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I was very happy to catch up with a friend this week that I’ve known for over thirty years. She has been doing some medical teaching in Rwanda periodically, which seems both noble and adventurous. I also had a family member who left for Thailand this week, and friends who just returned from Costa Rica. In Northern Ontario, it’s quite common for people to travel at this time of year, to escape the cold briefly, feel the sun on their faces, shed the boots and coats, swim in the ocean. The winter can feel so long, starting in October and lasting, often, until May. The travel urge is understandable, and I love a week of sun in February, but should we do it? For work, for play, for any reason?
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Medicine, like most things, is not the same as it appears in movies or on TV. Just as no writer, ever, has typed the words "The End," placed the page on top of a perfectly-aligned stack of paper beside a typewriter, and immediately mailed the manuscript off for publication (possibly leaning back, sighing, and cracking their knuckles first), there are many things I've never done or seen, despite being in medicine for nearly 30 years. Based on TV and movies, however, you'd think they happened all the time.
There’s a palliative care communication technique called Wish, Worry, Wonder. It’s a way to broach difficult topics with empathy. For example, if you think the patient is unsafe at home, you might say, “I wish we could fix this weakness you are experiencing. I worry about you falling and having even more pain. I wonder how you would feel about a walker (or a commode, or a bed in the hospice, etc.)” I’ve used this technique a few times and find it helpful to ease into an uncomfortable discussion.
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AuthorHi, I'm Karen. This space is a chance for me to get some of those notebook sessions out there: Motherhood, medicine, writers and writing, the state of the world. Non-published, sometimes non-polished, just a chance to open a discussion. Let me know what you think! Archives
December 2024
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