Education Resources

Class 5: Health Care Through the Eyes of the Clinician

Introduction:

This class examines the challenges and responsibilities of caring for others from the clinician’s perspective. Though power imbalances between clinicians and patients are inherent in the relationship and thus unavoidable, it is also the case that clinicians are fallible. Like everyone else, doctors and other health professionals experience doubts, make mistakes, and have imperfections.

The suggested readings for this class prepare students to discuss and engage in activities that explore clinicians’ perspectives on the unique privilege and responsibility of caring for others. In her book Taking Turns, MK Czerwiec tells the story of a young nurse caring for patients with AIDS at the height of the AIDS crisis in the 1990s. She befriends some patients, cares deeply for them, and experiences the ups and downs one would expect when people around her die. Ian Williams’s The Bad Doctor: The Troubled Life and Times of Dr. Iwan James tells the story of a physician who struggles with his day to day interactions with patients and colleagues as he reveals demons from his own past, blurring the line between doctor and patient. “Missed It” tells a story from Green’s medical training which haunts him as he practices medicine.

Students may engage in two activities in this class. The first activity explores how a simple interaction can look very different depending on what preconceived ideas an observer brings to it. Students imagine and complete a conversation between a doctor and patient by filling in the text bubbles in the handout. [Excerpted and modified from Wrinkles with permission]. Using their filled text bubbles, students examine different dialogues and discuss what was unexpected about some interpretations and assumptions; how they came up with different stories from the same set of basic information; and what implications the differences may have for health care. After the discussion, students create their own story by following the activity outlined in The Clinician’s Perspective adapted from Ivan Brunetti. Alternatively, students use the Four-Panel Template to draw what it is like to treat a patient who is having a heart attack.