It was my first time actually interacting with patients today, and surprisingly it went alright. The school arranged us into small groups and had us do team interviews with real, rather than standardized, patients. It was a little hectic at first, I mean, lets face it, a great deal of us have never taken a history from a patient before. But even just by winging it everything went well. We got to see two patients and both were extremely friendly and wanted to get to know us too. The first "patient" actually preformed standup (he was 68) and served as an excellent model for laid back conversation.

Sitting down with patients may not be what the school wants us to be doing with our time judging from the course load, but really it's what being a doctor is about and why I wanted to go into medicine. Science isn't nearly as important as a good listener; someone that can respond to non verbal cues as well as show compassion for someone. I'm often surprised at how difficult it is for people to empathize with another human, I mean, just call any customer service line and you will learn how rude people can get. Anyhow, before I start rambling, I guess I just wanted to note that I'm glad that in through these small experiences I know that I made the right decisions about my career.


Picture found here