I had a full-day simulated patient gig on Thursday. The reason for visiting the doc was lower back pain, mostly on the right side. I've had plenty of that in my lifetime, so it was not hard to pretend. I did 13 (yes, thirteen) 20-minute encounters with 1st-year student doctors. Some of them worked on my right side, and some on the left (not necessarily a good thing), so it ended up being fairly balanced OMM (Osteopathic Manipulation Medicine). Despite being brain-dead exhausted afterward, I LOVE these experiences!
One of the student doctors, Vincent, was a repeat from one of my past sim-patient gigs. He has an outstanding personality to be a doctor. He recognized me as a "repeat" from the infinity tattoo on my left wrist, so we hit it off immediately. We had some extra time at the end of the encounter, so we spent some time gabbing in-real-life out-of-sim-character. Vincent came here from Houston. His father is a cardiologist, but Vincent has not yet decided on any specialty. Vincent's father helped him with the process of buying a house here in Wichita, and he has happily connected with the Lebanese community here (a favorite of our family, too). He says he loves Wichita, and he is staying here. How cool is that!?!?!
We talked about improving doctoring. I offered that the thing I see most lacking is looking at the whole picture of a person--physical, mental, emotional, spiritual. The typical thing is "my arm hurts," so the doctor works on the arm. But what if the arm hurts due to domestic violence? That's a "whole 'nother ballgame!"
Speaking of ballgames, SPRING TRAINING HAS STARTED!!!!!!!!!!!! JOY UNBOUNDED!!!!!!!!!
Leta
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