Comments | solestria: Medical ethics, boundaries, and why I chose to study Chinese Medicine

solestria

Medical ethics, boundaries, and why I chose to study Chinese Medicine

Oct 23, 2009 11:44

peaceofpie posted the following article on his Facebook feed:
Boundary Issues: A Doctor with MS Confides in Her PatientI definitely have some thoughts on this. Boundaries are hugely important in medical care--it's something we talk about in Chinese Medicine, and it's important all the way around ( Read more... )

health, acupuncture

Comments 7

wyndebreaker October 23 2009, 18:05:51 UTC

I don't get what the big deal is.
Perhaps people want doctors like this?

peaceofpie October 23 2009, 18:29:53 UTC

Man it's been a long time since anybody's referred to me with female pronouns. ;-)

solestria October 23 2009, 19:19:12 UTC

Did I seriously? Oh shit! Sorry about that! I totally know better. *slaps self on wrist*

peaceofpie October 23 2009, 19:22:43 UTC

It's all good. It doesn't really bug me anymore like it used to. All the possible pronoun options suck anyway. It was just weird to see, since I've gotten so used to "he" being the least aversive option. ;-)

dragon212k October 26 2009, 23:37:16 UTC

As a medical student myself, that's not exactly how it is. We actually spend a great deal of time dealing with the person, which is why we start working with actual people from the 3rd month on. The reason we start by dissecting a cadavear is because it's vital for us to learn the entire human body, and it's impossible to learn all the internal organs as well as we do without that experience. How our education works makes it important for us to be able to visualize how everything works together AS a whole. No organ is seperate from the others, including the brain. One of the things I like about my education is that we interview people with various issues depending on our block so that we learn not only the physical aspects of a disease, but also the psychological. Medical education truly is changing. That being said, I do believe that there does need to be a certain amount of distance between a practitioner and their patient. I'm not going to be their friend. I'm going to be their doctor. True objectivity may be impossible to ( ... )

solestria October 27 2009, 00:42:46 UTC

I'm not questioning the importance of boundaries, just so we're clear on that--having clear boundaries with patients is very important regardless of what kind of care you're providing. I also think providing a safe emotional space is incredibly important, and that it's very much possible to provide that in a place where you have clear boundaries ( ... )

dragon212k October 27 2009, 01:07:36 UTC

i actually do agree with you on treating family for non-life threatening things. I'm sure at some point I'll be prescribing antibiotics, or PPI, or good old sleep to people. It's is during emergency care and life-threatening conditions that are judgement most often gets "skewed". If all goes as planned, I won't be doing any of that myself either. :)
Unfortunetly the "this is a body" approach IS the best way for us to learn anatomy, from a basic level. We learn the parts and then put it all together, which as long as this is tempered with a healthy respect for LIVING people is actually a very good way to learn basic anatomy. I actually like how we did it, ie do it all in 10 weeks (or so). It limits the impersonality of what we are learning, and allows us to more quickly go back to learning how to treat patients.