Sunday, January 30, 2011
Spirituality and Medicine
I have worked in the medical field for over twenty years. As a student, I was taught to not get involved with my patients. Why? What is wrong with showing some compassion? Is it going to hurt the patient or is it to protect us from what we might encounter? We are taught that we are to help the patient get better. How can we do this by only dealing with the biological aspect of the patient and not their entire being? I think medicine needs to open their eyes!
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Hello Carol. I discussed your post with my husband. He is going to school for a surgical technician. He is also being taught to not get emotionally involved with his cases. However, when a person dies right before your eyes, I think there should be some kind of emotion inside. Now, the emotion can be contained but there should still be some compassion felt towards the situation.
ReplyDeleteAs far as treating the person as a whole, I totally agree. I'll give you a great example. When my mother was done with her chemo in September we moved out in November. I work odd hours and would stay with her during the day most of the time. Someone was always home. When we left, we left one of our dogs there to give her some company. If it were not for our loving adoring little Peanut, I am sure she would of fallen into depression. He is her new companion and has helped her recover nicely. We all need love and compassion to help us heal emotionally and biologically.