Care for Your Patients: A Doctor’s Journey as a Caregiver and Patient

Overview

Humanistic properties have been at the core of medicine for centuries, but the functional practice of medicine is sustained by guidelines. Treatments for medical diseases are largely based on standard of care derived from years of research; even visiting hours in hospitals are usually based on hospital policy. At times, the compassionate core of humanism in medicine is lost amongst the attempts to follow guidelines. I am a medical doctor, but I am sharing my personal experience as a patient experiencing a life-threatening disease while simultaneously acting as the primary caregiver for my husband with terminal cancer. I discuss how compassion changed my perspective of our journey and how this experience has shaped my practice.

Learning Objectives

• Define humanism in medicine
• Evaluate what it means to care for a patient
• Identify when breaking the rules is reasonable to prioritize compassionate, patient-centered care