Since joining the Compassionate
Care in Medicine Club at Notre Dame, I have thought a lot about why I became
interested in medicine at all. After reflecting on my experiences and values, I
have realized that my decision to pursue a career in the field of healthcare
has been strongly influenced by the great doctors in my life.
The first and most important doctor
in my life is my father, a pediatrician who owns his own practice in Brooklyn.
Before I even knew what medicine was or what I wanted to do when I was older,
he was constantly taking care of me. He was by my side every time I had a cold,
every time I had a stomach virus, and especially the time my fever was up to
103 degrees and I was sicker than ever. Looking back at all the moments my
father watched over me and did everything he could to take care of me, I have
realized that he truly embodies the values of compassionate care. This
realization hasn’t only occurred with my own experiences; I have also seen how
my dad interacts with his patients at work. As a pediatrician, he goes out of
his way to form a relationship with all of his patients, who see him throughout
their entire childhood and young adulthood. Even though no kid really enjoys
going to the doctor, my father tries to make the experience as fun as possible.
He constantly makes jokes and interacts with his patients because he really cares
about how his patients feel when they see him. He knows that being a doctor
isn’t just about treating patients’ illnesses; rather, his job is strongly
reliant on the interpersonal, relational experiences that grow during the
patients’ lives. By being a fun-loving, compassionate doctor, he can ensure
that his patients always feel that they are always cared for.
As influential as my father has
been in my life, he couldn’t take care of me for every situation. My medical
problems eventually became more complicated than a sore throat or a bad cough.
In my annual check-up when I was seven years old, the results of my hearing
test showed that I had experienced some hearing loss in my left ear. After
seeing a few doctors, I found out that I had developed a cholesteatoma, a
destructive growth that wreaked havoc in my middle ear. It had destroyed the
fragile bones located in my middle ear and required surgery to remove. The
doctor who agreed to perform the operation has also had a huge influence on my
experience as a patient. Dr. Selesnick, an otolaryngologist, performed two
surgeries to remove the cholesteatoma and to repair the structure of my middle
ear with prosthetics. Unfortunately, another cholesteatoma developed before my
first year of high school, and I had to undergo another surgery to have it
removed. Dr. Selesnick did a great job to fix my middle ear in these
operations, but that was only one aspect of my experience with him. When I
first had an appointment with him as a little, scared third grader, he welcomed
me with a kind and caring demeanor that is characteristic of every great
doctor. In a time when I was frightened and confused, he made me feel
completely safe and cared for. Ever since then, he has seen me periodically
throughout my childhood and adolescence. I always enter the patient room
slightly nervous, because I know there’s always a chance that I could develop
another cholesteatoma. However, at every meeting, Dr. Selesnick puts me at ease
by talking to me about my personal life and reassuring me about my health,
whether the news is good or bad. Like my father, he realizes that the treatment
of medical problems is just one aspect of healthcare; the relationship between
doctor and patient has to be compassionate and caring.
I don’t know if I want to be a
pediatrician or an otolaryngologist; I’m not even completely sure that I want
to be a physician. However, I do know that if I become a doctor, I will do my
best to embody the values held by the Compassionate Care in Medicine Club. The
treatment aspect of medicine is vitally important, but I also know that the
relationships that form as a result of seeing patients are just as important.
Great doctors act out of compassion by seeing eye to eye with their patients
and treating them as human beings with dignity. They recognize the struggle of
their patients, and respond by treating them with kindness and empathy. I have
learned these lessons personally through my experiences as a patient, and I
feel like I owe something back to the medical community. I plan on repaying my
debt by becoming a compassionate doctor, one who truly cares about the
physical, mental, and spiritual well being of his patients above all else.
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