Most medical students have more time to spend with patients than do higher-level providers. This encourages me to take the time I have with each of my patients to truly get to know them and how their lives affect their abilities to take care of themselves. Something I came to learn throughout my third year clerkships (and that I did not value as much before) was the power bedside manner has on the outcome of a patient's care. I have seen a direct correlation between good bedside manner and patient cooperation and health outcome. Observing this correlation has not only made me aware of how I should and should not approach my patients, but has also encouraged me to ask for feedback from residents and attending about my bedside manner - not just about my clinical knowledge and presentation skills.
Oluchi Ukaegbu
Class of 2013
The Arnold P. Gold Foundation and Gold Humanism Honor Society (GHHS) Chapters join in solidarity to celebrate humanism in medicine. Tell everyone how Peoria (IL) Cares. Send an example to peoriacares@uicomp.uic.edu. The students of the GHHS Chapter of the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria firmly believe that the spirit of humanism is alive and flourishing in Peoria and deserves to be celebrated. We believe that “PeoriaCares.”
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Thursday, January 24, 2013
GHHS Member Oluchi Ukaegbu
Linda P. Rowe, EdD
GHHS Advisor
GHHS Member Sandy Tun
Sandy Tun is from Spring Valley , IL and earned her bachelor’s degree in biology at Illinois Wesleyan. She is also active with GUIDES and many other community service projects and extracurricular activities, including the a cappella singing group and the dodgeball club. She has coordinated presentations for fellow students on topics such as social and racial health disparities. In supporting Sandy for this honor, one of our faculty members noted Sandy ’s strong academic performance while observing that he believed that “Sandy ’s motivation to succeed in medicine is inspired by her desire to serve others with the greatest care. In patient rooms, I often observed her ability to put patients at ease and to relate to each person on an individual basis. It is rare to encounter a student with the enthusiasm, thoughtfulness, and sincere dedication I see in Sandy .”
Linda P. Rowe, EdD
GHHS Advisor
GHHS Member Pradeep Singanallur
Linda P. Rowe, EdD
GHHS Advisor
GHHS Member Kristen Schmidt
Kristen Schmidt, who is from Minnesota , majored in English at the University of California at Berkeley , completed her master’s degree at the University of Chicago and worked as a teacher and administrator before deciding to pursue a career in medicine. Kristen has distinguished herself academically here in Peoria . Her achievements earned her a place in the college of medicine’s James Scholars program, an academic honors program focused on in-depth study and research. Kristen has also distinguished herself in the clinical setting for, as one clerkship director put it, “superlative humanistic behaviors on a daily basis.” Another faculty member illustrated Kristen’s compassion by pointing out how she listens to the concerns of patients and families and then goes out of her way to help them with information and resources. The faculty member wrote, “it was evident that [to Kristen] patient care was more than a clinical task … she connected with patients on a personal level. Her questions addressed ways to improve comfort as well as provide exceptional evidenced based care.”
Linda P. Rowe, EdD
GHHS Advisor
GHHS Member Christian Nunez
Linda P. Rowe, EdD
GHHS Advisor
GHHS Member Samuel Abebe
Acknowledging a Patient's Anger
The woman stood by her elderly mother's bedside glaring and visibly upset. She suddenly shouted, "I am not putting my mother through any more suffering!" The attending physician, three residents, and I had just entered the hospital room for rounds. The four of us froze where we stood, taken aback by the woman's outburst. Without waiting for a response, the woman immediately launched into her list of grievances. She accused the nurses of having given her mother the wrong treatment; she stated that she had been waiting the entire evening and morning to talk with a "real doctor," and that she had not been updated about the results of overnight blood tests. At the end of this she leaned back against the wall, out of breath and exhausted, her face flushed with anger. Her eyes scanned each of our faces suspiciously.
Nurses had warned us before entering the room. The daughter, they said, had been adamant about eschewing the current treatment plan. We were told that both the patient and the daughter had been consistently rude and demanding to nurses and staff. We had been told that they were "non-compliant" and "difficult." We were also told that, during the night, the daughter had gone so far as to hurl a container of a prescibed topical drug at a nurse's head.
Several seconds of silence lapsed after the woman's outburst. Her words hung in the air. The anger was palpable and raw. Then I heard the physician's voice. It was soft, but steady and calm - "You have been through so much. If I were you I would be angry, too." The woman blinked, taken aback by the statement. Her face, which only a moment ago had been set with a steely and hardened glare, softened. She nodded quietly and looked away. For the next 45 minutes the physician laid out the plan for care and treatment, agreeing to compromise in the face of some of the patient's concerns. At the end of this discussion, the patient and her daugher apperared exhausted, but relieved. The stress from months of cancer treatment showed clearly on their faces, now unmasked by the dissipated anger.
Humanism in medicine involves the recognition that patient's are more than their diagnoses and lab findings. Physicians who embody humanistic medicine are realistic about the limitations and challenges of patient care. They do not seek to impose medical knowledge and advice upon patients and their families. Instead they strive to serve as a partner and guide in navigating the uncertain terrains of health and illness.
Sandy Tun
UICOMP Class of 2013
Nurses had warned us before entering the room. The daughter, they said, had been adamant about eschewing the current treatment plan. We were told that both the patient and the daughter had been consistently rude and demanding to nurses and staff. We had been told that they were "non-compliant" and "difficult." We were also told that, during the night, the daughter had gone so far as to hurl a container of a prescibed topical drug at a nurse's head.
Several seconds of silence lapsed after the woman's outburst. Her words hung in the air. The anger was palpable and raw. Then I heard the physician's voice. It was soft, but steady and calm - "You have been through so much. If I were you I would be angry, too." The woman blinked, taken aback by the statement. Her face, which only a moment ago had been set with a steely and hardened glare, softened. She nodded quietly and looked away. For the next 45 minutes the physician laid out the plan for care and treatment, agreeing to compromise in the face of some of the patient's concerns. At the end of this discussion, the patient and her daugher apperared exhausted, but relieved. The stress from months of cancer treatment showed clearly on their faces, now unmasked by the dissipated anger.
Humanism in medicine involves the recognition that patient's are more than their diagnoses and lab findings. Physicians who embody humanistic medicine are realistic about the limitations and challenges of patient care. They do not seek to impose medical knowledge and advice upon patients and their families. Instead they strive to serve as a partner and guide in navigating the uncertain terrains of health and illness.
Sandy Tun
UICOMP Class of 2013
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