She talked about how hopeful med students feel when they first start out, and told me she worried that it would get harder for doctors to hold onto hope and empathy the further along they were in their careers.
She also told me how important stories were to her and joked about the influence that the TV show ER probably had on her while growing up. I loved her answer when I asked why she became a doctor.
Listener Poet Ravenna Raven
October 2019
Empathy
I’ve always been
a bit nosy so
I think that’s why
I became a doctor.
But it’s not easy
to show empathy
under pressure.
It might look like
spending five extra minutes
together and learning
our patients’ stories
so we can refer
to them by name
instead of by ailment
during the handover.
It would help
having more time
to reflect on these
moments of connection,
to rest and reset.
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