Change of Pace

So I haven't really blogged about my clinical experience so far.  It's difficult to bring up issues that I find at work, without violating privacy or sounding like an obnoxious medical student.

I think two big issues have become evident, and they are pretty general.  The first is plain old kindness.  I've been in both shoes: being on the patient side of things, as well as the doctor side.  From a patient's point of view, I think the most important attribute a physician can have is kindness.  Empathy is important, but I think if a doctor isn't innately kind you can't truly be empathetic (and it's obvious when it's fake).  Knowledge is important, but you can train anyone to be a doctor- and you can Google or refer anything.  But over the past month, I've found that this is a two-way street.  The patient has to be kind, too.  I understand that many people in a hospital are at a low point in their life, but being rude or ungrateful can have a negative effect on a provider.

When I know that I'm about to go see an angry patient, everything in me wants to run out the door and back home.  I try not to let it affect me, but I definitely feel more inclined to help and work with a patient who isn't judgmental or impatient or rude.  As a paramedic, I saw this type of patient every day, but I could drop them off at a hospital and never see them again.  I didn't have to see them over and over for chronic problems like I do now.  Anyway, if you find yourself getting upset with a physician, take a step back: is this doctor tired or overworked?  Who else has this doctor had to deal with today?  Am I doing everything the doctor says to do, and nothing of what the doctor says not to do?

I can't even honestly say that I'm a good patient or never demanding.  But being on the other side, I know how much else there is to deal with.

The other big topic I've found that is lacking is family support.  I'm not really sure what we as clinicians can do to improve this, other than to increase awareness among family members.  I wish I could tell the story of a patient I saw today, who, like many other patients, emotionally needs support from those close to her.  Imagine being in the hospital without family or friends.  Or having major life-saving surgery and not getting any flowers or visitors.

I could only imagine how terrible that would be.  I know how important the patient's optimism and mental state is to the success of a surgery, as well as throughout the healing process.  It has to be detrimental to feel utterly alone during the toughest part of one's life.  Who doesn't want to wake up from anesthesia surrounded by those you love??  And the biggest question is who doesn't want to be there for a loved one??

Anyway, these are things I have little control over.  But seeing it from the other side makes me more aware as a patient and as a family member.