Themes In Konner's 'Basic Clinical Skills'

In his piece Basic Clinical Skills, Konner explores important topics related to a medical student’s first encounters with patients. He talks about humanity in medicine and the role of a physician. From the beginning the narrator distinguishes himself as an older medical student and later it is learned that he was a teacher. He says, “the older you get the more you know, and after a certain point you know too much; you can envision the pitfalls.” In the first experience mentioned in the book, the narrator describes his hesitation in starting a conversation with a quadriplegic patient. He struggles to figure out what to say to the patient. However, when he observes a colleague he realizes that, “the doctor is not entitle to be reluctant,”

She continually moans “Mama, Mama, Mama.” He describes this experience as one of the most terrible things that he’s ever seen. The whole time he yearns to hold her hand and just tell her that it will be okay. However, none of the doctors seem to notice her pain and he himself struggles to make a move until later when he holds her hand and says, “It’s OK, dear, it’s alright”. This experience reminded me of the many complaints that patients sometimes make that some doctors treat patients more as problems or tasks than as real people who need to be cared for not only scientifically but also with humanity. The narrator wonders whether this is treatment of patients is not necessarily intentional but just a result of the sleeplessness, stress, and excessive responsibility on doctors. I agree with the narrator because, its not that doctors don’t are immune to humanity and don’t care about their patients, they are under a lot of pressure and stress which can impede them and cause them to forget that their patients need to be treated with comfort and care. I liked how later when the narrator asked a psychiatrist she said that he would have to “get used to it” but doesn’t have to “become like them”. In essence she reminds him that just because one person acts a specific way he doesn’t have

Additionally he learns that even though he is currently a medical student and doesn’t have full training and knowledge he is also held up to these standards. He talks about this through three experiences when he is in an airplane where a passenger has a heart attack, is in a lecture hall where a woman faints, and later when he realizes that he violated the privacy of his patient by telling the patient’s father about the use of a drug that could’ve harmed the patient. This reminded me that I am also essentially a doctor-in-training as a part of the FAME Program and even though I may not be expected to be able to stop a heart attack through a medical procedure I’m still personally obligated to help in any way that I