In Dr. McAlister’s piece, “Breaking the Silence of the Switch,” she emphasizes the importance of informing patients directly of trainee participation in surgery.
She begins the piece by talking about the fact that the silence that occurs when a doctor and their resident operate is, “clearly deceptive and seems directly at odds with the trust required in a good physician-patient relationship. I believe that she makes a good point. After all the doctor-patient relationship is essential for the effective treatment of patients and is founded upon trust. After all if a patient doesn’t trust their doctor they are less likely to share information that could be relevant to their case. I found it surprising that often details of participation of residents
In the piece “Invasions” by Perri Klass the narrator addresses issues that result when doctors learn of the secrets of patients and how they feel the need to invaded patients’ privacy.
During the Saturday Academy, the group presentations on the book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, and the films—Hózhó Life in Balance and The Greater Middle East— taught me very informative and useful tips for becoming the best healthcare provider. The group presentations represented the idea that there should be consent when doing further research on their patient. With consent the patient is able to build that trust connection with their physicians. Without consent the patient is not able to open and loses the lack of trust for their physicians. As a result, with the lack of trust between the patient and the physician, the physician is not able to help out their patients in a way that would benefit them because they are too afraid that
The relationship between a patient and his or her doctor was trustworthy to the point where the patient did not ask their doctor questions. Skloot describes this concept by stating, “There’s no indication that Henrietta questioned him; like most patients in the 1950s, she deferred to anything her doctors said. This was a time when “benevolent deception” was a common practice- doctors often withheld even the most fundamental information from their patients, sometimes not giving them any diagnosis at all” (63). Patients at this time trusted their doctors, and this corresponds to this thought of ‘doctors knowing what’s best and to not question it.’ Skloot was not sure if Henrietta actually questioned her doctor, but she was definitely sure of the concept, ‘benevolent deception,’ being an accepted tradition in the medical field at that time. Another example of deception is, “But Southam wasn’t their doctor, and he wasn’t withholding upsetting health information. The deception was for his benefit- he was withholding information because patients might have refused to participate in his study if they’d known what he was injecting” (130). By not telling patients about injecting them with HeLa cells, Southam was putting them at risk. Despite the fact that they might have declined to cooperate in this study, patients still have the right to know and to be asked for
The resident physician violated confidentiality, because when he left the patient’s room and made a comment about “She-male,” everyone in that vicinity may have overheard him. Only the health care professional taking care of him should know about the patient being
In contrast, Dr. House does not allow himself to open up to his patients, to the drastic extent that he does not even converse with them. House’s pessimistic attitude is seen through his dialogue with his fellowship worker,
Mary, the patient the study focuses on (surname withheld to uphold confidentiality), was chosen due to the writers involvement throughout the duration of her stay in hospital. The writer met Mary prior to her operation in theatre and was present for the duration of her operation. When Mary was admitted to ward L4 the writer was directly involved in Mary's care and discharge.
One of the many roles of the nurse, in caring for their patient, is to advocate for the patient. The nurses in the clip did not exhibit this professional role, the nurses were hesitant in following the physician’s orders, but none of the nurses spoke up on the patient’s behalf. Nurses are often in the best position to communicate with team members and the patient’s family on behalf of the patient, because in most cases, the nurse provides the most interpersonal contact with the patient.
During my observation, I followed the patient from her preparation of surgery, into the operating room, to recovery. I gain insight on what happens during surgeries from nurses, surgeons, and other hospital staff. This experience was much different than any other clinical I have gone to. After having first-hand experience, I now know that surgery is nothing like what is portrayed on television.
This role does not only allow me to shadow doctors while they engage with patients, providing an opportunity to gain invaluable information and advises. This role requires most of my attention towards patients’ needs, which helps to establish a professional relationship and understand what they expect a doctor to be: caring and sensitive but decisive. As English is not my first language, my bilingual skills give me a chance to help some patients through being a translator. It is not the dream job anyone imagines, hours of sleepless shifts, tremendous responsibility with no room for errors as dealing with fragile lives and not products. This only further strengthens my decision to pursue medicine. What I most admire is how empathetic a doctor can be yet unaffected during a critical situation. It is more than just a skill; it is a talent.
The doctor and his patient portray a troubled encounter that is subject to discussion. This short story reflects real or plausible issues comparable in real life. One example of such an event in Brooklyn when a construction worker filed a lawsuit against a hospital for subjecting him to a rectal exam against his wishes. According to his lawyer, the man begged,”please don’t do that’’ as he was held down, and he punched one of the doctors before being sedated and examined without consent. As a result the man allegedly developed post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of the experience.(Tsai,1) Given to the poor man’s circumstance and how the medical professionals treated him, you can now see how unfit doctors can be to their own patients.
Seeing information about a healthcare user in such terms makes me realise that some information is not necessarily in the public domain and therefore I have a privilege and responsibility to not only care for the patient but also for the knowledge about them that I am privy to. I realise that, although I have a duty to retain confidentiality, I may be placed in a position where the confidence has to also include other healthcare professionals and I need to involve the patient in such a situation (ibid).
She has other doctors who work under her with the same ideology. All of they want to service the community to see people improve their health, to be their friends, to listen to them when patients have problems and to be their helpers as they go through really hard time. They want the patients to really regard them as friends, and trust them as family members (Fioravante, 2013; Gregory, 2013; Kornør & Nordvik, 2004).
One of the noticeable recurrent themes of this story was the paternalistic doctor-patient relationship. There were multiple occasions in which Day mentioned how he simply trusted the doctors to do what was right. He and Henrietta assumed doctors understood their patients’ needs better than the patients themselves, and therefore never asked questions. My understanding is that this was a common mentality at the time. I imagine this mentality was especially prominent among less fortunate classes of people who did not have the means to understand what their doctors were telling them. In cases in which harm befell patients, the doctor-patient relationship was likely a primary culprit. Doctors had a paternalistic attitude, and therefore did not excel at communicating with their patients, specifically at a level that was appropriate to the given situation. Adding to the problem, patients did not ask questions, simply because they did not know they had the option to do so.
My presentation is a chronological analysis of the medical journey, beginning in the first year of residency to the end. Reading this personal account by Dr. Collins allowed me great insight into the world of medicine and the stresses of residency. This doctor provides in-depth information relating to his personal and professional life in the rigorous, yet rewarding field of medicine. As an aspiring physician, my intention was to understand the toil and struggle a person must go through intellectually, emotionally and financially, to pursue such a daring occupation. Reading this memoir has opened my eyes to the possibilities of medicine and has mentally prepared me for the daring tasks that lay ahead in the field of surgery.
Shadowing otherwise licensed, experienced doctors is one method by which those doctors can be credentialed for hospital privileges. The hospital medical staff does just that, monitoring fellow doctors (either new hires or those who are seeking additional privileges) in order to assure their abilities and qualifications for credentialing. Questions have arisen concerning liability when the observing doctor believes he or she is seeing a substandard level of care.