Interpreting Medicine: A Case Study

They serve as pillars of wisdom and guidance while exhibiting communication adroitness with care teams and patients to engineer top-notch medical care. To maintain high standards, effective medical professionals are constantly taking in new information through continuing education, placing providers at the pinnacle of knowledge. Moreover, physicians require affective aptitude as they must convey empathy during patient interactions. All these attributes draw me to seek the personal challenge and resulting responsibilities that are demanded. I desire to become an important contribution to society in a field I am passionate

Prominently featured in the mission statements of virtually of every medical school and medical institution in the world is the call for empathetic doctors. These institutions wish to train medical professionals that possess qualities of sympathy and compassion, and hospitals wish to employ health professionals that showcase similar qualities. The reality, however, is starkly different, as physicians, jaded by what they have seen in the medical world, lose the qualities that drove them to medicine in the first place. In Frank Huyler’s “The Blood of Strangers,” a collection of short stories from his time as a physician in the emergency room, Huyler uses the literary techniques of irony and imagery to depict the reality of the world of a medical professional. While Huyler provides several examples of both techniques in his accounts, moments from “A Difference of Opinion” and “The Secret” in particular stand out. Huyler uses irony and imagery in these two pieces to describe how medical professionals have lost their sense of compassion and empathy due to being jaded and desensitized by the awful incidents they have witnessed during their careers.

Upon researching GW, I realized the MD program offers several exceptional opportunities including being at the vanguard of medicine due to its historic nature, having numerous partnerships within its area, and encompassing medical and surgical specialties. These opportunities would not only provide me with a strong education that is enriched with connections, but they would also expose me to novel patient scenarios on a daily basis as I have a passion for learning in medicine. Additionally, GW’s mission for diversity fits will with my interest of stressing inclusion through service and attempting to eliminate healthcare disparities. My former research in bioethics shows that I also value understanding disparities in healthcare and seek to eradicate

Contrary to the belief that medicine should be solely clinical in order to preserve professionalism, narrative medicine is rapidly growing in the medical world and opposes clinical medicine by incorporating feelings and connections. Narrative medicine is the idea that doctors should be empathetic and must learn their patient’s story to build bonds that assist in curing the patient of illness, while supporting them mentally and emotionally. Rita Charon, a distinguished physician and professor at Columbia University, states “narrative medicine proposes an ideal of care and provides the conceptual and practical mean to strive toward that idea” (Charon). Medicine is often a difficult puzzle to solve, but being a genuine, caring human being is not. In his heart gripping book, The Measure of Our Days, Jerome Groopman explores the patient physician relationship giving insightful knowledge on the decision making in diagnosis and in treatment of different patients, but more importantly being a benevolent person. One consistent piece in Groopman’s puzzle of medicine is compassion, as he promotes it in every aspect of his career because it helps the victims of illness and disease understand their ailments, accept their fate, all the while building trust with their physicians. In Groopman’s retelling of his and his patient’s intertwined quest for cures and treatments, he exhibits the necessity of narrative medicine’s transgression into medicine for both physicians and patients.

The doctor-patient relationship always has been and will remain an essential basis of care, in which high quality information is gathered and procedures are made as well as provided. This relationship is a critical foundation to medical ethics that all doctors should attempt to follow and live by. Patients must also have confidence in their physicians to trust the solutions and work around created to counter act certain illnesses and disease. Doctor-patient relationships can directly be observed in both the stories and poems of Dr. William Carlos Williams as well as in the clinical tales of Dr. Oliver Sacks. Both of these doctors have very similar and diverse relationships with multiple patients

When providing health care, I firmly believe that it is of the utmost importance to include literary work in regards to global health. Detailed story telling can help with retainment of the information being brought forth (Thompson & Kreuter, 2014). This gives the patient an accurate and up to date source of information,

Medical interpreting as difficult as it could be is my current genre of interpreting that I am most interested in. Growing up I had plenty of experiences in hospital and medical settings. I had/have a few different medical conditions during the course of my childhood that caused me to be in a hospital or doctor’s office. As well as family members going to the ER or needing surgery, etc. With saying all of that I was never uncomfortable being in a hospital or doctor’s office- like many people are. I feel that I have a high tolerance for seeing blood and other difficult situations which could be gory or uncomfortable.

In medical school in India, Sarah was only taught about subjects like biology, chemistry, and anatomy, and was not exposed to the connections that the social sciences have to medicine. Due to the traditional definition of medicine, or rather, “western biomedicine” that Sarah’s medical school used, she perceived herself more as a biologist or chemist, than a doctor. However, when she ventured out of the classroom, and more into the field of medical practice, Sarah’s sense of identity was challenged. She realized that she could not be a good doctor by being solely a biologist or anatomist. She would also have to have the skills of an anthropologist, sociologist, and psychologist. In fact, in her current job, Sarah describes her role as more of a therapist than as a doctor. “Yes, I prescribe medicine and treatments,” she says, “but an important part of my job is being a counselor, and offering moral and emotional support.” Especially because Sarah works in hospice about thirty percent of the time, she believes that having good social skills, and being able to offer psychological support can help not only patients, but also their families and loved ones through difficult times. Sarah also believes that having experience learning about different cultures, societies, norms, and traditions is also a valuable asset to have as a physician because it

Originally, I discovered osteopathic medicine through conversations with my fellow pre-med colleagues. They had spoken negatively about the practice and emphasized how it is only a back-up option for people who could not gain acceptance into allopathic schools. I was not entirely convinced, so I researched the principles of osteopathic medicine on the AACOM website. The more I read about the holistic approach osteopathic physicians practice; the more I began realizing how this practice directly aligns with my own values as a person and writer. People are not merely the organs that constitute them, but unique individuals with years of life experiences. For both a writer and a physician, grasping this understanding of people’s psychological and

A common idea, which I believe to be a misconception, is that the role of the physician is strictly medical in nature. Instead, I believe that along with providing healthcare, physicians also provide structure and safety to society. I believe physicians not only help patients treat physical symptoms but also act as role models to patients suffering from a lack of confidence, problematic mental health, and decreased energy levels. This allows people to perform their best in all aspects of life whether it be their occupation, relationships, and/or hobbies. Overall, when people feel their best, the community on a whole begins to improve. Also, physicians should be non-biased to provide the highest quality of medical care to patients of various

interpreter. However, my process would be to have a set of very complex medical terms of processes written out and then have a layman’s terms definition list; and as the American Medical Association suggests, having the material presented in at 6th grade level with illustrations. The doctor would follow the protocol to make sure if he is talking about anything on this list, then he would be required to break it down as simply as possible. The patient would then be given the written out list as well so they can follow it and have a deeper understanding their conditions and the actions that the patient needs to take. On top of this, I would make it mandatory that doctors have a question and answer session right at the end of the doctor’s appointment.

I grew up fascinated with the history of life expectancies and illnesses and demise in cultures. Seeing all the opportunities that the evolution of medicine has brought into our world peaked my interest in the medical field and inspired me to want to take a part in improving our world. This was even further inspired by my frequent visits to the hospital for my family since childhood. My grandmother and uncle died in quick succession, and following those dismal events, my grandfather was diagnosed with diabetes, depression and a heart condition while my mother was diagnosed with Cardiomyopathy. Thus, throughout my childhood I spent the majority of my time within hospitals waiting for relatives to receive treatment. During these visits, I spent a lot of time observing doctor-patient interactions, noticing the amount of time and effort a single doctor would spend with my family to explain each situation in a way they could understand. These occurrences allowed me to form an image of doctors who are filled with respect for their patients and taught me how important health care was. With each step my mother took throughout her medical journey, I was at her side. Each step we took together enhanced my yearning to see the medical field succeed. For these reasons I have been driven to pursue the goal of becoming a physician.

Narrative ethics is a term that has recently been abundant in the field of medicine. The term "narrative ethics" is often used in union with how a physician listens or goes about listening to a patient 's story. It is easily understandable, that after years of practicing medicine, a physician may grow indifferent to the many stories told by

Therefore, teaching humanism is central to medical education because knowing how to care and work with humans is central to medical care. One of the ways in which this could be achieved is to incorporate the use of narratives in medical education. Medical students should learn to listen to the narratives of their patients in order to create empathy and take an accurate medical history, like the best doctors do. However, narratives should not only be used in a doctor-patient relationship, but colleagues should be encouraged to share their narratives, as well as to listen to the narratives of their mentors. Through the use of narratives, an “individual may feel empathy towards the other without the other being physically present” (Kumagai 2008). Therefore, it is possible to inspire a humanistic worldview through the use of narratives that can include art, literature, art, music, and other mediums of expression. By incorporating humanism into medical education, medical students can be better prepared to thrive in the relationships that await them ahead, and truly embody what it means to be a doctor and a

“I want to connect with people. A doctor interacts with people at their most vulnerable. He offers treatment, but he also offers counsel and hope.” ---Patch Adams