamlined and efficient.

Gabelli talks about the silent “moaning” of healthcare workers and doctors, comparing it to the pressure in a tea kettle or pressure-cooker building up, crying and screaming out. Doctors are not allowed to let out steam. And the institutions normally emphasize patient care over the needs and concerns of their workers.

He reminds us that human beings aren't meant to function like pressure cookers.

Compounding this problem is the severe understaffing of doctors, nursing, and other medical personnel. Garbelli argues, rightfully, that if every branch of military has reserve soldiers, then why don't hospitals have more reserve doctors and nurses?

This is a spirited and passionate diatribe about the existing American healthcare system from the perspective of an experienced doctor who also brings knowledge and a perspective from outside of the country, being from Northern Italy.

This is definitely something that resonated with us. Some of us are healthcare workers, doctors and nurses, from other countries. We are often appalled by the American healthcare system.

Patients are often appalled by the American healthcare system. If we are the #1 country, then why don't we have the #1 healthcare system? Why don't we have the best hospitals? Why don't we have the best treatments? Why is everything so complex, convoluted, and complicated? Why is everything so inefficient and ineffective?

We definitely smelt what the doctor was cooking.

​The audiobook is also brilliantly illustrated by Damian Lynch in a crisp and clean British accent!

Now, with all that said, the most interesting part of the book was actually the humorously long “About the Author”/acknowledgments section at the end. It's because the author's actual personality and life story are fascinating. Apparently, he grew up gay in conservative Northern Italy. He also suffered from pneumothorax, which helped to build his empathy and understanding for patients.

Check it out on Amazon!