Coming from a family where many members are employed in
healthcare and related fields, I was always encouraged from a young age to
consider becoming a doctor. In fact, at almost every holiday party or large
family function from high school through undergrad, I was met with constant
conversations about when will I take the MCAT, what kind of medicine do I want
to go into, and so on. I would joke that the only position I could ever see
myself in would be in a medical examiner’s office, mostly due to my obsession
with Law & Order: SVU and my desire for patients not to talk back to me.
This second week of clinical immersion has definitely
changed my outlook on the doctor-patient relationship. Interacting with the
patients on the floor on a day to day basis as they progress from in some cases
a very poor state of health from complications of transplantation or from the
routine recovery following their surgery to a much improved outcome as they are
discharged gives one a great sense of satisfaction. Every patient seems like a
new puzzle to be solved, with their symptoms and lab results as clues, and
while not every piece seems to fit perfectly at times, more often than not the
picture becomes clear by the end. Furthermore, patients aren’t simply a name,
age, and sex on chart; they all have their own character and charm. The unique
personalities that come through the floor have really humanized my view of
medicine in this sense.
If the multiverse theory is to be believed, then there
exists a universe where I am world-renowned clinical expert. There is also
another where I am a perfectly adequate one. I think I would be perfectly happy
in either of those universes.
New York Themed Music Selection of the Week: Sufjan Stevens - The BQE
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