University of Kansas School of Medicine-Wichita, Wichita, Kansas
Ann Fam Med. 2022 Sep-Oct;20(5):479-480. doi: 10.1370/afm.2863.
During medical school and residency, we are taught to always keep boundaries with our patients. I took this lesson to heart and considered my patients merely as "diseases" during training. As I transitioned into the role of an early career attending physician, I realized my lack of meaningful patient relationships, and the concomitant burnout that it had caused. I hence changed my perspective and started listening to patient stories. These stories give me a purpose and gratitude in medicine that I had never felt before. On the flip side, I also gained insight that these stories come with a cost. There is so much joy, but grief exists simultaneously. Bad outcomes and patient losses are more heartbreaking than ever before. In this essay I reflect upon my journey of finding a path to the humanistic side of medicine and highlight my struggle to find the balance between the joy of connecting to patients and the vulnerability to pain and loss that accompanies it.
在医学院和住院医师实习期，我们被教导要与患者始终保持界限。我牢记这一教训，在培训期间将我的患者仅仅视为“疾病”。当我过渡到早期职业主治医生的角色时，我意识到我缺乏有意义的患者关系，以及由此导致的随之而来的倦怠。因此，我改变了观点，开始倾听患者的故事。这些故事让我在医学中找到了以前从未有过的目标和感激。另一方面，我也了解到这些故事是有代价的。既有喜悦，也有悲伤。不良结果和患者的损失比以往任何时候都更加令人心碎。在这篇文章中，我反思了自己在寻找医学人文关怀道路上的历程，并强调了我在与患者建立联系的喜悦和随之而来的痛苦和损失的脆弱性之间找到平衡的挣扎。
