I ranted before about how Watson and supercomputers will never be able to replace human doctors. Well, I was wrong. Kind of. You see, it is true Watson doesn't hold a patient’s hand in comfort, Watson doesn't make chitchat, and Watson doesn't get much out of a patient’s emotions. But neither do I.
As I finished my medicine clerkship this past month, I’ve realized I’m been trained into a lean mean diagnosing machine. It is not that Watson will never be like me, but that I’m turning into a crappy but handsomer version of Watson. School has taught me the language of medicine, but I’m still brushing up on the language of patient interaction. For instance, I had a patient who told me her story of being HIV positive from blood transfusions in Mexico who have been off her HIV meds due to lack of income. She has developed chronic diarrhea and fatigue for 3 months and has suffered considerably, affecting her quality of life. She is really scared because she has three kids and wants to see them grow up. In my chart I would write: Chief Complaint- Diarrhea and Fatigue 3 months History of Present Illness –35 y/o Mexican female, HIV positive but not on HAART meds, presents with fatigue and diarrhea for 3 months… The richly detailed life portrayed by the patient’s story is filtered into a cold archaic prose. And that’s how it has to be in the hospital. You get yelled at for adding anything extra. Sometimes when I talk to students or doctors, I refer to patients by their names, other times I refer to patients by their disease or room. Hey, can you check the labs for my liver failure patient? I need to go talk to Rm. 1047. After working in the hospital, you start to depersonalize the patients into cases you have to solve. Sometimes I forget I’m in school to help the person in the bed.
Med school and the apprenticeship afterwards are like a bridge into the medical culture. On the other side is where the medical language completely replaces the patient’s story. Decisions become calculated and actions mechanical. Right now I’m only a fraction of the way there, but when I get there, I hope I can hold onto my old self as much as possible.
so true!!! the other day a doctor walked into the room of a patient and said to him...youre the drug addict right? i was like oh man, this is so bad. the hospital is full of labels and its hard to find the perfect balance of not getting too attached to the patient and just seeing the patient as a job to be taken care of. Since you are aware of this, i think you'll do great at seeing the patients as people and not just another chart
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