The Power of Bedside Manner

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

GHHS Member Oluchi Ukaegbu

Oluchi Ukaegbu is a highly respected leader among her peers. She helped develop the aforementioned GUIDES program - just one of many community service projects for which she volunteers. Oluchi serves as an officer for several student organizations including Student Government, the Student National Medical Association and the Christian Medical and Dental Association. As such, she is a strong and effect advocate for students.  She is also a strong and effective advocate for patients. Reflecting on Oluchi’s rotation through the Heartland Community Health Clinic, one of its physicians said, “[she] has an enhanced ability to combine confidence, humility, and knowledge with graciousness to all those around her that results in a sense of being at ease with her – as if she has been a friend for a long time. I noted that our staff enjoyed her and patients are willing to share their concerns with Oluchi, no matter their backgrounds.” Oluchi’s family came to the U.S. from Nigeria. During many of her formative years, they lived in the state of Wyoming. She is a graduate of the Communication Sciences and Disorders program of Northwestern University.

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

Pradeep Singanallur was one of only four University of Illinois at Chicago students to win the President’s Volunteer Service Award for 2012. The award goes to undergraduate or graduate students whose volunteer activity substantially addresses a distinct need in the community.”  Pradeep was recognized for founding GUIDES, a student-run community service project that mentors youngsters at Peoria’s Quest Charter academy and encourages them to excel academically.  His resume of service is matched by intellectual and clinical achievement. As one internist said, “he has a calm and soft demeanor which is extremely comforting for patients who interact with him, and he develops a bond and is a noticeable advocate for their well-being at all times.”  Pradeep, who has a strong interest in neurosurgery, earned his Bachelor of Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

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

Christian Nunez is well known for his warm personality and his energetic contributions to a wide range of volunteer service programs – especially those related to pediatrics, such as the annual Halloween party for children with diabetes and the Exergaming for Health program.  He can also be seen and heard on YouTube harmonizing with fellow students in their a cappella singing group!  Christian’s second-year classmates elected him to receive the Gloria Arndt Award for being the “kindest, most compassionate, and most altruistic” of their peers.  I think you can tell a lot about someone by who they choose as role models. In Christian’s GHHS essay he wrote about working with a small-town physician that he admired: “Before each of my presentations … rather than delving into the intricacies of their illnesses, Dr. F. preferred to tell me about his patients – not in reference to their medical conditions, but rather with respect to their lives.” Christian completed his undergraduate work in psychology and philosophy at Washington University in St. Louis.  

Linda P. Rowe, EdD

GHHS Advisor

GHHS Member Samuel Abebe

Samuel Abebe earned his bachelor of science in brain, behavior and cognitive science at the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor. He credits his childhood in Ethiopia with giving him a foundation for understanding and appreciating the needs and perspectives of people from diverse cultures.  Samuel is active in a wide range of college and community service activities here in Peoria, including the Student Government Association. He is a co-chair of the Student Advocate Program. But it is the capacity for compassionate patient care that is of paramount importance in earning this honor. As one faculty member said, “I am always impressed by how much compassion [Sam] shows when he talks about his patients – to him each one of them is a real person, and not just an interesting or complicated set of clinical findings … his generosity of spirit … will make him a wonderful and caring physician.” Samuel plans to become a pediatrician.

Linda P. Rowe, EdD

GHHS Advisor

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