Could the reading of fiction, rather than medical journals, be a doctor's best avenue for understanding the human condition? One doctor thinks so, saying immersion in the lives and minds of fictional characters helps foster empathy and therefore a stronger connection between doctors and patients, particularly important in the rush of 10-minute consultations for days on end.
I attended a Seattle Arts and Lectures event this month by Dr. Abrahim Verghese, medical doctor and accomplished writer of fiction and nonfiction.
The event was sponsored by Swedish Medical Center and he was introduced by Dr. Naftali Hamata of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Dr. Verghese is reknown for his work with AIDS patients in the early ‘80s, work that informed his philosophy of the importance of a physician's human touch, and inspired his nonfiction work, My Own Country: A Doctor's Story.
He suggests that in the face of all the whiz-bang technological advances in medicine, one truth is unchanged: people want a stronger connection with their doctors through the ritual of physical examination. Today, though, most docs are not paid to spend the amount of time needed to gain the proper perspective on their patients' emotional and physical being and rely instead on hastily prescribed medicine, diagnostics and monitoring devices. In turn, patients, especially in-patients, have become mere icons or avatars representing test results and disembodied imagery.
This is an important reminder that when marketing clinics and hospitals, technology is an important proof point, but communications should lead with the amazing human story of one individual's connection to another through the process of care and healing.
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