Majoring in medicine is one of the most intellectually challenging things that I’ve ever been a part of. When faced with task to do a research paper depicting a problem in your major, well because the medical field is so broad so I found a topic that is almost never talked about. “Love and Medicine”, I chose this topic because it deals with physicians being more than “friendly” with their patients as unethical as this may seem it happens almost. The relationship between a patient and a doctor should be extremely platonic; doctors should always know his or her boundaries, display a level of professionalism, and show as much humility in their job as possible.
Physicians should always know their boundaries when it comes to patients. The Committee on Physician Health and Rehabilitation wrote that “Social contacts with patients may blur the professional boundary.” I can see where this can be a problem in the office. For example, if a patient buys their physician an expensive gift it is highly recommended that the physician should decline such gifts. Because one thing could lead to another and whereas the physician might’ve thought that the patient was just trying to be nice. The patient could be thinking something totally different thing. In the medical field it is always said that physicians should never be over familiarity with patients, “familiarity” meaning; considerable acquaintance with or established friendship; intimacy. Maryland Board of Physicians wrote that “For a physician, sexual misconduct includes erotic behavior such as kissing, nudity, and sexual proposition or comment.” Any type of intimacy goes against the relationship between a patient and his or her physician being platonic. With boundary violations everyone lose...
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...rong, but in some cases the patients often throw themselves at the physicians in hopes of building a more intimate relationship. I personally believe that in to crack down on “love in medicine” physicians should always take someone else with them into the examination room, just so nothing gets out of hand, and so there can be a third party to break up any wrong doings on either end . I believe that the focus should be strictly on providing the patient with the best quality of work as possible.
Works Cited
Maryland Board of Physicians- www.mbp.state.md.us/pages/bound_violation.html https.//depts.washington.edu/biotech/topics/physpt.html www.fsmb.org/pdf/GRPOL_SexualBoundaries
Committee on Physician Health and Rehabilitation
Should doctors friend their patients on Facebook- www.KevinMD.com www.medscape.com/viewarticle www.ncbi.nlmm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1495476
The medical values learned in chapter 11 are, emotional detachment, professional socialization, clinical experience, mastering uncertainty, mechanistic model, intervention, and emphasis on acute and rare illnesses. The three that I mainly care about are, emotional detachment, mastering uncertainty, and clinical experience. Emotional detachment is a very important medical value because this can strongly affect not only the patient but the doctor as well. The doctor is supposed to sustain emotional detachment from patients. (Weitz 276). A doctor should try and keep their distance because their emotion can strongly affect the patient. How a doctor reacts or approaches a situation will show how they are with emotional detachment. Mastering
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
Gordon makes a great argument about doctor and nurse relationship. She states that in fact “many doctors still consider nurses to be their handmaidens,” although they are supposed to work together as a te...
Professionalism initiative. (2012). Informally published manuscript, Medical Center, University of Kansas, Kansas City, KS, Retrieved from http://www.kumc.edu/school-of-medicine/fafd/professionalism-initiative.html
The Medical Board constructs a new supplementary guidance on ‘Maintaining Boundaries’ during an intimate examination. The Medical Board states that ‘Maintaining Boundaries’ acquire doctors to be sensitive to what patients may perceive as ‘intimate’ (6). The Medical Board explains that intimate examinations can refer to an examination that involves female breasts, the genitalia, or the rectum of a patient. According to the Medical Board, there are situations that may cause embarrassment or stress to patients. In some religions, examination by a member of the opposite sex is prohibited and the removal of clothes makes patients feel distressing. Example includes when a patient may need to undress for a skin check; patients who may be uncomfortable to be alone with a member of the opposite sex, or the physical examination of a patient ...
In the medical community there appears to be a divide between disease-centered care and patient-centered care. Both Charon and Garden, readily acknowledge this. Charon explains how although doctors can boast in their “impressive technical progress,” and “their ability to eradicate once fatal infections,” doctors often lack the abilities to recognize the pain of their patients and to extend empathy (3). Charon further adds that “medicine practiced without a genuine and obligating awareness of what patients go through [empathy] may fulfill its technical goals, but it is an empty medicine, or, at best, half a medicine” (5). Often, doctors fail to remember that their patients are more than just a person with cancer or a congenital heart defect — they are human, a whole person with dreams, aspirations, and fears. According to Charon, “scientifically competent medicine alone cannot help a patient grapple w...
Sexual relationships with previous client, resident, patient, consumers are considered dual relationships and are addressed in Statement 6 (above). He might be falling for a client which may lead to a sexual relationship. For obvious reasons it will not be in the best interest of client in helping with their problems. Judgment, reasoning, and responsibility to his client is compromised.
Healthcare professionals in the medical office should be friendly and open. Patients entering the medical office should be greeted immediately with a smile and having a gentle touch also let the patient know you care. “Healthcare professionals in a medical office are held to a higher standard than most professions because they are dealing with the dignity of patients and the ability to be healed” (Wolff). Educating the staff to be professional in the medical office represents the office as being excellent in patient care. Patient-centered care success is required by the whole office which is treatment and patient experience, from the time they enter the office until they leave.
Morally, doctor patient relationships are where doctors fully respects the wishes of patients decisions and autonomy. But its when the patients wish to die by the doctors hands or even be giving an overdose prescription to help aid their wish, can cause an uproar in whether if proceeding in Euthanasia is morally right or wrong. But its where the physicians have to decide and honor the wishes of euthanasia even if it does goes against they’re code of ethics and seems morally wrong. Even though the only job of a physician is to make sure of the patients life and that they remain alive.
Albert Jonsen, the author of “A Short History of Medical Ethics”, covers more than two thousand years of renowned medical history in a mere hundred and twenty pages. He covers many cultural customs and backgrounds involving medical discourse, beliefs, and discoveries which have led to the very formation of the distinguished society we live in today. However, throughout this brief tour, Jonsen exploits the fact that even though there have been many cultural differences, there are a few common themes which have assimilated over the years and formed the ethics of medicine. The most prevalent themes of ethics presented in Jonsens text, are decorum, deontology and politic ethics. Decorum is referred to as both the professional etiquette and personal virtues of medicine. Deontology refers to rules and principles, and politic ethics expresses the duties physicians have to the community.
Non-verbal cues weigh heavily regarding patients’ ability trust doctors; they need to believe the doctor exhibits empathy for their situation. For instance, failure to initiate eye contact suggest coldness and a lack of interest. (Gartland, p. 23) Furthermore, many patients believe doctors are arrogant. (Gartland, p.23) A despondent child in Duke’s Pediatric Emergency Department belted at a resident, “You think you know everything!” Patient mistrust intensifies as a result of the doctors’ pretentious tone. Again, despite the personal nature of their profession, doctors frequently pontificate. (Gartland, p. 25) Physicians’ boastful tone suggest that the patient’s opinion is no longer important. Consequently, patients lose aith in the doctors’ ability to cater to their specific
It is also morally correct to realize that one must work within the limits of their knowledge, the Physician Assistant or doctor must not over step their boundaries, this could hold one liable for the outcomes, especially when they do not have professional knowledge of the subject being addressed.
Professionalism is an adherence to a set of values comprising both a formally agreed-upon code of conduct and the informal expectations of colleagues, clients and society. The key values include acting in a patient's interest, responsiveness to the health needs of society, maintaining the highest standards of excellence in the practice of medicine and in the generation and dissemination of knowledge. In addition to medical knowledge and skills, medical professionals should present psychosocial and humanistic qualities such as caring, empathy, humility and compassion, as well as social responsibility and sensitivity to people's culture and beliefs. All these qualities are expected of members of highly trained professions.
At the most fundamental level, in a good physician-patient relationship, the physician typically trusts the patient as a moral agent. Just as a trusting patient assumes good will on the part of the physician, so a physician entering into or engaging in a therapeutic relationship with a patient must also assume good will. This means, of course, not fearing physical harm, libelous reputational damage, or spiteful legal recourse, but more generally, it requires assuming that one is not being manipulated, used, or set up by a patient bent on securing some ill-gotten or undeserved
The doctor patient relationship is an important connection. Doctor-patient confidentiality is based on the idea that a person should not care for medical treatment because they fear the state will share with others.