Guest macdaddyeh Posted March 7, 2003 Report Share Posted March 7, 2003 I know it's not a pleasant mock question, but here goes: How will you EMOTIONALLY handle the death and disease of patients? Please provide insight from past experiences...... I ask this one not because you should necessarily expect it in an interview, but you should really reflect on the fact that as an aspiring phsyician you WILL see blood,urine, vomit, sperm, diarrhea and other fluids in both the living and the dead. If you have not had experience with this before either with an immediate family member who has died or been ill or via volunteer experience, you should really think heavily about this question and your motives for dealing with the ill. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest MayFlower1 Posted March 7, 2003 Report Share Posted March 7, 2003 I know it's not a pleasant mock question, but here goes: macdaddyeh, this (or some iteration of it) is a VERY likely question one might get...I think it should almost be a standard question...I'm amazed to have met more than one health professional and applicant who indicated that they really don't enjoy being around really sick people. WOW...what do these guys think they're getting into? How will you EMOTIONALLY handle the death and disease of patients? Please provide insight from past experiences...... Here's my answer: I am extremely comfortable with death and disease. I have been praised as being very level-headed, calm and reassuring in the midst of adversity. I have experience dealing with death, disease and adversity through personal experiences with friends, family and my children, as well as through my volunteer work in the Low Vision Clinic at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal and with St. John Ambulance. My father went through a very long drawn out death caused by complications of a combination of alzhiemers, parkinsons and dementia. When he was at his worst...about a month or so prior to his death...I was the only family member that was able to visit, feed, change and comfort him. The warmth and closeness I had supporting him in his last days gave me the greatest sense of satisfaction...I was able to give back to him some of the love he had shown me throught his healthy life. What my dad needed during this period of his life was to be comfortable and see that his condition wasn't upsetting me...that is what I gave him. My love for people and desire to help enables me to see past the disease or awful situation to recognize this is a human being that needs help that I am capable of providing. I also volunteer for St. John Ambulance. During a typical duty we might have to deal with scraped knees, minor cuts, heat exhaustion right through to suspected spinal injuries, cardiac problems and potentially even death. An ability to deal with situations unemotionally and professionally is key to being a successful first aider. Although some of the cases I have seen have been quite challenging, for example, an unconscious young child my partner and I had to deal with at the Ex last year, I have always been able to temporarily detach myself from the emotion so that I can deal with the situation at hand. The most challenging part of that particular situation was remaining calm and collected whille the boy's mother was in hysterics...I'm a parent and I can only imagine how it must feel to see your child unconscious. I realized that remaining calm and collected as I talked to the boy's mum and confidently reassured her that her son would be alright was key to giving her the support she needed. In these situations, I am able to put my needs on the back burner so I am fully available to support those in need. I'm not sure if this is an acquired ability or if some people "just have it", however, dealing with very sick people...bodily fluids...terrible injuries...seems to come naturally to me. This ability to remain objective, calm, compassionate and helpful in the face of serious disease and injury has been critical to supporting my friends, family and others in the past and will be of great value to me and my patients when I become a physician. Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest lots of thinking Posted March 7, 2003 Report Share Posted March 7, 2003 Peter, I think that was a great answer and I agree with you that every aspiring physician needs to seriously think about what they are getting into and whether or not its for them. I think that the calm, rational.......aspects are extremely important in dealing with illness and death, but I also think that emotion does have a role to play and if my emotions didn't play a role when caring for a sick child, I wouldn't want to do it. I understand that you need to channel your emotions and energy into the task at hand (helping the sick and the dying), but I think that my emotions will help me do a better job at that, as long as I keep them in check. M Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest MayFlower1 Posted March 7, 2003 Report Share Posted March 7, 2003 lots of thinking, You bring up a good point. I guess I was focussed on containing "negative" emotions (if you can call it that) rather than communicating "positive" emotion. Absolutely, the emotional side of me which wants to help people feel comfortable, safe, and competent care is critical to my ability to overcome some of the more negative aspects of disease, trauma, death, etc. and, as well, to facilitate a person's well-being. Thanks for the alternate point of view, as usual! Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Kirsteen Posted March 7, 2003 Report Share Posted March 7, 2003 Hi guys, I think it should also be said that, physicians may be in jobs where they see and experience things not seen and experienced by most. It doesn't mean, however, that this chronic exposure to such painful and adverse events and conditions causes normalization to the point where the doctors can slough it off and carry on to the next patient with nary a blink. What I've said is a bit dramatic, I know, but I'm around physicians (at the burn unit) and I've talked to physicians (as well as nurses and other medical personnel) who work with people who have undergone terrible, terrible things. Just yesterday I was talking to one of them and I noticed something very fitting to this thread. Although he was a former IRC surgeon, stationed in Afghanistan when the Taliban were doing their thing, and although he's worked with burn patients for years, he was called to treat a case this week which astounded even he. As he talked about it you could sense that this was not a matter of "Oh well, I've seen this sort of thing, I know how to treat it, now let's do it and move on"; rather, it was someone who remains deeply touched by the patients and situation in which he works. I guess the sum of it all, I feel, is that it's about having your own coping mechanisms in place--a mixture of those within you and around you. Becoming a doctor, I'd hope, does not involve a process that mimics us becoming well-informed droids. As a doctor, I expect that you never really know until you're there, what you're truly going to face and how you're going to deal with it, and even then, once you are there, you may continually be moved. Cheers, Kirsteen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest MayFlower1 Posted March 7, 2003 Report Share Posted March 7, 2003 Kirsteen, As a doctor, I expect that you never really know until you're there, what you're truly going to face and how you're going to deal with it, and even then, once you are there, you may continually be moved. As usual...well said...cheers. Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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