This is an interesting article from the New York Times. The physician-teachers who taught me in medical school, & my seniors when I was a houseman ranged from the truly compassionate whom the patients loved, to the abrupt (& scary!). And as a practising physician, I saw the same range of different bedside manners in my colleagues.
Communication is one thing. But to be able to be compassionate especially when dealing with patients, I feel, is just as, if not more, important.
I wonder how NUS "teaches" bedside manners these days. I know that in my day, there were certainly no such modules; it was look & learn, which, as you can imagine, left a lot to be desired.
1 comment:
I'm an epileptic though my seizures are well-controlled but during my hospitalization stints in my younger days...i noticed the same issues with bedside manners...from the houseman who refuses to listen to you when you tell him which veins collapse more and sticks needles non stop till they grugingly give up and listen to you.... to the registrar who patiently spent time explaining and drawing diagrams to better explain to my parents what's going on in my head...
I wonder if med school students or doctors will do better if they were graded by patients as part of their appraisal...
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