Carl Gandola's bedside.org is active again .. so I guess he's been on service this month. Too bad we can't get his colleagues (or his residents) to keep the fire burning when he's not on service!
"By osmosis and by repetition over this month we have all learned to communicate better about patients, to listen to their concerns (and think about sitting down in a chair at their bedside). We have developed management plans to improve individuals' health and relieve their pain. We have all worked hard, grown tired at times, learned, and been part of a team giving good care."
It's the beginning of the year for our 4th year medical students, and I am reminded again about the defferences between how we train physicians in residency They struggle with career choices, and I struggle with how best to guide them. Innately, Carl guides his learners to listen to their patients -- and to literally get down on their level by taking a seat at the bedside rather than maintain the physical dominance of standing above them. If you were a patient in a hospital bed, would you prefer ...
standing:
or sitting?
Which patient feels more empowered and involved in their care?
... and it's interesting to me that an educator in family medicine involves this in both his education, and in his discussions of education as an important part of healthcare ... while educators in other specialties just don't address these issues so routienly. While our residents often refer to Behavioral Science sessions as "BS" ... this remains a required component in the training of family physicians (and no other specialty aside from psychiatry, of course), and an important differentiator in how physicians are trained. There is also evidence to support the hypothesis that this difference in training also may have impact on the healthcare that these physicians provide.
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