Distorted Interactions in Medical Field
Through Dan Shapiro’s writing in Mom’s Marijuana: Life, Love, and Beating the Odds, I learned about his personal struggle as he battles cancer. His writing brought awareness to what challenges patients can face. The space issues he was facing, no privacy from his parents to his medical staff was something he had to adapt. Everything was out in a public. As well as, in what way the communication between provider and a patient can be distorted. The difficulties in communication, disrespect and helplessness were part of his journey.
For a patient, space is the vicinity that their treatment will take place in and how this space is treated plays an important impact on the care that the patient will receive.
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In the case of Shapiro, he was making an effort to make his hospital room more of his space in order to feel more comfortable during his stay. From home, he brought his snow leopard poster, his stereo, his music, his water gun, his books, his magazines, his VSR, and his movies (Shapiro, 2000, pg. 87). The things were within his reach in order to protect him from germs as well as helping him to reach them while he didn’t have any strength. “I pleaded with her to venture into my space quietly at night, but she would never change her routine” (Shapiro, 2000, pg. 101) was one of the many examples how patients space is taken away from them. He describes how after both chemotherapy and radiation, his bone marrow transplant was the most toxic on his body. His immune system was weakened and the smallest bacteria or germs could make him sick. He describes being unable to pick up a pencil from the floor (Shapiro, 2000, pg. 84). This surprised me because, for me, these small things are what I take granted. I could see through his eyes the situations he was describing and how they were affecting his life. Besides the physical space and physical struggle that his body dealt with, I was disturbed to learn how the medical system was failing through medical staff-patient communication.
The major challenge was poor communication with both physicians and nurses. Usually, the conversations between Shapiro and his medical staff were brief and emotionless. The communication was just a delivery of the information without any empathy and no connection with a patient. One of the first examples that Shapiro brings to our attention is when he describes his communication with one of his night nurses. There was minimal communication between the night nurse and Shapiro; she would simply come within his personal space to do her job and nothing else. Even though Shapiro made various efforts to initiate a conversation with this nurse, as the reader, I realized how invisible Shapiro must have felt since this nurse did not make the effort to communicate with Shapiro.
After reading the article “When This Is Over” by Sherri L. Hopper, I could recognize the similarities that both Hopper and Shapiro face. Both patients were battling cancer and both were struggling with physician-patient interactions. Both of them had several unpleasant interactions where dignity was at a cost. An example of this is featured when Hopper explains how a doctor called the patient “little man and patted on the head” (Hopper, 2005, pg. 18). The conversations were short and without reassurance if the patient or a
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family member understands what was happening. The barrier of a medical vocabulary was very noticeable. I knew exactly how the patient felt in a situation where language was one of the barriers in communication. When I came to this country as a teenager without speaking the language that how I was treated. Even though there Shapiro could understand the concept and the sense what was happening he had situations where he wasn’t properly addressed as a human being nor given some compassion. Shapiro, as a patient who was battling cancer, had no control over his body, the disease was in charge. As he was staying in the hospital he wanted to have some control over his privacy, as much as possible. He set up a device outside of his room where the medical staff could see it. When the assembly was indicating a red light that meant he needed some space and privacy. “I could turn on a red light to warn incoming professionals and visitors that I wanted privacy […]” (Shapiro 2000, pg.86) This gave him a satisfaction as a patient of holding a little control during this journey. One of the ethical issues that caught my attention was a scene when a team of physicians were doing their rounds and came to see Shapiro.
Without any greeting, the resident started describing the patients’ medical history and current labs. The patient started the conversation by asking who the men are, however, he was ignored. When he kept asking about their identities, the attending physician impersonally treated the patient. “Then he brought out his hand from his pockets and held it up to me. I could see his raised fingers. He was giving me the crossing guard’s stop sign! SILENCE! the hand said” (Shapiro, 2000 pg. 88). This was very hurtful to read because that’s how I was treated when I was transitioning from speaking Polish to the English language. Often I was ignored or disrespected. I even felt partially discriminated due to my background and not so good communication skills. Sometimes it made me feel hopeless but I couldn’t do anything. When I remember my experience when dealing with the complexity of a foreign language, I want to make sure that this will never happen to any of my patients. I know how difficult it was and I want to make sure that this won’t happen
again. I could see the lack of communication or language barrier could have an impact on wellbeing. This is one of the down periods where we can recognize how the system is failing. Facing the unknown, as a result of the absence of an explanation, can be very stressful as well as cause other barriers. When my grandpa was in the hospital I appreciated every moment and explanation the medical personal gave me. It prepared us emotionally for the next steps of treatment my family member was receiving. Thanks to better communication and the time, the medical personnel spent with us connecting was very appreciated. As a future nurse, I don’t want to see my patients struggle with this problem. I will look forward to enhancing my communication skills as well as help with a language barrier.
Dr. Atul Gawande, a Harvard Medical School graduate and writer for The New Yorker, phenomenally illustrates the unknown side of healthcare professions in his book, Complications: A Surgeon’s Notes on an Imperfect Science. By exploring the ethical and analytical aspects of medicine while entertaining readers with relatable anecdotes, Gawande impresses on his audience the importance of recognizing the wonders of the healthcare field, as well as the fallibility of those within it.
Perhaps the greatest problem faced throughout this tale was that of miscommunication. The Merced Community Medical Center or MCMC for short was the place where Lia was being treated. This hospital was the Merced county's only hospital and unlike most rural county hospital it is state of the art, ."..42,000-square foot wing ... that houses coronary care, intensive care, and transitional care units; 154 medical and surgical beds...."3 This was a teaching hospital made up of interns mostly, but also with some great doctors like Peggy Philp and Neil Ernst. Peggy and Neil are married and have children. They graduated together at the top of their class, and have created quite a practice for themselves. Although MCMC is a great rural hospital, it also has the same problems as most rural hospitals do which is the health care crunch, where most of the money goes to the urban hospitals and then the leftover money is spread among th...
In her personal essay, Dr. Grant writes that she learned that most cases involving her patients should not be only handled from a doctor’s point of view but also from personal experience that can help her relate to each patient regardless of their background; Dr. Grant was taught this lesson when she came face to face with a unique patient. Throughout her essay, Dr. Grant writes about how she came to contact with a patient she had nicknamed Mr. G. According to Dr. Grant, “Mr. G is the personification of the irate, belligerent patient that you always dread dealing with because he is usually implacable” (181). It is evident that Dr. Grant lets her position as a doctor greatly impact her judgement placed on her patients, this is supported as she nicknamed the current patient Mr.G . To deal with Mr. G, Dr. Grant resorts to using all the skills she
This requires respect and compassion and prioritizing their comfort and values. I believe that as future physicians, we must be open to the different identities and perspectives of each individual in order to try to understand their beliefs and concerns. This level of empathy allows us to connect with patients on a deeper level and treat them with better quality care. Given this, I was immediately drawn to Georgetown’s Literature and Medicine program. Having taken a similarly named course during my undergraduate career, I recognize how literature, fiction or non-fiction, can create a compelling narrative that draws us into the mind of the writer and the characters. Medically related narratives raise issues that we will be confronted with later on in our careers, such as the respective responsibilities of the patient and physician, the role of medical ethics, and the value of compassion and empathy. This program will help me to become a more reflective and empathetic individual that places the beliefs and comfort of the patient at the forefront of my professional practice, and can competently cater to the needs of a diverse
With marijuana is becoming legal in some states for medical reasons, other states are still questioning how marijuana can be beneficial and even a problem. In “The Truth about Medical Marijuana” by Carrie Shortsleeve, published in 2013 on the website Men’s Health, Shortsleeve describes how tetrahydrocannabinol or THC, found in marijuana, can be used for medical benefits. In the passage, she explains how the immune system and brain are affected by THC especially if the substance is high in dosage. When Dr. Mahmoud ElSohly, Ph.D., “the director of the University of Mississippi’s Marijuana Project,” injured his back, he begins to research what benefits marijuana has when using the drug as medicine, and Shortsleeve shares this with people who maybe considering medical marijuana. Shortsleeve uses statistics, in depth research, and real- life situations to show how some people trust marijuana as medicine; even though, some of these people were once against medical marijuana.
Jamison describes another medical figure in her life that she referred to as Dr. M. Dr. M was Jamison’s primary cardiologist, a figure who is involved in some of the most intimate details of Jamison’s life. However, Jamison describes Dr. M by saying she, “…wasn’t personal at all” (14). Dr. M would actually record personal information about Jamison on a tape recorder, however, Jamison would hear Dr. M referring to her as “patient” instead of by her name. This example demonstrates that Dr. M was indeed putting in the minimal effort needed to keep her clients, however, no additional effort was put into the process of learning about her patients. Jamison says that, “…the methods of her mechanics [were] palpable between us…” (18). Dr. M would not even put any effort into disguising her lack of interest of getting to know Jamison. This atmosphere of apathy that is exuded by Dr. M naturally causes Jamison to retract from Dr. M, which creates an environment that is not good for cultivating
In my life I have seen how even while speaking the same language there can be communication problems. Adding the inability to speck the same language and then the complexity of describing medical conditions, I can see how the situation could turn out poorly and cause troubling effects. This chapter has helped me better understand why the Hmon...
The goal of this lesson is to explore how we can improve communication to eliminate language barriers between healthcare providers and patients in our organization and to establish culturally and linguistically appropriate goals, that provide safe, equal, and quality care to all our clients regardless of race, ethnic, or socioeconomic status. At the end of this lesson we should be
Instead, the doctor exclaims, “So this is the patella”, merely reducing to patient nothing but her injury. In contrast, the doctor that took care of my injury not only called me by name, but he also asked if he was pronouncing it correctly. I have an unusual name that is not often pronounced correctly. By taking the time to say it right, I felt as though I actually mattered to the doctor. Another difference between this story and mine is her doctor did not take the time to explain what was happening to her knee. Instead, he just spoke medical jargon to his colleagues. My doctor, on the other hand, explained that what he was about to do to my finger would be painful. Then he asked if I was ready for him to start. All while he was fixing my finger he was speaking very kindly to me. I can’t recall what he said, but I know it made me feel very comfortable. There are, however, some similarities to this story. The nurses and therapist that took care of the patient in this story acted in a similar manner to the doctor is this story. The patient talks highly of these people leading the reader to conclude that they had a big influence on the outcome of her injury. She concluded that the nurse who washed her hair made her feel much more
Pashley, H.(2012). Overcoming barriers when caring for patients with limited english proficiency. Association of Operating Room Nurses.AORN Journal, 96(3), C10-C11. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0001-2092(12)00833-2
There is a major debate in today’s world about the legalization of cannabis, especially, in the United States. States such as California and Illinois have already moved forward in their open-minded thinking about the drug and are allowing people to use marijuana as an alternative to other prescribed drugs in treating the effects of certain ailments. The idea of legalizing marijuana is a touchy subject for many people; on the one hand its properties are beneficial to many people who suffer from many different illnesses, on the other hand, it is an illegal substance that has many addictive qualities. According to the Drug Enforcement Agency’s website, “Marijuana is a Schedule I substance under the Controlled Substances Act, meaning that it has a high potential for abuse, no currently accepted medical use in the treatment, in the United States, and a lack of accepted safety for use under medical supervision” (DEA, 2011).... ...
In this chapter Dr. Thomas Percival is introduced. Percival first debuted the term “medical ethics.” Percival himself was an advocate of the classical decorum. He believed in the importance of the truth and emphasized sympathy, equality and patience. Chapters six and seven illustrates medical ethics in America. American doctors in this time were either self-taught or apprenticeship-trained. During these chapters the development of proper schools and education were initiated by the American Medical Association. In addition, the first anesthesia was introduced and debates soon began to spark in the world of medicine. The first concerning the unethical practice of inoculation. Then the discussion of abortion and later the use of anesthesia. Yet, in the very last chapter, Jonsen introduces a series of events which radically transformed the field of
Wilson, Clare “The Case for Marijuana by Prescription." Marijuana (Contemporary Issues Companion). Tardiff, Joseph, ed. Farmington Hills: Greenhaven Press, 2008. 63-70. Print
Marijuana as a medicine? Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press. 2001. The 'Secondary' of the 'Se Ravage, Barbara. The “Marijuana Update.”
The movie wit is about a woman named Vivian Bearing who has stage four ovarian cancer. The story is told from her perspective and views her experience as a cancer patient. Her experience as a cancer patient from the audience’s perspective was unethical. Her identity at the hospital revolved around her illness and she was rarely treated like a human being by hospital staff. This is because doctors are taught using the biomedical model which trains them to focus on mainly treating an illness. This essay will look at how the elements of the biomedical model shape her experience as a cancer patient, and will focus on major themes of the movie (health professionals, the power of the biomedical model expertise, health technologies, and the nature