Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Example 13
SUPERVISOR:
Is this patient a sensitive person
or is he like a computer
or whatever you want to call him?
When he tells you about his problems
which of these labels do you think works for you?
Students often demanded concrete help in coping with diffi cult interview
situations in a professional way. Adopting standard formulations helps them
to feel more confi dent in their new roles. Professional expressions and
standard meanings were mainly obtained from the general practitioner's
and the group supervisor's stock of experience, but fellow students can
also contribute helpful comments. In particular, sensitive topics and their
unfamiliar levels of intimacy are more easily mastered with the help of
approved
phrases that are sometimes tested in short role-plays. Often this
does not mean formulation of intricate questions but rather opening the fi eld
for the patient's thoughts and experiences in a
confi dential
and
safe
way.
Typical areas that can be mastered with the help of professional
formulations include posing open, exploratory questions, being directive
in a polite and professional way (e.g. interrupting a talkative patient) or
addressing sensitive topics.
Finally, the students are encouraged to use their personal experience in
talking with persons they meet for the fi rst time. The use of everyday talk in
order to establish an atmosphere of trust is explicitly approved.
Discussion and concluding remarks
In his topic
A New History of Identity
(2002) David Armstrong makes the
remark that 'the transformative process whereby the student was made
into a professional could be made transparent, no longer shrouded in
initiation mysteries' (2002: 175). What medical students learn in learning to
communicate with patients is how to use certain everyday practices in order
to be able to pursue their professional goals and tasks most effectively.
Communication skills and strategies have become integrated parts of
modern medical practice and the way the medical organization works.
Learning to communicate in this sense has less to do with listening to the
voice of the patient and more to do with learning a technology that serves
the medical practice and organization. David Mechanic expresses this quite
well when he writes:
We can (…) develop organizational systems that help people behave
like good people and avoid incentives and systems that result in adverse
events.
(Mechanic 2002)
