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Are there proper books out there on professional and moral demeanors of a physician?


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I am not talking about interview preps but mostly about real resources medical students use to learn about correct behavior in front of patients, the way to handle chaotic situations, the way to handle inappropriate requests, etc. When I look at the questions in the clinical roleplay part, I honestly wonder some times maybe the way I handle things are not on par with how it is supposed to be. If I am too empathetic or too blunt, If I am flexible or rigid in considering the contextual information before taking a decision, etc. Are there books or resources that properly teach these issues and give strategies to medical students to improve their professional and interpersonal skills? I am in general a bit too dry and rigid in my demeanors. Sometimes, and I think I am too quick to call the police/security or kick out a patient if the patient starts to make a scene or become rude/aggressive. But I am also not sure really, because I don't know what is the appropriate balance of things in clinical setting. a few examples to give you an idea what I am talking about:

- Patient comes in and casually calls you racial slurs without being threating. Should I suck it up and do my duty as a physician? Should I teach her about why she is wrong? What if she has done it while she is leaving. Should I chase her and just let it go. There are too many what and ifs and it seems arbitrary to me because I do not know the basic ethics and baseline behaviors of a doctor.

- Patient threatens to try drugs if I don't give him a doctor's note.

- Patients shows sexual undertone in his behavior and action but you are not really sure about it and bringing it up might offend him and create a scene.

 

 

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16 hours ago, neurologist19 said:

I am not talking about interview preps but mostly about real resources medical students use to learn about correct behavior in front of patients, the way to handle chaotic situations, the way to handle inappropriate requests, etc. When I look at the questions in the clinical roleplay part, I honestly wonder some times maybe the way I handle things are not on par with how it is supposed to be. If I am too empathetic or too blunt, If I am flexible or rigid in considering the contextual information before taking a decision, etc. Are there books or resources that properly teach these issues and give strategies to medical students to improve their professional and interpersonal skills? I am in general a bit too dry and rigid in my demeanors. Sometimes, and I think I am too quick to call the police/security or kick out a patient if the patient starts to make a scene or become rude/aggressive. But I am also not sure really, because I don't know what is the appropriate balance of things in clinical setting. a few examples to give you an idea what I am talking about:

- Patient comes in and casually calls you racial slurs without being threating. Should I suck it up and do my duty as a physician? Should I teach her about why she is wrong? What if she has done it while she is leaving. Should I chase her and just let it go. There are too many what and ifs and it seems arbitrary to me because I do not know the basic ethics and baseline behaviors of a doctor.

- Patient threatens to try drugs if I don't give him a doctor's note.

- Patients shows sexual undertone in his behavior and action but you are not really sure about it and bringing it up might offend him and create a scene.

 

 

you know I am not aware of any specific book although those topics do some out in our regular magazines from CMPA/OMA etc. A lot of that is taught on the job it seems (right or wrong) and some in the actual medical training. 

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CMPA has a bunch of stuff on their website, which may be helpful. But keep in mind their position is usually very defensive, and usually bit idealistic.

If you wanna learn more you should join the variety of physician FB groups, people will talk about scenarios they've encountered and how things went.

There is no correct answer usually, it's like history, it's written by the victors.

Sometimes good defense is the best short term offence. Aka try to de-escalate in the moment, but document strategically, report to the appropriate authorities, and make long term plan to discharge this patient and be ready for counter-attack if they want to bite back.

Patients are humans , and human are animals, and animals bite and go berserk for no reason. Some animals can't be tamed. You can't expect a hyena to be persuaded to go vegan.

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