I've never bought this idea of taking a therapeutic distance. If I see a student or house staff cry, I take great faith in that. That's a great person; they're going to be a great doctor.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
Practicing medicine is not only my vocation, it gives me an opportunity to continue to be in direct contact with people, to see them and hear their needs.
I understand what it's like to go to hospitals and there's no medicine, and the best thing you have to give the patients is compassion.
Hospice is such a tremendous thing. Patients seem to reach an inner peace.
I think people are by-and-large happy with the providers that they have got now. They treasure that doctor-patient relationship.
I've spent my life visiting a handful of people who are very close to me when they've been committed to one hospital or another in New York.
I tell residents, if you gave me two patients with identical problems, and one of them had family at the bedside with a lot of laughter, plus photos and a quilt from home, and next door was another patient who was alone every time I came by - I'm going to be very nervous about the isolated patient's mental status.
I would welcome processes that eliminate the need for doctors. We bottle-neck things around doctors, and it's not a good way of doing things.
The professional must learn to be moved and touched emotionally, yet at the same time stand back objectively: I've seen a lot of damage done by tea and sympathy.
Every clinical encounter is an opportunity to generate social capital. Even in situations where patient needs are complex or seemingly insurmountable, it is the empathy and goodwill which makes the difference.
My mother was all about unconditional love, and I don't think we give that to our patients a lot. At the end of the day, what they really need you to do is to look at them in the eye and say, 'I'm here for you. I'm going to make sure this works out.'
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