May 5, 2004
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In the midst of my radiology rotation...and I'm learning more than what goes on behind the scenes. I've learned that a bunch of calcifications on a mammogram mean that a woman, a real live person, is probably going to be receiving one of the worst phone calls in her life soon. I learned that a man can have breast cancer and then all of a sudden develop a bleed in his brain. I learned that a woman who 31 weeks ago rejoyced over becoming pregnant now has to mourn the loss of the child she never got to meet. It's soo much easier reading about this and doing case studies. I found myself praying for each and every patient I saw today. I found myself near tears at soo many different times. And you know what? I don't ever want that to change. I want my patients to know I care, that I am upset about their bad news too. What if that person was my mother, brother, father, husband, child? Wouldn't I want their healthcare provider to give a damn? I get soo damn angry when doctors, nurses, techs, whatever, don't give a damn. Or who say, it'll be alright. That's bullcrap. While I don't want to breakdown into tears, I do want to always feel compassionate about and empathetic for my patients. Maybe that's the real reason we do our rotations...although learning patient care/contact/etc are pretty dang important too.
Anyhoo, was feeling a bit thoughtful today. Hope you all have a great hump day. Be safe and be cool.
Comments (6)
It would be nice having more doctors who really do care as well and not become callosed (sp?) to those things. Although I have to admit...I wouldn't last long as a doctor for that reason. I'd be a basket-case all the time unable to work effectively. LOL It takes a strong person to keep that balance of still caring, but not letting it interfer with their work either. I imagine some days are harder than others though. There will be other days with lots of good news for patience recovering, etc. also.
You are the kind of P.A. I seek out. You're going to be so great!
Having received one of those calls from a very cold-hearted receptionist made the hell I went through a little bit worse. Thank God the radiologist who finally got to give me the good news was a bit more compassionate, wanting to make sure I was emotionally okay after all I recently been through.
Most health care folks get detached because of the emotional pain it brings - it's hard to do your job for patient number 548 when you just heard that patient 312 died.
BUT. And this is huge! As the daughter of a woman who was in hospice for a few months, I remain forever grateful to the people who never ever viewed Pat Brown as a number.
I ain't stoppin', I'm just blog hoppin' and random e*proppin'!
I think it must be very difficult for Dr's. They end up seeing so many patients at a time, how can they possibly get so emotionally involved with all of their patients? Must be a very very draining job.I probably would cry everyday
I think you have wonderful ideals. Probably a lot of people do to start with but the pressure, the mental and emotional stressing over every sad diagnosis is just too much. In order to do their jobs they have to toughen up.
But stay soft and human. It could make all the difference. Do you read Ficklemistress? She works in a hospice and is all heart
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