Friday, May 4, 2012
Student doctors
I was contacted by a doctor who knows me,
asking if I'd be willing to participate in a programme for student doctors to
familiarize themselves with talking to chronic patients. I naturally said
"yes" and talked for two hours answering their questions, meeting
them several times and finally they accompanied me on a regular hospital visit
to see what a chronic patient goes through. The hospital staff had been told in
advance of their attendance, and every nurse, technician and doctor I saw that
day took time explaining to the student doctors about each test, why and what
they were looking for. It was an extremely long and tiring day, but the student
doctors learnt a great deal from this experience. A copy of my book was given
to them to read completing the picture of a patient with a rare chronic
disease. This programme has been extremely successful and seen as an important
additional learning exercise for new student doctors, which they hope will
become a permanent part of the syllabus.
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What an amazing thing to do, Elaine. I can imagine how exhausting that day must have been for you. There are not many people out there who have the satisfaction during their lifetime, of knowing that the attitude of every single student doctor who saw you that day will change due to your courageous way of dealing with what life has dealt you. They will think twice about their attitudes when they come into contact with a person suffering from a genetic illness; or two.
ReplyDeleteJill