I have said this a million times, if I have said it once – the three crimes committed on society with society’s blessing are: Commercialization of Health Care, School Education, and Justice.
I am writing this after reading a LinkedIn post by a GP who said that he was fired because he took too long to listen to a patient. In his case a patient suffering from mental illness who must have HUGELY benefited because the doctor listened to him patiently. But the Manager of the practice fired him because he took too long. That is why I am writing this to show that we still appreciate those who have not allowed their humanity to be killed by business considerations.
The amazing thing is that this is the opposite of how it used to be in my own lifetime. Let me tell you a true story which my father who was a GP and General Surgeon (Yes, they existed in those days) told me about himself.
He was in Med School in 1953 and they were having an exam where the examiner was going to observe them while they treated patients. He said that there was a ward full of patients who he had seen the previous evening on his rounds. So he knew every one of them and their case histories well enough to write those down from memory. (He had a prodigious memory).
Come next morning, he is doing his round with the examiner in tow. He came to a patient who was given to be being rather long winded and highly repetitive when talking about his symptoms. My father had not only seen him the previous evening but since the man had been there for a couple of days, he had seen him and listened to his story several times. That morning, he was stressed with the examiner shadowing him, he had heard the man’s story several times, and so he was a little impatient with listening to him for the Nth time. The examiner failed him. When he told the examiner the reason for his impatience, the examiner told him, ‘Your first task is to comfort the patient so that he feels he has been understood. If that takes doing it twice a day everyday, then that it how long it takes. Impatience has no place in patient care.’
My father said that he thanked the examiner and told me that it was the most valuable lesson that he had ever learned. “Your first task is to comfort the patient so that he feels he has been understood.”
What a wonderful world and what wonderful people, your father and the examiner. May Allah bless him and full his Qabr with Noor.
Thank you for sharing this important and much forgotten example. It was just a generation ago.
Totally agree ‘’ Impatience has NO place in patient care’’!
listening is indeed a highly valuable lesson not just in medical field but in every other profession.
listening remains one of the most sincere form of RESPECT ( empathy) … to what another has to say. Builds / trust + rapport…. X 2 essential qualities.
I have remained a sincere admirer of Dr Anwar Baig ( my khalu) who taught me multiple lessons as I grew up in my medical career. Such a remarkable individual Subhan’Allah!
So true. Patient is indeed an attitude. Calling an individual “the patient” automatically reduces him to a body made up of organs, tissues and cells waiting to be intruded upon. The least expected from a doctor would be a patient hearing, the first step preceding a prognosis, the first step of treating him/her like a human before he is reduced to a ‘patient’. The same applies to victims who go to police stations in the hope that they would be empathetic towards them. The first step would be to trust them without judgement and believe that they are telling the… Read more »
So true…sometimes just feeling heard and knowing there’s someone who genuinely relates and is there to care is a healing by itself
What a great lesson and you are an inspiration for many people like us , when I went to India attended couple of your Friday Khutbah’s and have been following from then