Creative Listening

By Richard P. Holm MD

We all know people who are never happy. Contrast those with individuals who almost always seem interested, satisfied, and enjoying life. What is it that makes the difference? 

Numerous studies have shown that people find self-fulfillment when they have strong social support, sense a spiritual meaning to life, and last but not least, are able to find time to be physically and creatively active. I think it's that creative element for many that is so elusive.

Obviously we would all be better and happier if we allowed for our creative parts to come out, but how does one do that in a loud and cacophonous world? All the noise out there makes it difficult to create music of our own. I would submit that true creativity begins not with making more clamor, but with very concentrated listening. For example, the improvisational jazz sax is best when played in sync with piano and base.

As a med student I had a physician teacher, he was a cancer specialist, who taught by example on how to find fulfillment by creatively approaching patients with ears wide open, listening with all concentration. He was known as one who could perceive the nuance, the hidden pain, the color of the mood, sensing the broken heart& He said the creative person is one that is open-minded and listens.

I remember learning about his reputation as a true healer, one who creatively found a way to bring the patient back to health relying not only on the knowledge of medicine but also of human nature. He had the capacity and confidence to know when to cure, and when to move to comfort, to let go, to sing the lullaby&

Whatever job or talents we possess, each of our lives could be so full and balanced if we learned to let go of unneeded and rigid rules and fears, opened our minds, and creatively listened, truly listened with all of our might.

Doctors Feeling Gloomy?

By Shawn Vuong

Yesterday I was talking about my worries of becoming a bitter doctor.  But why do doctors loose morale?  Today, Sarah Rubenstein of the WSJ gave me some insight on this matter.

Here are some of the bracing findings from 11,950 primary care docs and specialists who responded to the survey:

94% said the time they’ve devote to non-clinical paperwork in the past three years has increased. 63% said the paperwork has meant they spend less time per patient.

82% said their practices would be “unsustainable” if proposed Medicare pay cuts were made.

78% believe there is a shortage of primary care docs in the U.S.

49% said that over the next three years they plan to reduce the number of patients they see or stop practicing entirely.

60% would not recommend medicine as a career to young people.

42% said professional morale is either “poor” or “very low.”

17% rated the financial position of their practices as “healthy and profitable.”

6% described morale of their colleagues as “positive.”

Wow, if that isn't depressing I don't know what is.  Paper work, a shortage of doctors, and low morale possibly through low reimbursements, insurance controlling care, and less doctor-patient time.  I may be wet behind the ears in the world of medicine, but I can tell you one thing, I am going into medicine to take care of people.  If a primary care physician told me that all the paper work they do keeps them from seeing the patient, I'd dodge primary care like the plague.  Many other medical students already are dodging away from primary care.

A couple questions come to mind after reading this.  First and most obvious question, how do we fix this?  Also, since Dr. Holm is a family doctor himself, I would like to know what his general opinion is on this article.  Is morale really low here in South Dakota?  Are family physicians here feeling the pinch of administrative work, low reimbursements, and insurance control?

Med School to Doctor Transition

By Shawn Vuong

These last two posts highlighting some of the medical education we would like to give through this blog to the general public, has had me look back on my extremely short medical career (currently in week 17).  

Healhcare reform is in the air, and from what I've read and heard about the morale of health care professionals, it is at an "all time low."  Many professors and physicians come in to teach us different topics, and many say, "It looks bleak out there, I hope you know what your in for."  

What worries me is the transition.  What happens to the altruistic medical student who wants to save the world?  What beats him/her into submission and makes them into bitter doctors? Is it the troubles we deal with during our residency training?  

A recent article by Dr. Edwin Leap makes me think so.  He calls out to all residents and interns as medicine's last hope.  It is inspiring and really heartwarming, makes me want to go out and save a life.  Hopefully I can keep this in the back of my mind for the rest of my hopefully long and fulfilling career.  

Be our hope, my friends!  Be the hope of medicine, the hope of the wounded parents and febrile children, the gasping elderly and the poisoned teens.  And learn to see all you do through the eyes of a higher calling.  That perspective, if you can develop it and hold tightly to it, will keep you happier than any political reform or paycheck ever could.