The joy of being a teaching and learning internist

Since December 1st, I have made attending rounds all but 10 days.  As usual, this stretch has invigorated me. As an internist (I am eschewing the phrase general internist because I believe that the adjective general is redundant), my teams care for a wide variety of patients.  Some patients have given us diagnostic challenges, while others management challenges.  Many patients need the right side of our brain, while others need the left side.  The best internists have balanced brains! As a teacher, I love inducing excitement in the learners.  When we figure out the diagnosis, we feel like Sherlock Holmes. As a learner, I love a diagnostic challenge.  I spent several hours yesterday trying to better understand tachycardic cardiomyopathy and to diagnose a patient with intermittent left bundle branch block.  Sitting there, reading articles to see if they shed light on our confusion gives me great pleasure. As a physician, my greatest pleasure occurs when we connect with the patient.  I recently cared for a patient who was angry with his health care team.  We understand his anger, and refocused he and his family to a more patient centered plan.  He left the hospital satisfied and his family felt that we had addressed the important issues.  We made no diagnostic coups.  We focused on symptom control.  But most important we let him know that we wanted to make him feel better. Atul Gawande, in his recent article THE HEROISM OF INCREMENTAL CARE, wrote this: Success, ther...
Source: DB's Medical Rants - Category: Internal Medicine Authors: Tags: Medical Rants Source Type: blogs