Starting in February, the students of the Faculty of Medicine in Bucharest will learn how to communicate with patients and how to become empathetic. It is about an optional course in Narrative Medicine that will be held by dr. Beatrice Mahler, former manager of the Marius Nasta Institute. “When the patient arrives at a doctor’s office, he needs to tell his story,” explained dr. Mahler.
Doctors should practice empathy towards the patient more often. Archive
Doctors assaulted by patients in hospital corridors or in emergency departments, but also patients humiliated, offended and thrown out of their offices. It is a phenomenon that no longer surprises anyone and against which we have no weapons. Than, maybe, in the long run. Because the lack of empathy and the lack of respect are, first of all, the consequences of the lack of education – a shame that comes from within the family, but especially from within the Health system. It is the reason why the first measures have started to be taken in the universities. At the Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Bucharest, for example, the doctor Beatrice Mahler will give an optional course on Narrative Medicine aimed at fourth-year students.
The patient must be listened to for at least three minutes without being interrupted
The course will help future doctors to communicate better and more effectively with patients, but also with their families or relatives, to know how to listen to them, how to explain to them and how to empathize with them. “When the patient arrives at a doctor’s office, he needs to tell his story. We have to explain his language to them in a calm atmosphere,” said Dr. Mahler. “If we, the doctors, do not listen to the patient’s story, we will certainly not arrive at the correct diagnosis, our consultation will be superficial, and the risk of medical error is increased. So the patient must be listened to at least three minutes after the first interaction. Or, if you’re going to look at the clock and if the patients are going to be careful to monitor their interaction with the doctor, many times they won’t even talk for three minutes because they’re emotional.” considers Dr. Beatrice Mahler. She stated that doctors need to know how to help patients overcome the emotions of face-to-face interaction. “The information you’re about to learn about your health can create an emotional state that simply blocks communication.”
Conf. Dr Beatrice Mahler stated that medicine is more than technology and diagnosis. “It’s about human interaction, it’s about learning or practicing our ability to listen to the patient, to give them time to talk about what’s bothering them and, last but not least, to be able to communicate within the team we make of part, so that the patient feels valued, respected, understands that his person is important to us”. Narrative medicine will help students make a connection between medical concepts already acquired and the first steps in what it means to communicate directly with the patient. “Because it’s not the same way we talk to our patients, it’s not the same way we react in moments of crisis and every illness, every moment of illness represents a crisis for the patient’s life. It represents a delicate moment, for him and for a family”.
Pulmonologist Beatrice Mahler. Archive
Beatrice Mahler, on the art of giving and bad news
Beatrice Mahler explained that the patient has the right to choose the therapeutic option, but for that he must be properly informed. “It is important to bring this before the medical student, namely that the patient has the right to choose the therapeutic option. Except for the situation in which he is on the borderline between life and death, a situation in which the doctor must decide for the patient’s life and is obliged to decide to save”. But any other decision that the patient should take, he must take with knowledge of the case. And this can only be achieved if the doctor explains to the patient in a language he can understand and in a calm, peaceful atmosphere. “Even the most difficult diagnoses or those that scare us a lot, must also be communicated. It is our responsibility, as doctors, to say that too.”
Therefore, the professors who teach at the Faculty of Medicine have a responsibility towards the students, namely to educate them to respect ethical principles and respect for the patient. “To the man in front of us, to the being who has the confidence to come into our office and give us the responsibility, but at the same time the great honor of helping him get through that moment.”
Doctor Beatrice Mahler led the “Marius Nasta” Institute of Pneumoftisiology in Bucharest for 7 years, including during the pandemic, and was recently replaced by the Minister of Health, Alexandru Rafila.
