The other day I took over the care of a patient in the hospital. I reviewed her chart and noted she was very eldery, just had surgery to repair a fractured hip in the setting of untreated very advanced breast cancer. Her prognosis was not very good. Even with the best of medical care.
The best medical care may not be enough.
When I approached her, she was pale and weak appearing, resting quietly in her bed.
I asked her how she was doing and she indicated a little better than the day before. I told it would be one day at a time and each day we would try to improve her activity and her sense of feeling better. Her and I would be a team together.
She gave a big smile.
We were a team. Each day I would give her a new goal and each day she would also think of something more she could do and together we would get her stronger and eventually home. The sparkle in eye came back. We were a team.
Everyone needs to feel like they are part of a team.
No matter how old, how disabled or how sick, everyone needs to feel they are part of a team. The most important thing is they need to feel the physician is on the same team as an equal team member.
A little lesson learned - it is not physician and patient but team members together.
We all need to feel like we are doing one for the team no matter who we are. Lesson learned.
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