i say absolutely yes! a recent study, as presented in our clinical medicine course, showed the effects that prayer has on patient outcome. beyond that, maybe it hasn't been shown through scientific research, but i think we all would agree that "complete" health comes from being mentally, emotionally, physically and i would add spiritually healthy. can we as physicians ignore the role that faith and religion play in our patient's lives? do we need to agree with their choice of religion, or is more important to acknowledge the role that it plays in their lives? should we respect our patients rights to pray and the prayer schedule that they must adhere to? as stated in class, we as physicians don't have a problem asking our patients about their sexual habits yet we won't ask them if they pray...why is that?
A Physician's Prayer
Dear Lord, thou Great Physician, I kneel before Thee. Since every good and perfect gift must come from Thee I pray, give skill to my hand, clear vision to my mind, kindness and sympathy to my heart.
Give me singleness of purpose, strength to lift at least a part of the burden of my suffering fellowmen and a true realization of the privilege that is mine.
Take from my heart all Guile and Worldliness that with the simple faith of a child I may rely on Thee.
AT Still
11/25/07
practice what you preach
pet peeve of mine...i have so many...
so you say you want to be a doctor. you want to help others be healthy...granted this may be my definition. but none the less, we will be tasked with the responsibility of helping our patients achieve health and counseling them on diet, nutrition, exercise, etc. so pray tell why you're eating mcdonalds, hotdogs, kentucky fried chicken, and / or popeyes for lunch? how do you dissect an obese cadever and see up close and personal the effects of poor nutrition and still continue to throw crap down your throat? how can you tell your patients they need to lose weight because it represents an increased risk for hypertension, high cholesterol, diabetes and you yourself are just as unhealthy. where is nutrition and it's impact on health in the medical school curriculum? i think it should be mandatory. how does the administration say "it's important for each of you to remain healthy and to exercise while you're in school" and the vending machines in school have nothing but processed chips, m&m's and candy? am i missing something? am i being too harsh? i have that tendency, so it wouldn't surprise me.
now i have room for improvement...i eat way more chocolate than i should and i went from doing vigorous exercise 6 days a week to moderate exercise 2 days a week. so right here and now, i'll be the first to practice what i preach...i can't realistically say i'll be able to go back to 6x/week of vigorous training, but i WILL do a minimum of 3x/week!!
you heard it hear first. if no one reads this, does that mean i have to do it?
so you say you want to be a doctor. you want to help others be healthy...granted this may be my definition. but none the less, we will be tasked with the responsibility of helping our patients achieve health and counseling them on diet, nutrition, exercise, etc. so pray tell why you're eating mcdonalds, hotdogs, kentucky fried chicken, and / or popeyes for lunch? how do you dissect an obese cadever and see up close and personal the effects of poor nutrition and still continue to throw crap down your throat? how can you tell your patients they need to lose weight because it represents an increased risk for hypertension, high cholesterol, diabetes and you yourself are just as unhealthy. where is nutrition and it's impact on health in the medical school curriculum? i think it should be mandatory. how does the administration say "it's important for each of you to remain healthy and to exercise while you're in school" and the vending machines in school have nothing but processed chips, m&m's and candy? am i missing something? am i being too harsh? i have that tendency, so it wouldn't surprise me.
now i have room for improvement...i eat way more chocolate than i should and i went from doing vigorous exercise 6 days a week to moderate exercise 2 days a week. so right here and now, i'll be the first to practice what i preach...i can't realistically say i'll be able to go back to 6x/week of vigorous training, but i WILL do a minimum of 3x/week!!
you heard it hear first. if no one reads this, does that mean i have to do it?
coming up for air...
let's see...
well the first block of exams are over and i'm halfway through the second block. i've come to realize that part of the learning is actually learning how to learn. additionally, inherent in the process is not only academic / intellectual growth but a bit of emotional growth as well. as far as the academic, i'm slowly learning how to "drink from a fire hose"....i've got a few loose teeth but i figure if i adjust appropriately i should recover fairly well. the emotional growth is ever present and sometimes is more exhausting. i think to get through one has to have the right coping mechanism, and by right i mean what is right for you. the unfortunate thing is i'm seeing that most of my classmates haven't acquired those coping strategies because maybe they haven't experienced or haven't had their "will" tested like this before. granted, i'm no expert...i fumble, i doubt, i question....but when i truly sit, reflect and think of where i've been i know i can do this. will it be easy, absolutely not...but who wants it to be easy? now the tricky and exhausting part is not only do you have to find your coping mechanism, sometimes you're pulled into satisfying others..or at least they try to pull you in. being who / how i am, my initial tendency is to adjust myself to accommodate them / others, but i learned VERY quickly that there is no room for that. that may sound selfish and i'm not suggesting leaving someone out on a ledge...which as an aside it's scary to see and even think this, but you know how you can see someone's disposition change? you can literally see the stress on them and around them? it's almost as if they've bathed in it...it wafts off their clothes as they pass you in the hall. it's in their eyes, it's in the way they carry themselves...and it's way more subtle than "oh, that person doesn't smile anymore". i fear and worry about my classmates that are in this position. i worry that they won't make it. i worry that one day we'll get to school and they won't be there. how do you reach them? how do you help them when you yourself are holding onto the ledge by your fingernails at times. will there be a point when i will have my feet on solid ground and i'll be able to hold someone else up? will it be too late at that point? i don't know...i struggle with this one. so, i'm hanging on by my fingernails...am i or is any one us in the position to reach out and hold someone else up? i can't. i haven't given up trying to figure something out, but for now i keep holding on and keep trying to swing my legs up and get them underneath me.
after all that, i'm sure this will come as a surprise...or not a surprise if you know...i'm also the sga president. i absolutely love it. it represents the complete and perfect combination. i get to bring back my long-lost project management days, but this time use those skills to effect change as it relates to the osteopathic profession, community service, my medical education and my school. it just doesn't get any better than that. i was telling family and friends over the holiday, its almost embarrassing how much i'm enjoying the challenge of school and my latest presidency. should i consider lightening my load? why did i take on the added responsibility? i guess my answers would be no and why not. we all have one life to live. i have been given the unbelievable blessing of another chance and i owe it to myself, my mother and my sister to utilize all the talents that I have been blessed with...and i'm learning new ones...delegating. this one is a bit more difficult for me, but i'll get the hang of it...i'm slowly conquering the fire hose, i can learn to delegate. tangent again...in one of our classes we discussed the "addictive" personality that the majority of physicians and physicians in training possess. the very traits that will make us successful and allow us to endure the challenges of school, residency training and eventually to practice medicine are the very ones that predispose us to substance abuse. it was a sobering lecture...mostly because the traits he listed of addicts (drugs or alcohol) I and a good many of my classmates possess. so what does that mean? you can't turn off those traits, so how do you keep them in check? so at the end of the day, am i taking on too much? am i setting myself up to "crash"? will i end up being one of those students that allow gravity to pull me off the ledge? i say no...but the biggest thing for me is being as honest with myself as possible. secondly and most importantly is relying on my best friend to keep me in check. she knows me better than i know myself and can usually sense things before i can. so i talk to her and reach out to her when i feel myself slipping. huh, i guess i'm pulling her into my coping mechanism...interesting.
i have a thank you to go give...
well the first block of exams are over and i'm halfway through the second block. i've come to realize that part of the learning is actually learning how to learn. additionally, inherent in the process is not only academic / intellectual growth but a bit of emotional growth as well. as far as the academic, i'm slowly learning how to "drink from a fire hose"....i've got a few loose teeth but i figure if i adjust appropriately i should recover fairly well. the emotional growth is ever present and sometimes is more exhausting. i think to get through one has to have the right coping mechanism, and by right i mean what is right for you. the unfortunate thing is i'm seeing that most of my classmates haven't acquired those coping strategies because maybe they haven't experienced or haven't had their "will" tested like this before. granted, i'm no expert...i fumble, i doubt, i question....but when i truly sit, reflect and think of where i've been i know i can do this. will it be easy, absolutely not...but who wants it to be easy? now the tricky and exhausting part is not only do you have to find your coping mechanism, sometimes you're pulled into satisfying others..or at least they try to pull you in. being who / how i am, my initial tendency is to adjust myself to accommodate them / others, but i learned VERY quickly that there is no room for that. that may sound selfish and i'm not suggesting leaving someone out on a ledge...which as an aside it's scary to see and even think this, but you know how you can see someone's disposition change? you can literally see the stress on them and around them? it's almost as if they've bathed in it...it wafts off their clothes as they pass you in the hall. it's in their eyes, it's in the way they carry themselves...and it's way more subtle than "oh, that person doesn't smile anymore". i fear and worry about my classmates that are in this position. i worry that they won't make it. i worry that one day we'll get to school and they won't be there. how do you reach them? how do you help them when you yourself are holding onto the ledge by your fingernails at times. will there be a point when i will have my feet on solid ground and i'll be able to hold someone else up? will it be too late at that point? i don't know...i struggle with this one. so, i'm hanging on by my fingernails...am i or is any one us in the position to reach out and hold someone else up? i can't. i haven't given up trying to figure something out, but for now i keep holding on and keep trying to swing my legs up and get them underneath me.
after all that, i'm sure this will come as a surprise...or not a surprise if you know...i'm also the sga president. i absolutely love it. it represents the complete and perfect combination. i get to bring back my long-lost project management days, but this time use those skills to effect change as it relates to the osteopathic profession, community service, my medical education and my school. it just doesn't get any better than that. i was telling family and friends over the holiday, its almost embarrassing how much i'm enjoying the challenge of school and my latest presidency. should i consider lightening my load? why did i take on the added responsibility? i guess my answers would be no and why not. we all have one life to live. i have been given the unbelievable blessing of another chance and i owe it to myself, my mother and my sister to utilize all the talents that I have been blessed with...and i'm learning new ones...delegating. this one is a bit more difficult for me, but i'll get the hang of it...i'm slowly conquering the fire hose, i can learn to delegate. tangent again...in one of our classes we discussed the "addictive" personality that the majority of physicians and physicians in training possess. the very traits that will make us successful and allow us to endure the challenges of school, residency training and eventually to practice medicine are the very ones that predispose us to substance abuse. it was a sobering lecture...mostly because the traits he listed of addicts (drugs or alcohol) I and a good many of my classmates possess. so what does that mean? you can't turn off those traits, so how do you keep them in check? so at the end of the day, am i taking on too much? am i setting myself up to "crash"? will i end up being one of those students that allow gravity to pull me off the ledge? i say no...but the biggest thing for me is being as honest with myself as possible. secondly and most importantly is relying on my best friend to keep me in check. she knows me better than i know myself and can usually sense things before i can. so i talk to her and reach out to her when i feel myself slipping. huh, i guess i'm pulling her into my coping mechanism...interesting.
i have a thank you to go give...
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