Thoughts of Medical School as Seen through the Experience of Dr Audrey Young - Essay Example

Reaction al affiliation) Thoughts of Medical School as seen through the experience of Dr. Audrey Young Dr. Audrey Young was 23 years of age when she came forward to illustrate the tales of Medicine school and what the lessons taught prepare them for the various industrial placements. Basing on the fact that the medical school was located in Washington DC, it had the direct impact of influencing the students to develop a mentality of having their carriers entirely based in urban areas (Young, 2009). Medical school groomed students to become researchers that field officers who would go to any grounds for the sake of preservation of humanity. Medical school always brought a conflict between the applications of medicine and the preservation of the humanity of people. According to Dr. Audrey Young, the type of training and experiences that are taught in medical school skip basic elements that facilitate communication and understandability of the patients. The book bases its initial principles on the fact that medicine originates from the patient. The ability for a doctor to listen to the feelings and perceptions of the [patient is a step towards the healing and recovery process. However, medical school has taught doctors to have a minimum interaction with the patient. Particular emphasis is laid on disease diagnosis through research and treatment as opposed to the soothing and communicative nature doctors must possess in order to reassure their patients of a quick recovery of the various types of diseases that they may be experiencing (Young, 2009). My evaluation Communication and maintain a good rapport with the patients is the foundation of medicine. Great lessons in a career such as what Dr. Audrey Young is pursuing teach the professionals to be humble and sympathetic. It also should teach them to be tolerant and brave since there are many instances that will require them to have a lion’s heart in order to deal with them. According to my evaluation of the experiences that Young passed through during her years in Medial school, I view medicine to be a calling rather than a profession (Young, 2009). It requires a great initiative by the individual to acquire knowledge about the facts of the course and knowledge on how to blend into different cultures and people’s lifestyles in pursuit to give treatment and better health care. It was therefore prudent for the curriculum of the institution to expose the students to different environments with people of various beliefs, ailments and origins. Dr. Young worked from the regions of Seattle in the United States of America, Swaziland, Pocatello and Idaho. She encountered patients with various backgrounds and natives such as the encounter in Bethel, which is a Yupik Skimo town located in Alaska at the Bering seacoast (Young, 2009). Reactions when it comes to their preparations on their communication skills Dr. Young confronts, deals with various instances of social and cultural factors, which seem to be the main causative agents to many illness experienced, and amenability to treatment received from the patient. Medical school had minimum preparations to the students when it came to blending in with the patients. Communication skills are viewed to be a better form of medicine that the actual real tablets and drugs (Young, 2009). Without efficient communication skills, wrong prescriptions can be administered and the patients can suffer greatly and even lose their lives. I recognize the fact that part of the medical curriculum involves presentations and expressions of concepts learnt in the medical field. However, it fails to examine the abilities of the medical student to extract information that is adequate from a patient who seeks medical treatment. Medical school prepares the logical element of the student as opposed to the behavior and character that they need to possess when they interact with the various forces that exist in the outside world (Young, 2009). Comparison of the implicit and explicit lessons learnt There are various direct and indirect lessons learnt from the narrations of Dr. Young during her experiences in the medical field concerning the building and essence of communication skills depicted by doctors. It is important that doctors open their scope and become not only limited to the urban settings but also explore rural settings where culture has taken dominance over many other societal aspects such as religion (Young, 2009). It becomes important to know that the success of any health practitioner such as medical doctor is dependent on their book knowledge and their relations with their patients. One patient invited Dr. Young to eat chicken at his place as a way of appreciation of the treatment and the gesture. It means that apart from the administration of drugs, Dr. Young was able to read the patient’s body language and the tonal variations in order to come up with valid conclusions (Young, 2009). Reason for differentiating between a rural community doctor and urban academic specialist doctor Dr. Young experienced a twist of events when she was sent to become a rural community doctor as opposed to what she had wished for, becoming an urban academic specialist doctor. The arguments that had supported her decision of not becoming a rural doctor was that, it was difficult to comprehend and understand the people in the rural settings due to language barriers. Moreover, these regions did not appreciate the importance of medicine. However, they had embraced culture that had taken root of all their operations. Pursuing and practicing medicine in the rural areas would involve convincing the locals to abandon their customs and traditions and embrace changes, which in the end may benefit them (Young, 2009). Rural medical practice was more communicative as opposed to the urban practice, which involved the administration of medicine to a more civilized population. Dr. Young’s experience in Swaziland and the United States of America The procedure of application and administration of medicine in both places was the same. Medicine is universal; hence, the methodologies used took a similar structure. However, there were various marked differences and distinctions. Majority of the people in Swaziland, which is considered as a rural setup highly suffered from many diseases such as AIDS, tuberculosis, typhoid, cholera, malaria and many others (Young, 2009). The infection rate in the United States of America was lower as compared to that in the rural Swaziland. There was enough sensitization of medicine in the United States of America, thereby making the population in this region easier to deal with in terms of medicine administration. Swaziland had people with a distinct culture and belief. Dr. Young would count the number of people who openly talked to her bout their present states. Culture dominated and in most cases majority of the patients died. With the few, she established a rapport with; she was able to give them good treatment (Young, 2009). Patient encounter Dr. Young treated well a patient from Swaziland who was suffering from an infection that would almost take away his life. The patient, just like the other members of the society, had embraced the socio-cultural practices of the community. It means on a general perspective, he was not ready to use any types of drugs. However, Dr. Young was able to sensitize him of the urgency of treatment of the wound and the importance to embrace medicine. She established a good communication link with her patient through reassuring the patient and giving him treatment. The patient recovered and recalled Dr. Young to show his appreciation (Young, 2009). References Young, A. (2009). What Patients Taught Me: A Medical Students Journey. Sasquatch Books. Read More