doctor-patient relationship

Perspective From Medical Students: Important Lessons Patients Teach

June 24, 2022December 13, 2018 by AAMC Staff

After a long semester of studying and exams, it can be easy to forget what … Read more

The Power of Listening: What I Learned From My Trip to Rwanda, Africa

June 26, 2022February 6, 2018 by Crissey Tait

I woke up abruptly from my jet-lagged sleep surrounded by a bed net, two fans, and the smell of the DEET bug spray I had applied before going to bed. One of my team members was knocking on the door, saying that a large group of women was already outside the hostel where we were staying and had been waiting for us to come out. I was surprised to find out they had been coming every morning, anticipating our arrival, but I also realized how different this place had already become in my mind.

Crissey Tait

Crissey Tait is a Master of Public Health, Global Health specialization candidate who is completing her practicum in Haiti to graduate in May 2018. She is also a Certified Health Education Specialist and native Floridian who is passionate about travel, infectious disease, and swimming.

Four Ways to Practice Teaching as a Medical Student

June 26, 2022October 16, 2017 by Jacob Adney

During the first years of medical school, we are taught a huge volume of material, covering basic sciences and organ systems. It is not until our clinical rotations that we truly begin to experience medicine in real time. Over our clinical years, we learn how to become comfortable with patients and help them become comfortable with us. Ultimately, we hone our ability to communicate knowledge to our patients. In modern medicine, we work as a team with our patients toward improvement of their health. We are the scientific experts, but require the patient’s help to learn about their expertise: the patient’s own body. For a patient to make the best decisions, we need to effectively teach patients about their situation at a level where the patient can make an informed, proper decision. How can we practice our teaching skills as medical students?

Jacob Adney

Raised in Wyoming, Jacob Adney, MD, is a third year resident physician at St. Louis Children’s Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri. He completed medical school at Saint Louis University School of Medicine, where he earned a Distinction in Medical Education. His research included analyzing the effects of smoking on myocardium.

The Year of Privilege: A New Perspective on Third Year

June 26, 2022April 24, 2017 by Brent Schnipke

During my pediatrics clerkship, one of our core faculty gave a lecture during orientation. This orientation lecture was particularly good, as the professor giving it was one of our most-loved faculty members who is deeply in tune with medical students at all stages. This was back in the summer when we were just getting started with our clinical experiences, but what he said stuck with me all year. He noted with a bit of humor that third-year medical students are the lowest of the low—barely even acknowledged by many team members, ignored by some patients who refuse to talk to anyone but a “real doctor,” disregarded by residents unless it is to point out something you are doing wrong. We chuckled, already able to relate with this view, but he turned the conventional description on its head by encouraging us to think of the third year of medical school as “the year of privilege.”

Brent Schnipke

Brent Schnipke, MD is a physician and writer based in Dayton, OH. He graduated medical school in 2018 and completed his psychiatry residency at Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine. He currently practices in Dayton, OH. His professional interests include medical humanities, mental health, and medical education.

Put Your Patients First When Choosing Clinical Attire

March 12, 2019March 1, 2017 by Michael Mehlman

Dress like an intern, not a hipster, not an executive
When I was in first-year medicine I had my ears pierced and grew my hair out. I went to attend a surgery and showed up with my piercings in and my little ringlets popping out from beneath the surgical head mask. The consultant gave me a look of consternation, the same look you’d expect from your curmudgeon next-door neighbor who’s disgruntled at kids skateboarding outside his house. He said to me, “Those piercings you have there; that hair of yours; you don’t look like a med student. I’ll tell you what. If you go back to the locker room, take out those piercings, and tuck that hair into your cap, you can observe this surgery.” I acquiesced. But I hadn’t learned the lesson yet.

Michael Mehlman

Dr. Michael D Mehlman lives in Osaka, Japan and is an Australian medical graduate. During medical school, he was an author and editor for First Aid for the USMLE Step 1, USMLE Rx Step 1 Qmax, and First Aid Express. He is director of USMLE services at Residents Medical Group. His current passions are Japanese language and culture, writing and good coffee.

The Power of the Patient-Doctor Bond: A Conversation with Michael Clearfield, DO

March 16, 2019March 30, 2016 by Suzanne Barston

Some people develop the passion for medicine at an early age. Michael Clearfield, DO, was not one of them – but once he did find that passion, he ran with it for miles.Although he’d been interested in science and math throughout college, and had a vague feeling that “something in healthcare would be something I’d be interested in,” it was ultimately a personal experience that cemented his future career goals. “Some personal issues happened in our family, where people got ill, and I was able to experience the healthcare team as it impacts you as an individual,” he told SDN at last year’s UC Davis Pre-Health Conference (UCDPHC15), where he delivered a keynote on opportunities in osteopathic medicine. “There were some very startling revelations to me; some positive, some negative – seeing how the system worked, and how it didn’t – and I decided that [medicine] would be a career that I would like to try and make a difference in.”

Suzanne Barston

Suzanne Barston is a Chicago-based writer and journalist specializing in the areas of healthcare and science.

What You Should Know: Talking to Parents about their Obese Children

July 11, 2022March 22, 2016 by Brian Wu

According to the Center for Disease Control, childhood obesity is reaching what some are calling … Read more

What You Should Know: Lies in the Patient-Doctor Relationship

June 26, 2022January 26, 2016 by Brian Wu

What You Should Know is an ongoing series covering a range of informational topics relevant to current and future healthcare professionals.
It happens to every medical student sooner or later – the realization that their patient has lied to them. Especially for students, who are just beginning to gain clinical experience, this realization can come as a shock. A sense of betrayal, anger or even the desire for retribution can set in, all of which can be damaging to the doctor-patient relationship.
These emotions aside, it might help student doctors dealing with the nature of this reality to understand where deception enters into the therapeutic relationship – as well as how and why people lie in a clinical setting and what the doctor can do about it.

Brian Wu

Brian Wu, MD, Ph.D., MNM, graduated from the University of Maryland with a Bachelor’s of Science in Physiology and Neurobiology, and graduated from the Keck School of Medicine (University of Southern California) with an MD with a focus on holistic care and treatment. He currently holds a Ph.D. in integrative biology and disease for his research in exercise physiology and rehabilitation.

Hysterectomy or SSRIs?

June 26, 2022November 25, 2015 by Nita Chen

Reposted from here with permission She was a petite, otherwise well-appearing woman, apprehensively sitting at the edge … Read more

Judgment in Medicine

June 27, 2022January 21, 2014 by Edward Chang

“Only God can judge me.” Tupac Shakur rapped these famous lyrics in his All Eyez on Me Album in 1996. Although this song stands far removed from the field of medicine, the statement “only God can judge me” is a reflection of one of our modern culture’s values: we simply do not like being judged.
This truth seems to resonate particularly in clinics and hospitals throughout the US. Physicians see patients of all different colors, shapes, and sizes and many of these patients enter into clinics with emotional wounds inflicted from previous physicians’ lack of judgmental tact. These patients have been negatively looked upon because of their skin color, weight, gender and countless other reasons resulting in an understandable defensiveness towards any medical professional. In addition, a fair number of patients, myself included, while not completely jaded, have had significant negative experiences with doctors. One of the most dangerous pathologies identified in a doctor’s office, ironically has nothing to do with actual “medicine”. What hurts the most is diagnosing the prejudice influencing our physicians’ health care.