Skip to content
  • About
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Book
  • Careers
  • Podcast
  • Recommended
  • Speaking
  • All
  • Physician
  • Practice
  • Policy
  • Finance
  • Conditions
  • .edu
  • Patient
  • Meds
  • Tech
  • Social
  • Video
    • All
    • Physician
    • Practice
    • Policy
    • Finance
    • Conditions
    • .edu
    • Patient
    • Meds
    • Tech
    • Social
    • Video
    • About
    • Contact
    • Contribute
    • Book
    • Careers
    • Podcast
    • Recommended
    • Speaking

Assure patients that we are on their side

Jordan Grumet, MD
Physician
March 28, 2014
Share
Tweet
Share

Malcolm Gladwell thinks we should tell people whats it’s really like to be a doctor.  And by God I have invested the last seven years in doing just that.  I have written countless blogs, given lectures, and traveled to Ireland.  I have coined the term Caring 2.0 to describe the bidirectional flow of empathy.  Patients will tell us what it is like to suffer with disease, and we will tell them of our own battles.

Forged somewhere in the molten lava of truth and disclosure, a deeper relationship will arise.  We will heal not only with our hands, but with our hearts.  In the process, the oozing festering gash of our painful existence will somehow be allayed.

Balderdash.

I was wrong.  Years, pages, and a book of poetry later, I have found that my most captive audience is not my patients nor the populace in general, but health care professionals.  That’s right.  The doctors and nurses are the ones who get the most out of my writing.  It took me nearly a decade to realize that I am preaching to the choir.  It’s my fellow PTSD’ers that find release by reading my words.

We are wounded soldiers searching not for a pat on the back nor a bow of recognition as much as knowing glance.  To share with other human beings the impossibly difficult situations we face only has resonance for those stuck in similarly claustrophobic corners.

Do I want to know all the near misses that occur yearly in our aviation system?  Do I want to hear about the accidental deaths by friendly fire in Iraq? No.  We want to believe that flying is utterly safe, that our military only protects, and that pain and suffering are twentieth century problems long resolved by our excellent medical innovations.

Your average lay person only wants to hear of death when they are forced to.  Face it when mom and dad are taking their last breaths, but otherwise push it back to the farthest reaches of the denying mind.

We physicians need to tell each other.  We need to confide in our brethren.  For those of us stuck in the thick mud of human destruction, the divide is too great for the uninitiated.

But there is something we can do to fight the colossal mess of what health care has become today.

Instead of trying to explain the tangled mess of our daily lives to our patients, we should instead assure them that we are on their side.  We should tell them that we won’t stand for the destruction of humanism in medicine by the cold calculus of technology.

We should tell them that we love them.

Jordan Grumet is an internal medicine physician and founder, CrisisMD.  He blogs at In My Humble Opinion.

Prev

Don't shorten medical school: Shorten undergraduate training instead

March 27, 2014 Kevin 24
…
Next

Can we measure what it takes to be a good doctor?

March 28, 2014 Kevin 7
…

Tagged as: Primary Care

Post navigation

< Previous Post
Don't shorten medical school: Shorten undergraduate training instead
Next Post >
Can we measure what it takes to be a good doctor?

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

More by Jordan Grumet, MD

  • The man who changed the world with baseball cards

    Jordan Grumet, MD
  • A hospice doctor’s advice on getting your finances in order

    Jordan Grumet, MD
  • A story of persistence in the face of death

    Jordan Grumet, MD

More in Physician

  • Why so many physicians struggle to feel proud—even when they should

    Jessie Mahoney, MD
  • If I had to choose: Choosing the patient over the protocol

    Patrick Hudson, MD
  • How a TV drama exposed the hidden grief of doctors

    Lauren Weintraub, MD
  • Why adults need to rediscover the power of play

    Anthony Fleg, MD
  • Physician patriots: the forgotten founders who lit the torch of liberty

    Muhamad Aly Rifai, MD
  • The child within: a grown woman’s quiet grief

    Dr. Damane Zehra
  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • Why medical students are trading empathy for publications

      Vijay Rajput, MD | Education
    • Physician patriots: the forgotten founders who lit the torch of liberty

      Muhamad Aly Rifai, MD | Physician
    • The hidden cost of becoming a doctor: a South Asian perspective

      Momeina Aslam | Education
    • Why fixing health care’s data quality is crucial for AI success [PODCAST]

      Jay Anders, MD | Podcast
    • Closing the gap in respiratory care: How robotics can expand access in underserved communities

      Evgeny Ignatov, MD, RRT | Tech
    • Reclaiming trust in online health advice [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
  • Past 6 Months

    • What’s driving medical students away from primary care?

      ​​Vineeth Amba, MPH, Archita Goyal, and Wayne Altman, MD | Education
    • How scales of justice saved a doctor-patient relationship

      Neil Baum, MD | Physician
    • A faster path to becoming a doctor is possible—here’s how

      Ankit Jain | Education
    • Make cognitive testing as routine as a blood pressure check

      Joshua Baker and James Jackson, PsyD | Conditions
    • How dismantling DEI endangers the future of medical care

      Shashank Madhu and Christian Tallo | Education
    • The broken health care system doesn’t have to break you

      Jessie Mahoney, MD | Physician
  • Recent Posts

    • Why fixing health care’s data quality is crucial for AI success [PODCAST]

      Jay Anders, MD | Podcast
    • Why so many physicians struggle to feel proud—even when they should

      Jessie Mahoney, MD | Physician
    • If I had to choose: Choosing the patient over the protocol

      Patrick Hudson, MD | Physician
    • How a TV drama exposed the hidden grief of doctors

      Lauren Weintraub, MD | Physician
    • Why adults need to rediscover the power of play

      Anthony Fleg, MD | Physician
    • How collaboration across medical disciplines and patient advocacy cured a rare disease [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast

Subscribe to KevinMD and never miss a story!

Get free updates delivered free to your inbox.


Find jobs at
Careers by KevinMD.com

Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now.

Learn more

View 1 Comments >

Founded in 2004 by Kevin Pho, MD, KevinMD.com is the web’s leading platform where physicians, advanced practitioners, nurses, medical students, and patients share their insight and tell their stories.

Social

  • Like on Facebook
  • Follow on Twitter
  • Connect on Linkedin
  • Subscribe on Youtube
  • Instagram

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • Why medical students are trading empathy for publications

      Vijay Rajput, MD | Education
    • Physician patriots: the forgotten founders who lit the torch of liberty

      Muhamad Aly Rifai, MD | Physician
    • The hidden cost of becoming a doctor: a South Asian perspective

      Momeina Aslam | Education
    • Why fixing health care’s data quality is crucial for AI success [PODCAST]

      Jay Anders, MD | Podcast
    • Closing the gap in respiratory care: How robotics can expand access in underserved communities

      Evgeny Ignatov, MD, RRT | Tech
    • Reclaiming trust in online health advice [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
  • Past 6 Months

    • What’s driving medical students away from primary care?

      ​​Vineeth Amba, MPH, Archita Goyal, and Wayne Altman, MD | Education
    • How scales of justice saved a doctor-patient relationship

      Neil Baum, MD | Physician
    • A faster path to becoming a doctor is possible—here’s how

      Ankit Jain | Education
    • Make cognitive testing as routine as a blood pressure check

      Joshua Baker and James Jackson, PsyD | Conditions
    • How dismantling DEI endangers the future of medical care

      Shashank Madhu and Christian Tallo | Education
    • The broken health care system doesn’t have to break you

      Jessie Mahoney, MD | Physician
  • Recent Posts

    • Why fixing health care’s data quality is crucial for AI success [PODCAST]

      Jay Anders, MD | Podcast
    • Why so many physicians struggle to feel proud—even when they should

      Jessie Mahoney, MD | Physician
    • If I had to choose: Choosing the patient over the protocol

      Patrick Hudson, MD | Physician
    • How a TV drama exposed the hidden grief of doctors

      Lauren Weintraub, MD | Physician
    • Why adults need to rediscover the power of play

      Anthony Fleg, MD | Physician
    • How collaboration across medical disciplines and patient advocacy cured a rare disease [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast

MedPage Today Professional

An Everyday Health Property Medpage Today
  • Terms of Use | Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • DMCA Policy
All Content © KevinMD, LLC
Site by Outthink Group

Assure patients that we are on their side
1 comments

Comments are moderated before they are published. Please read the comment policy.

Loading Comments...