(Ziv Amsili is a pre-medical student who’s taken interest in physicians who authoring books. She’s created a series of interviews for SoMeDocs, which include some of the authors we featured in our BOOKS Directory).
Gregory J. Warth, MD, FACP is an internist in Virginia beach, and is currently working on two books: Art of Patient Care and Building Your Model Railroad, inspired by his websites. As president of the Coastal Virginia Medical Society and founder of the Coastal Virginia Medical Foundation, Dr. Warth holds patient care at top interest, providing resources to help others and advocating for both physicians and patients in the medical world.
Dr. Warth began writing newsletters as an extension of his passion for sharing knowledge and connecting with others. “I first began writing a newsletter in the early 2000s as a way to get more traffic for my hobby website, building-your-model-railroad.com,” he explained. His topics varied, from model railroading to medical professionalism, though Dr. Warth says that the art of both requires overlapping skills, like “science, technology, teamwork, cooperation, education, problem solving…”.
Your next commute, walk, or charting break could come with a smarter soundtrack. Explore our directory of expert-led podcasts created by healthcare professionals with something meaningful to say.
Dr. Warth’s newsletters also tackle the gap in compassionate care within medical practice. “I have seen too many doctors and nurses who treat patients poorly, sometimes because they just never developed good social skills, not necessarily because they don’t care,” he stated.
His writings emphasize the importance of bedside manner, highlighting that even small gestures of compassion and empathy can significantly affect patient outcomes. Further, he says that part of the reason he wrote these books is to have information similar to his website more accessible to the public, and hopes the knowledge he spreads in Art of Patient Care will be taught to nursing and medical students.
I have seen too many doctors and nurses who treat patients poorly, sometimes because they just never developed good social skills, not necessarily because they don’t care.
Dr. Warth cited time as his biggest obstacle in completing his books. Despite his retirement, his involvement in various projects limits his writing hours. Nonetheless, as president of the Coastal Virginia Medical Society, he notes the important qualities that a leader should have: “I think being a leader is more about being a team member with suggestions on how to move forward rather than telling people what to do,” he said. His advocacy work focuses on empowering healthcare professionals to challenge the status quo and influence healthcare policy.
Dr. Warth further hopes his writings will inspire healthcare professionals to embrace compassion in their practices and advocate for systemic changes in healthcare. “As managers of patient care, we should have more say in the decisions that are made in corporate board rooms and government offices,” he says, regarding the evolution of healthcare.
