Looking a patient in the eye made all the difference in the world
“Thank you.”
Looking back on my step 1 study period, I owe my sanity to three things. Numbers 1 and 2 include my best friend and Coffee Toffee ice cream, both of whom prevented me from falling apart at the seams on multiple occasions. Number 3 is a memory from volunteering earlier in the year, and it still stands out as the sole motivating force behind me ever finding my copy of First Aid after I jettisoned it from the window in sheer disgust of biochemistry.
It was a particularly busy day at our student-run clinic, which is stationed out of a local needle exchange. Our last patient had been waiting all afternoon to be seen, but time was running out before our doctor had to head home, so I put my coordinator paperwork on hold and brought her back to the phlebotomy room to get her exam started.
She was the Hollywood quintessence of a “druggie”: Rail thin frame. Deep, dark bags under both eyes. Greasy hair. Razor sharp cheek bones. Pimpled complexion. Meth mouth. Track marks.
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Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - Category: Journals (General) Authors: Allison Goldberg Tags: Education Medical school Source Type: blogs
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