Do you get emotional about patients?
False
General clinical
Do you get emotional about patients?
Discuss any specialty in this open forum for all healthcare professionals
I'm a medical student who has just completed my first clinical year, I find myself getting hugely attached to patients that I meet. I get caught up in their "story" who they were, what happened so tha
0
Cat:OpenClinicalForum:GeneralClinical
Cat:OpenClinicalForum:GeneralClinicalDiscussion:a268ead3-1373-4086-91bf-859ad8e9e73f
Forums » Open clinical » General clinical » Do you get emotional about patients?
|
Do you get emotional about patients?
posted at 19/7/2011 12:54 PM BST
on bmj.com
|
Posts: 4
First: 15/6/2011 Last: 2/7/2012 |
I'm a medical student who has just completed my first clinical year, I find myself getting hugely attached to patients that I meet. I get caught up in their "story" who they were, what happened so that they became admitted and then I share their joy when they are discharged home and I feel great sadness when they pass away or they don't improve as we had hoped. So, what I want to ask is how do you detach yourselves? As medical professionals, of course we should remain detached and objective, but do you go home, at the end of your shift and allow your emotions to show through? How do you detach yourselves from the situations and cases we see everyday? How do you cope when you come across a patient or case that affects you on a personal and emotional level? |
|
Re: Do you get emotional about patients?
posted at 19/7/2011 1:10 PM BST
on bmj.com
|
|
*Moderator*
Posts: 682
First: 17/11/2008 Last: 19/5/2013 |
I thought your post was great. I felt the same way myself - I cried when patients died, used to wait by the bedside in recovery when I was a junior doctor and you did frozen sections- so women did not know if they were going to have a mastectomy or their breast preserved when they went down to surgery- so you knew when they woke up they would want to know- .so I would make sure I was there to tell them. I felt terrible telling a young man he had cancer of his colon that was inoperable etc etc. But while empathy is a good thing it is only part of what makes you a good doctor. I'd rather have a good techniican operating on me than a weepy surgeon. Also this is their life, their tragedies- not yours. Your job is to be their doctor at the end of the day, not emote over them. Also the human cost to yourself can be very high. You do need to compartmentalise your emotions a bit in order to cope. Don't allow yourself to feel overwhelemed by emotion. Being an effective caring doctors is what you should strive for. |
|
|
Re: Do you get emotional about patients?
posted at 19/7/2011 1:21 PM BST
on bmj.com
|
Posts: 339
First: 12/7/2010 Last: 21/5/2013 |
I personally think that there is no harm in feeling this way as long as you remain objective and have the capacity to get over the phase within a healthy period of time. If you can suspend the rush of emotions at the bedside and allow yourself to be washed over by them at a later, safer time, I think you will be ok. I have had the same problem as you and I now employ this tactic to get past it. This way, you not only bypass the immediate raw nature of those feelings, you also get to choose -with a more stable temperament- whether or not you wish to relive the situation in your clear mind, at the end of your shift. 
|
|
|
Re: Do you get emotional about patients?
posted at 19/7/2011 2:43 PM BST
on bmj.com
|
Posts: 220
First: 10/12/2010 Last: 1/6/2012 |
Zeybk has been advised properly by luisad. It is hoped that Zeybk with age will become Luisad. Watering of eyes is a good exercise for your emotions. Thresh hold will slowly rise. |
|
|
Re: Do you get emotional about patients?
posted at 19/7/2011 6:24 PM BST
on bmj.com
|
Posts: 16
First: 18/7/2011 Last: 27/10/2012 |
As a doctor , we must have empathy. After all, we also are human. We are not beyond emotion. We should not act like machines with no feelings. But , as iuisad mentioned, we should not be overwhelmed with emotion. We do not treat the disease, rather we do treat the person. When I get sick, what I expect from my doctor colleagues. Ofcourse , empathy. So, we should not deprive our patients from showing empathy. But , empathy does not mean, you show tears before your patients, rather it is sincerity and dexterity with which you tackle your patients sufferings. That makes you empathetic. Thanks everyone. |
|
|
Re: Do you get emotional about patients?
posted at 19/7/2011 8:23 PM BST
on bmj.com
|
Posts: 1348
First: 25/1/2009 Last: 20/5/2013 |
It unfortunate to say that with time you develop a hardness that means you will be less attached to your patients. As a medical student you have the time that working doctors lack to spend time hearing their full story, about their relatives etc. A busy medical SHO may have 30 patients to care for. That gives you 16 minute per patient in an 8 hour shift (not allowing for you lunch and other distractions like bleeps, teaching and cardiac arrests). Its difficult to connect in that time. You will occasionally find a patient whose story shines brightly and burns a hole in your hard shell. You will feel better for remembering that patients are people, not diagnoses, and will pull out the stops for that patient like Luisad says. The patient will either get better - reminding you that there is hope for all of us, or die - causing you to cry with the family (even if its apart from them). The important thing is to remember that either outcome has made you a better doctor, but that trying to make that connection for all your patients will simply leave you emotionally exhausted and running late all day. On the whole you will find a balance - I worked in a rural A&E department one winter and was horrified at myself that at least once a week, when an active resus case came in we could pitch in with the resus effort long enough to declare the effort futile (usually about 5 minutes - as in our area most ambulance journeys were 20mins +) and then walk back to whatever you were doing without a thought for the family or friends of the patient. When I first saw it happening it was simply barbaric - how could they? But by the end of the 4 months I was just as bad as the seasoned A&E team. But then I've seen A&E nurses sit a bedside vigil for patients dying in the department from trauma or intracranial bleeds whose family were uncontactable or unable to arrive in time. I've cried while delivering the diagnosis of a CVA to a family. I've rejoiced with a couple when the "infertile" woman had a postive pregnancy test and worried enough to visit some of my admissions on the wards the following day to see how they were getting on. Once you develop the hard shell its not always easy to open the door without allowing the shell to crack "(its like trying to cut a window in an egg shell" I once heard a consultant say). It will never be easy to close the door at will once you've opened it for a patient. But if you can strike that balance you can truely make a difference to the patient and family experience, and you can remind yourself why you became a doctor Good Luck - and it gets easier |
|
|
Re: Do you get emotional about patients?
posted at 20/7/2011 10:54 PM BST
on bmj.com
|
Posts: 1177
First: 19/4/2010 Last: 16/5/2013 |
I cry with patients more now as a consultant than I ever did as a house officer. I have more shared experience with patients now, I have children, my parents are older, I've lived through family death, and I see patients *much* younger than me die. So I cry lots with patients and families now, and I'm glad I do. The day I tell the family of a 22 year old CF patient that their daughter will not survive the week, and don't cry, is the day I should stop seeing patients, and move into Medical Politics. |
|
|
Re: Do you get emotional about patients?
posted at 25/7/2011 11:25 AM BST
on bmj.com
|
|
Posts: 1
First: 25/7/2011 Last: 25/7/2011 |
Yes, very often. Over the years I have learned how not to allow my emotions to adversely affect my clinical reasoning and my personal life. On thze other hand, I believe that emotions have shaped me to become a better person and a better doctor. I always get scared when I encounter an emotionally cold student, however brilliant he/she may be. |
Forums » Open clinical » General clinical » Do you get emotional about patients?
