We Have Stories to Tell

As a holistic minded Family Physician, I notice a lot about the human condition in the context of health care, mostly in the office practice of Family Medicine.  The plight of humanity is still a fascinating work in progress.  We have an infinite array of response repertoires to our lives, many of which are unpredictable.  We have stories to tell.

I love to hear the stories and listen for the health related components that are misaligned with the dreams of the patients.  

I also enjoy reading blog posts and often have reviewed them on my Blog Talk Radio Show of the same name as this blog.  Medical Mojave, who used to call her blog Pissed Off Patient, is one I've followed for a few years.  She has been off line for a while and just reappeared with a couple blog posts and a comment on my last blog post.  Here is my response to her comment with more:

Thanks for your comment. Your blog, Medical Mojave is a Blog that I always read and used to comment about on my Blog Talk Radio Show. It points out the tensions between patient and physician from the patient side of a rare condition. A good book about thinking limitations in scientific and medical professionals that reaffirms the patient perspective that the physician could reflect a bit deeper on the patient story/ plight is The Limits of Scientific Reasoning by Faust 1984 U of Minnesota. From the preface: "human judgment is far more limited than we have typically believed and that all individuals, scientists included, have a surprisingly restricted capacity to manage or interpret complex information."
We have to work to process the complex information/situations better. The current Electronic Medical Record seems to have set back decision making considerably for physicians due to excessive administrivia and less time for patient care and clinical decision making.

I still believe that the patient's story is the most important part of the patient-physician encounter, in the context of an effective relationship between patient and physician.  It tells us us who the patient is and where they have been and where they are headed and more.  At the same time it resonates with who the physician is and where they have been and where they are headed.  The patient-physician dyad is powerful if allowed to be powerful.