When a patient is brought into the OR, it is now protocol for the nurses to ask the patient his/her name, birth date, name of the surgeon and the procedure about to be undertaken. This is a precautionary measure to ensure that the appropriate surgeon is indeed operating on the correct patient, and that we are doing the previously agreed upon procedure.
So the other day, after we asked a patient if he knew who was doing the surgery, and what was going to be performed, he exclaimed quite earnestly: "Oh yes, Dr. Keagirl knows exactly what she is doing..." The entire operating room had a good laugh, though I have to confess that the patient said those words after being given some "happy medicine"...
Nevertheless, this does bring up the question of trust and faith. Patients must be able to trust their surgeon. Lest you trust your surgeon completely, you should not allow her/him to approach you with a scalpel. That has been my personal policy, though I concede that I have never required any surgery yet. Patients meet me, talk to me, discuss medical issues with me, and I formulate a plan that sometimes involves surgery. And when the patients agree, there are brief moments when I am amazed that they will trust me to operate on them. Don't get me wrong, I don't doubt my abilities (I even admit to being secretly quite proud of my skills), but I find this trust almost overwhelming.
Just over this past week, I had two patients specifically say to me that they had full trust in me and my ability to operate. One patient was adamant in that she wanted nobody else but me (and not one of my partners) to do her surgery (I assured her I would). The other patient was waking up in the recovery room after surgery (where patients are still very drowsy), and upon hearing that surgery was all over and that everything had gone very well, he mumbled: "I didn't doubt it for a second. I trust you doc".
It's gratifying to hear this. It's also terrifying at the same time. These patients are putting their bodies and lives into my hands and trusting me to do a good job. They really do think I know what I am doing, and I am not disputing that at all. My 6 year residency program was excellent and I learned even more during my four years in private practice. I don't think their trust is misplaced, nonetheless, I find the whole experience to be strangely humbling.
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
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10 comments:
Grateful patients are our best feedback that We are doing our jobs nicely.
You, always have to gain their trust, their confidence...and that's obtained with empathy wich isn't taught in books or the medschool
Very well written keagirl and I agree.
Speaking as a patient, I think it's very important to have complete confidence & trust in your surgeon.
I think the fact that you find it humbling is one of the reasons your patients have such faith in you.
Weird, but your piece made me realize I spend FAR more time discussing my hair with the hairdresser than I have with my son's surgeons! Well, she wields a razor too... Thanks for writing this piece!
Trust has to be the cornerstone of every solid doctor/patient relationship, but I think the need for it is amplified when surgery is involved. I myself chose a non-surgical field, but observe over and over again the huge difference it makes when patients when know they are in the hands of a confident,capable, and equally as if not more important - empathetic MD.
I think its great that it makes you feel humbled...some of the surgeons I've worked with wouldn't be even humbled by the presence of God himself. Actually, I can think of a few who would sue him for identity theft. Hehe.
I don't know you, and I've never seen your surgical skills demonstrated, but I'd put my bladder in your hands any old time just based on the way you write about your patients and life. It's the caring that means something to patients.
It's gratifying and humbling; and it's also amazing that most patients are so easily able to make that leap of faith. I guess when it happens, we get to take some credit. On the other hand (as I said in my book) trust isn't given: it's taken. Meaning that we, in a very real sense, hold all the cards. If you're falling you reach out for the nearest branch. Not entirely true, of course. Some docs are either unable or unwilling to do what it takes to establish real trust and communication. And whatever the reasons, it feels especially good when a patient says something like that.
The trust we place in doctors we don't know is a credit to our medical community in he U.S. When most of us have serious enough medical problems to warrant a surgical procedure, we give our selves over to someone we don't know and with whom we've spent but minutes, sometimes.
It's also a credit to you that the extreme vast majority of the time, patients come out on the other side of the experience Better for wear.
Regards,
Nick Borelli
Even when I was pre-med, people who found out that I was gunning to become a doctor would typically open up to me on a whole new level and tell me things - private medical things - they don't tell many other people.
Just like NB stated in the previous comment, I've always believed this trust to be a testament to the respect that people have for the medical profession. As a future doctor, I already feel the responsibility that lies on my shoulders of maintaining this respect.
Even when I was pre-med, people who found out that I was gunning to become a doctor would typically open up to me on a whole new level and tell me things - private medical things - they don't tell many other people.
Just like NB stated in the previous comment, I've always believed this trust to be a testament to the respect that people have for the medical profession. As a future doctor, I already feel the responsibility that lies on my shoulders of maintaining this respect.
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