Taking a leap from one world to another,
Falling through the crack was not her plan
Saturday, April 22, 2017
Thursday, April 6, 2017
Daily Wisdom - PM&R | How to deal with an angry patient?
Patient, "The medical doctors didn't do anything. They don't know what they are doing. They didn't fix my shoulder. They didn't even do an X-Ray."
Dr. A, "Are you angry at them?"
Patient, "Yes, I am."
Dr. A, " Are they angry at you?"
Patient hesitates and then responds, "I... I don't know."
Dr. A, "Just like you are angry at them for not fixing your shoulder, they might be angry at you for bringing to them a problem that they were not able to solve."
Patient ponders over this statement and does not respond.
Dr. A, "Medicine is teamwork. You help them and they help you. You work as a team to solve a problem."
And the rest of the patient encounter went on in a more peaceful and calm manner. Dr. A did not fix her shoulder in this encounter, but she was certainly more satisfied. Wow!
Dr. A, "Are you angry at them?"
Patient, "Yes, I am."
Dr. A, " Are they angry at you?"
Patient hesitates and then responds, "I... I don't know."
Dr. A, "Just like you are angry at them for not fixing your shoulder, they might be angry at you for bringing to them a problem that they were not able to solve."
Patient ponders over this statement and does not respond.
Dr. A, "Medicine is teamwork. You help them and they help you. You work as a team to solve a problem."
And the rest of the patient encounter went on in a more peaceful and calm manner. Dr. A did not fix her shoulder in this encounter, but she was certainly more satisfied. Wow!
Tuesday, April 4, 2017
Daily Wisdom - PM&R | Pain is like sexual assault
Working in a Rehab Medicine rotation (which I desperately tried to cancel) with a senior physiatrist who seeks every opportunity to impart wisdom to this young soul.
We are talking about pain management in rehab medicine and how it is so difficult to assess pain because of its subjective nature. He says, "pain is like being sexually assualted. I might just have just looked at you and you may feel uncomfortable and decide to complain against me whereas somebody else won't even consider it twice. That is how pain is. It is very difficult to get an estimate of how much pain your patient feels. Even if you don't believe them, you have to go by what they say."
Mind blown!
We are talking about pain management in rehab medicine and how it is so difficult to assess pain because of its subjective nature. He says, "pain is like being sexually assualted. I might just have just looked at you and you may feel uncomfortable and decide to complain against me whereas somebody else won't even consider it twice. That is how pain is. It is very difficult to get an estimate of how much pain your patient feels. Even if you don't believe them, you have to go by what they say."
Mind blown!
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