Changed by patient contact

[jigger]

So I had a pretty deep question.

 

How have you been changed by patient contact? What did you realize after your first rotations or after a particularly emotional case?

[Lactic Folly]

http://www.premed101.com/forums/showthread.php?p=294904&highlight=intimate#post294904

3rd paragraph of my post.

[Jochi1543]

I think my most memorable interaction to date was actually when I worked on the ambulance. We had to transfer an elderly stroke survivor from 1 facility to another. She had been nearly fully paralyzed and unable to speak for a good year or two. No one really knew if she could understand speech, either. It was a fairly long transfer, and I'm not going to lie that I was quite uncomfortable. I did my best to talk to her, not sure if she can understand me or not, and felt pretty stupid because I was just rambling about stupid stuff without anyone responding - and I wasn't sure if I was amusing her or, on the contrary, boring her to death.

 

We dropped her off at the nursing home, and I was the last person to exit her room - she was in there all alone and the nursing attendant told us she rarely had visitors. I tucked her in and said goodbye and then she turned her head and looked at me with this absolutely awful, desolate look, as if she was about to burst into tears, and just stared at me longingly until I left the room. It was the first and last time she had made any eye contact with me.

 

I was pretty shaken up by everything that she conveyed to me in that look, the amount of suffering and loneliness in her eyes was unbearable, and it was clear that whatever her mental capacity, she was absolutely miserable. It made me think a lot about what it's like to slowly die alone in a nursing home in the middle of nowhere, all your relatives gone, abandoned by everyone, and locked in your own body, unable to express your needs.

[benge88]

I think my most memorable interaction to date was actually when I worked on the ambulance. We had to transfer an elderly stroke survivor from 1 facility to another. She had been nearly fully paralyzed and unable to speak for a good year or two. No one really knew if she could understand speech, either. It was a fairly long transfer, and I'm not going to lie that I was quite uncomfortable. I did my best to talk to her, not sure if she can understand me or not, and felt pretty stupid because I was just rambling about stupid stuff without anyone responding - and I wasn't sure if I was amusing her or, on the contrary, boring her to death.

 

We dropped her off at the nursing home, and I was the last person to exit her room - she was in there all alone and the nursing attendant told us she rarely had visitors. I tucked her in and said goodbye and then she turned her head and looked at me with this absolutely awful, desolate look, as if she was about to burst into tears, and just stared at me longingly until I left the room. It was the first and last time she had made any eye contact with me.

 

I was pretty shaken up by everything that she conveyed to me in that look, the amount of suffering and loneliness in her eyes was unbearable, and it was clear that whatever her mental capacity, she was absolutely miserable. It made me think a lot about what it's like to slowly die alone in a nursing home in the middle of nowhere, all your relatives gone, abandoned by everyone, and locked in your own body, unable to express your needs.

 

 

This is absolutely heartbreaking!

[aaronjw]

Do personal experiences of being AFFECTED by physicians count?

 

Not in medical school obviously but I have profound thanks and respect for the medical profession (though I don't always show it because I also feel there are **** ass doctors out there but that's true of all professions) from when I broke my neck in a car accident and ended up coding at the hospital. I was technically dead but here I am.

 

When I think back to this experience and sit and really try to comprehend, it can be an emotional experience even 16 years later.

[Kasiunut]

I'm not a doctor or med student even but I volunteer as a Physician's Assistant 1 day per week in my family doctor's clinic so I've seen a lot.

 

So far there have been many stories that have affected me, some good and some really sad. One lady and her husband came in and they were both incredibly stressed out. They had been told she needed to come in to discuss her blood work done during her physical (3 weeks prior). For some reason they thought this was going to be a cancer diagnosis, since this woman's mother, aunt and grandmother died of cancer and her 2 sisters both had it. It turned out all she had was B12 deficiency and slightly elevated blood sugars. Seeing their immense relief was amazing.

 

Another was sad - this lady came in to get the necessary ECG and blood work done because she was getting a kidney biopsy in the hospital the next day. She already had Lupus, vertigo, a mastectomy from breast cancer, and one of two other conditions. She was so worried and disappointed and she had no one there to hold her hand because her husband had died some years ago. She was only 72 and while a lot of us may think "oh well, she's old and has lived her life" when you actually talk to these people you realize that it doesn't matter what age, but a cancer diagnosis is devastating for everyone, its NOT easier just because you are older.

 

A few weeks ago a 13 month old baby came in who had a tracheotomy done due to complications from being born at 27 weeks. He had had something like 4 or 5 surgeries before he was a year old and had only JUST been discharged from ICU 2 weeks prior to the visit and already had an infection. Though my biggest sympathy went to his mother who had been through so much. I couldn't imagine how hard it much be for her.

 

Honestly, I think this is the biggest privilege of being a physician, being there for some of these people in such intense moments in their lives.