WRITER * ARTIST * DOCTOR * PATIENT * MOTHER
Receiving important test results is usually stressful – but this stress can be addressed. Online patient portals aren’t necessarily the way to do that. As physicians, we need to be mindful of how our patients want results communicated. My experience in my latest for Doximity.
“He’s been running a fever today —99 to 99.4 degrees— and has been a little fussy with a lot of runny nose and cough,” the mother told me. More misinformation about fever, I thought to myself, as the child ran around the emergency department exam room. “We generally consider fever to be 100.4 degrees or…
All corners of the world meet in the hospital. All kinds of people commit their lives to helping the sick. We are there to alleviate suffering and save lives. With these shared goals, other differences suddenly seem petty. We may differ in our belief systems, our life experiences, our opinions on policy. But when I…
It seems that lately, doctors spend more of our time working to prove to patients that our counsel, informed by years of rigorous training, should be trusted more than their cousin’s Facebook post, a random Wikipedia page, or a stranger’s Instagram feed … It’s time to bring our communication out of our clinics, operating rooms,…
Medical school teaches us open-ended questions are best. We are told to avoid interrupting patients, allow them get their whole story out before we jump in—to prompt them only with nods or gentle “hmmm’s” and maybe a “tell me more.” But years of practice can erode this open style. Experience focuses our questioning to what…