I Fought the Law: Article in Canadian Medical Association Journal

http://www.cmaj.ca/cgi/content/full/179/9/968

Before leaving Winnipeg to go to Ivey to complete the Health Sector MBA I was working 'nightfloat' shifts here in Winnipeg. That meant that I was working overnight and sleeping in the day on the Orthopedic Trauma Service at Health Science Centre. Although it can be really busy on-call, I had the luck of several nights of relative quiet. It gave me the time to record some thoughts that were born while I was shooting a puck around an outdoor rink that winter, listening yet again to CBC's Ideas on my iPod.

The program mentioned Parkinson's Law, and the description given immediately made me think of my life as a resident. I had a lot to say on the subject related to medicine, and so I started crafting a storyline in my head then and there. I refined it over the next few months and in June 2007 I put it down on 'paper'.

So, in this week's CMAJ it is published in the Salon section. I hope that you all enjoy it. I'm sure that some of you have heard me quote this law that states, 'tasks will fill the available time for their completion'. Read on in the CMAJ!

Business to Bone Setting...Seeing Emotions in the Hospital

Last night was my first call shift back after a year away. It was also the official end of my first week back in the medical saddle after a year away in the classroom. It's amazing that after one week I am already remembering many of the things that I learned over a year ago. That includes both theoretical knowledge and skills. It's easy to fall back into old habits and routines (like my 2 hour nap on the couch post-call. It was delicious). There is one thing that I see differently having been away for a year.

I have now witnessed the patient experience in several of its forms over the past week. What I mean by this is the way that personality manifests itself in times of trauma and sickness. I think that many physicians (and providers in general) become numb to the human element of medicine after several years of practice. Having been away I am now better able to appreciate the manifestation of emotions that occur in patients. I actually feel the anxiety, strife and relief again. I had lost that ability before I left and relied mostly on cool clinical reasoning and logic in my patient interactions.

I'm glad that I can see these emotions again. The question in my mind is: How sustainable can empathizing with these emotions be over a busy career? Can a doctor maintain a close connection with all patients and try to step into their shoes, if only for a moment? I find it hard to even appreciate how it would be to spend more than a day fasting for surgery, let alone coping with multiple fractures and long periods of non-weightbearing, bed rest and pain.

In several months I will look back on this blog and respond. Has anyone else tried to keep their humanity while tending to the technical aspects of medicine? Has anyone reading this met human providers? Share a comment if you have.