Transcript

I feel the greatest lesson I learned from this Philosophy of Healthcare class is that everyone has a story. A story that we, as healthcare workers, are not aware of. A story of which we will never know the intimate details of. However, it is a story that plays a vital part in the healing and caring of a patient. A story that we, on some level, must come to know, in order to treat the patient as they deserve. To treat the patient as a child of God. A story built on the diversity of our country and the freedom of economy that even if it’s detrimental to our own well-being. We can’t look at our patient and assume he’s an alcoholic, because he’s in the ED for a drunk-driving crash. We can’t assume an AIDS patient was an IV drug user. We can’t look at the homeless person on the stretcher in hall two, bed three, and assume he’s here for a free meal and that he’s a waste to society. We have to look at every person as a whole person, not the broken person we are being presented with at the moment. We are seeing these people at their worst, and whereas they can’t be prepared for this moment, we can. We can be prepared by having the qualities that make us excellent healthcare providers. Those qualities are part of what makes up our own story. The one that brought us to this place right here, this class, this college. The story that led us to seek a place in society as a medical professional. The qualities that we share as peers are compassion, empathy, patience, tact, and the ability to adapt to ever-changing circumstances at the spur of the moment. Those are just some of the qualities that assimilate our stories together that brought us to this class in this moment. So whatever your story, whatever your faith, remember that the patient you are treating has a story, and it might not be that different than yours.