Emotional Intelligence

The doctor I shadowed today had none. Okay maybe that's not quite fair to say. She was a nice lady. I just didn't agree with how she handled some of her patients.  She hardly conversed with any of them, except to ask the necessary questions that led her to make her diagnoses.  At one point she abruptly got up and left the room in the middle of a consult without even dismissing herself. She had decided she wanted some tea, walked across the hall to make it, joked loudly with the administrators next door before returning, seating herself, and continuing with the consult as if nothing had happened.  Also, I was shocked when she explained to a patient their diagnosis of the fungus, Cándida, simply by stating the name of the fungus and listing off the medications and how often they should be taken in order to treat the problem.  There was no explanation of what Cándida is, not even that it's a common fungus and not some type of fatal disease.  There was no warning of how the patient could expect it to affect her body or how to know if it gets worse. There was no explanation of how the medications would work to get rid of it.  When the doctor finished reading off the last of the medications, I stayed quiet at first, believing that Cándida must be some really common illness that I did not know the English translation for. Why else would the doctor have failed to give more information? This was not the case. Although Cándida is apparently fairly common, the English translation is exactly what you'd expect: Candida. When I finally did ask the doctor what "Cándida" was, she looked at me a little strange and said something to the effect of, "You don't know what Cándida is?" Thank goodness the patient was still in the room when the doctor explained to me what it was. I'm pretty sure the patient had no idea either but was too embarrassed to ask.  There was obviously a real lack of patient-provider connection/understanding.

Tomorrow, is our last day here in Oaxaca before we go to Puerto Escondido.  I'm really excited! I think I'm going to take the day off from clinic so that I can pack everything up and get myself ready. Maybe with my free time, I'll even start the 5 page paper I was planning on having done before we left. ;) Tomorrow evening we have a meeting with the whole group and then Saturday morning we hit the road at 6:30am!!!