The rubber begins to meet the road today, and I realize how insufficient medical school is to prepare you for what its really like to have your life interface with your patient's lives, as they journey through some of the most tumultuous times of their lives. Medicine is an endeavor all about people and life, and doctors are not just technicians for a machine known as the body. My life becomes connected to my patients by virtue of what I do--but the end result has a large part to with how I deal with this connection.

Its amazing how much of what we say is conveyed in how we say it. Something we all know, but it is so true. Watching doctors give news of possible bad outcomes from a pregnancy, I could see how by only stating facts they did not provide hope, or reassurance--they only instilled fear and worry. Granted, bad news is bad news BUT if there is an 80% chance of death, there is also a 20% chance of survival. 1 in 5 still make it. Not the best "odds", but the numbers are not zero. Why is it that some doctors focus on the negative part of the numbers?

At least medical school will help me refine my ability to show compassion. One of the docs I admire in Saskatoon talks about how a large part of our job is to give people hope. We are to be truthful, but to help our patients find hope rather than despair.