Doctor Psychobabble

It’s been raining like crazy this month. T’is to be expected, yes, but nonetheless, I think all this gloom and rain has had a negative impact on my mood. On top of that, I haven’t gone for a run this week, so I think my lack of exercise is only complicating the issue.

In other, happier news I am really starting to enjoy working at the clinic. I had an experience today which brought all kinds of joy to my day. I had a patient scheduled to come back for a return visit. However, I left the clinic for an hour to attend a Grand Rounds. When I returned, I saw my patient sitting in the waiting room. My attending and the tech ran up to me, exasperated and told me that my patient had been sitting in the waiting room, refusing to be seen by anyone other than “Dr. Campbell” and refusing vital signs and blood draws. Now, I know that for continuity of care and teamwork and all that jazz, it’s not a good idea to have a patient who will only allow one doctor to treat them. But really this incident was all too sweet to worry about that other stuff. My patient suffered from paranoid schizophrenia and was quite distrustful of medical people, in general. However, I had apparently managed to bust through all the paranoia at his last visit, and he trusted me immensely. All I had to do was greet him and ask him to allow the tech take his vital signs and draw his blood, and he immediately agreed.

Yes, the next step is to accept his trust and help him be more trustful of other medical personnel, but that’s farther down the line, and actually that’s the psychiatrist within me busting out. For now, I was flattered, pleased, and oh so grateful to have gained his trust and provided him with excellent healthcare services.

The sweetest thing I’ve heard in a long time? When I asked my patient why he wouldn’t allow any of the other doctors to see him, he stated simply, “because they’re not my doctor, you are.”

It was the first time I’ve ever heard those words, and I must admit that it brought a huge smile to my body.