A Taste of Our Own Medicine
It's been another rough week.
Thing is, they teach you how to break bad news to patients or their relatives in medical school. People make a lot about it, but angry doc never really believed that how you broke the bad news was important: no matter how you say it, the patient is dying/had a stroke/may have cancer - the fashion in which you put the information across does not alter the fundamental clinical situation; if you don't do it badly and give the patient/relatives a reason to complain about you, they will find some other ways of expressing their anger at the medical system for not being able to stop or reverse the problem. It's all part of the grieving process.
What angry doc wishes they taught him though is how to break bad news to a patient who is a doctor, and one who is a colleague for many years.
When the patient is someone who possesses the same knowledge about the condition as you do, how do you make it sound better than what it actually is?
angry doc needs a drink...
posted by angry doc at
7:30 pm
2 Comments:
angry doc, i love your posts!
i'm a new ho. i'm struggling to understand what people want of me. work ethic where i am is very confusing. everything needs to be organized for an early morning WR but it is frowned upon if one shows up early to get this ready. so, i hv gotten some stick. anyways, your posts cheer me up because they're funny. thx :)
By
Anonymous, At
December 05, 2010 11:26 pm
Don't sweat the small stuff - at HO-ship *is* small stuff when viewed in the context of your entire career as a doctor.
Unless you screw up big time and lose your license...
Don't worry about what other people say, be they patients, relatives, peers or seniors - at the end of the day you need only be accountable to two people: the judge and yourself. :)
By
angry doc, At
December 06, 2010 11:19 pm
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