7/25/2019 Compassion, Empathy, And Altruism Reaction Paper

1/2

Professional Behavior I

Compassion, Empathy, and Altruism

February 5th, 201

1! If the patient has "an"er and the family says, #$on%t tell him!& 'hat should you

do and (hy) *o( do your personal feelin+s differ from your professionalresponsibilities in this type of situation)

You should keep the results private from the family unless expressly permitted by the

patient. The patient has the right to access their own medical record and has the right

to designate who else has access. Personally, I can understand that the family is trying

to protect the patient from any emotional or mental stress that might come about as a

result of being diagnosed with cancer. However, the diagnosis might change the

patients priorities and by withholding this information I could negatively affect the

patient on a level beyond protecting them from negative stress. !lso, if I were thepatient I would want to know about my disease status regardless of the prognosis.

That being said, if my patient re"uested I withhold this information from them I would

also respect my patients wishes.

2! hould a medi"al student +ive a patient a dia+nosis, and if not, (hy not)

! medical student should not give a patient a diagnosis outside of the supervision of an

attending physician. #edical students do not yet have a legal scope of practice and do

not yet have the re"uisite knowledge$base and experience to be held responsible to

effectively support the diagnosis. However, it may be appropriate for the student todeliver a difficult diagnosis after discussing the case with the head physician for the

purposes of practicing empathy and tough conversations. That being said, a medical

student should not off$handedly tell a patient %you probably have &x' because this is

unprofessional and could be misleading.

-! 'ould you have hu++ed the patient (ith AI$) $is"uss the pros and "ons!

(ithout knowing how the disease was transmitted and knowing it was essentially a

death sentence, I would have implemented universal precautions and then given them a

hug. The pros of giving them a hug include to build a connection with the person and

offer them some compassion. The cons of giving them a hug include putting yourselfand them at risk of contracting disease. )y putting on a gown, gloves, and a face

shield, I would be able to meet their need for human contact without potentially

sacrificing my ability to help future patients should I become infected and die.

.! /hinin+ about your personal professional development, (hi"h fa"tor are you

most interested in improvin+ in re+ards to "ompassion, empathy, and altruism)

'hat steps have you taen or (ill tae to rea"h this +oal)

7/25/2019 Compassion, Empathy, And Altruism Reaction Paper

2/2

*egarding personal and professional development, I am interested in improving my

ability to recogni+e when my patients need fulfillment of emotional needs and

appropriately fulfill those needs without taking away from the doctor$patient

relationship. To reach this goal, during conversations with patients I make an effort to

name certain emotions they could be feeling in response to their present illness orrecent diagnosis. The patient either confirms or denies the emotion and goes on to

name a more accurate emotion offering me immediate feedback and allowing me to

enhance my understanding of what certain emotions look like. urther, as per our

clinical skills course, naming or attempting to name the emotions helps build rapport

with and can often be cathartic for the patient.

5! 'ith your emotional intelli+en"e s"ore, if this (as a patient of a different "ulture,

ho( (ould you rea"t and ho( (ould you be able to "ompensate) 'hi"h

emotional intelli+en"e fa"tor most applies to this type of situation) $id you s"ore

hi+h or lo( in this area)

I would do the same regardless of the culture, considering that the patient asked for the

hug. If the patient had not asked for the hug, I would not offer them a hug. The

emotional intelligence factor that applies in this situation is that of social insight. I

scored an - in this area.