The physician’s essential art of balancing emotion and logic

From patient to patient and from hospital to home, physicians have to toggle back and forth between the emotional and rational parts of their minds to be effective in both establishing a therapeutic relationship and logically determining the best course of treatment. But how do you find the appropriate balance? In a piece for the New York Times Well blog titled, “Death and sandwiches,” Dhruv Khullar, MD, a resident physician at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, investigated a skill that physicians develop over the course of their training—toggling between the rational and emotional sides of their minds. This dichotomy allows physicians to be empathic and compassionate with a patient, which helps them understand their concerns and condition, and at the same time gives them the ability to switch to a more rational, logical side to determine the best course of treatment to help that patient. AMA Wire® spoke to Dr. Khullar about the essence of this tension and the need to perfect the art of balance. What it means to “toggle” “I think it’s hard, and it’s something that you hone over time,” he said. “The first few times you see someone or something, you approach it in a very emotional way because many of these situations are difficult and trying. Patients are really going through a lot, so it really strikes you.” “Over time you learn to toggle back and forth a little better or start to blunt this emotional response, and so the visceral fee...
Source: AMA Wire - Category: Journals (General) Authors: Source Type: news