How to Think Like a Doctor: My First Substack Post
How to Think Like a Doctor
By MICHAEL MANGOLD, M.D.
Copyright ©2016 & 2025 by N. Michael Mangold M.D.
All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law. For permissions contact me at [email protected]
Preface to the First Edition
I came to Nicaragua originally to teach medical English to Nicaraguan medical students and intended to use this version as their textbook. My eventual goal is to revive Chairman Mao’s concept of Barefoot Doctors and make quality medical and health care available to underserved areas of the world. It is not only a dream of mine but is the logical follow-up to my first non-profit endeavor The Medicine Cabinet, with which we collected, repackaged, and sent medications and medical equipment to areas of need. Our first shipment was sent to the Rwandan refugee camps in Zaire in 1994 and was one of the first humanitarian projects to arrive there since the tragedy was not recognized as a humanitarian crisis by developed nations for several months.
The world desperately needs kind, compassionate, and capable health care workers. Ironically (and sadly), this is the polar opposite of what is happening in the United States, where a “good doctor” is now defined by how quickly they chart. I personally do not want to go to the grave with the epitaph “Here lies Michael Mangold, A Good Doctor Because He charted on Time.”
Michael Mangold, MD
San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua
September 2013
Preface to the Second Edition
Quite a bit has changed in medicine and my life since I first published this book. The United States has formally adopted ICD-10 for classifying diagnoses and so I have made the changes necessary to reflect this in the part of the book titled “Plan.” I have also “cleaned up” this book to make it easier to read on cell phones and tablets. Besides this increase in readability, I want to integrate the intention of this book (medical education) with my overall goal of providing quality healthcare to underserved areas of the world and one way to do that is take advantage of the power of the internet to provide easy access to massive amounts of medical information.
While my goals have remained unchanged in the three years since the initial publication, my life’s situation has changed dramatically. I no longer live in Nicaragua because that mission was aborted when the U.S embassy in Nicaragua conspired with my ex-wife to kidnap my son Benjamin. We are now both back in the States and you can read about these tragic chains of events in my book My Worst Thanksgiving Ever. I am also semi-retired, thanks to the debilitating injuries I received in Managua trying to find Ben. That does free me up to write, hence this revision.
As I tell readers of my blog, I hope that you will “Learn and Enjoy” the important things I have to say.
Michael Mangold MD
Chicago, IL USA
February 2025