YES S**, I'm writing a blog finally!
what to say when you don't know what to say
The past 2 weeks we've been inundated with behavioral science. As family physicians we're supposed to be ''touch, feely" but I'm so tired of hearing about all the stuff we have to do. We all are.
One thing we were taught was 3 answers to say when patients are venting. I can't remember the third for some reason, but the 2 I remember:
1. That must have been very difficult for you
2. I understand that you would feel that way (NOT "I understand how you feel" b/c then the patient could off the rebuttal "no you don't!")
I loved the last 2 weeks though simply b/c I had NO CALL. It was so nice and went by way too fast.
baby fever
Everyone in my bible study group either just had a baby, has a baby on the way, or is trying to be pregnant within the next 2 years. Yes, we are included but I don't intend to have one till after internship. As a matter-of-fact, one of the 2nd year residents is about 4 wks pregnant. 3 of our third years were pregnant last year. It's fairly customary for the females to become pregnant during the 3rd year of residency since most of us feel our clocks ticking away by the time we get this far in our education.
responsibility
I have a patient that keeps me up at night. I think about her diagnosis all the time and what I should do and how she is. I call her to see how she's doing at least 2x a week and I KNOW most doctors don't do that. But her condition is worrisome for me. I pray to God she survives the next three years so she doesn't die under my care. It's weirder too b/c her adult children like me and have even bought me a birthday present. I want to do a good job FOR HER AND FOR THEM.
What makes it worse is that I just took a risk mgt course about how you handle medical mistakes or situations where people sue you. We were given tons of scenarios and given options about what to say. Basically, you never apologize for any mistake, but rather tell the truth but not the whole truth.
For example, if you were to hang the wrong blood type and transfuse the patient with this blood and subsequently cause the patient to have an adverse tranfusion reaction you would not say:
"the unit of blood was not checked prior to transfusion which caused a febrile response in the patient" BUT RATHER
"the unit of blood was hung and transfused. The patient had a fever."