Are you a little nerdy? I am! Got no probs admitting it, either!
One of my nerdy things is some lighter exploration of science, the brain, really anything. I don't want to get a Ph.D. in astrophysics or anything, but I like learning a little about a lot of different topics. One way I do this is through Radio Lab.
What's Radio Lab? A NPR program featuring two highly intelligent scientifically minded individuals. For one hour per week, they explore everything from the evolution of ancient practices in medicine, to the effects of love on the brain, to whether or not animals can reason like humans, just a wide variety of interesting topics. If you check out RadioLab.org, you'll also find a program on the placebo effect.
One of the hosts' father is a M.D. at a major university hospital. In observing his father, the host watched his father prepare to see patients in his office. One of his rituals was to open his closet, choose the whitest of a half dozen white coats hanging there and don it for the day. As the host said, there was a perceiveable change when his father put on his white medical coat. That change? Confidence and competence.
As they stepped into the hall, his first patient of the day, a woman, ran to the doc and hugged him. "I'm just so glad to see you," she murmured over and over. Her life had gotten out of control; family stuff, her health, etc. Just the sight of the doc in his lab coat was enough to cause her feelings of comfrt, that all was well now that her doc was in control.
This is exactly what the white coat SHOULD communicate. A physician who is compassionate, comforting, competent and confident. After all, a patient is giving up his/her control of their health as soon as the doc walks in.
But what about if the doc does NOT communicate compassion and competence? Could the reverse happen? Absolutely...and this is why, I feel, docs owe it to their colleagues to practice compassionate care. Is it unfair to think a physician's moment of frustration or weakness could tarnish the entire field of medical docs, at least in the mind of a single patient? Sure it is...and that doesn't change the reality.
Yet another reason docs should take a moment to put on a coat of compassionate, not just the identifier of their position.
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