Great read, especially for all my med school/pre-med friends... After medical school, on her first day in training as an intern, a 3-year-old was brought into the emergency room after a car accident. The doctors were unable to save the child’s life. Remen accompanied the chief resident as he met with the parents to inform them that their child had died. When they broke down, the sadness was too much. Remen found herself crying, too. Afterward, the chief resident took Remen aside and said that her behavior had been highly unprofessional. The message stuck. By the time Remen was senior resident, she hadn’t cried for years. That year, another child, a baby, was brought into the hospital after drowning unattended in his bathtub. The doctors were unable to resuscitate the baby. This time, Remen was the one responsible for informing the parents that their only child had died — and as they held each other and fell apart sobbing — she stood silently by in her white coat, maintaining her professional distance. After a while, the baby’s father, with tears running down his face, apologized. “‘I’m sorry, doctor,’ he said. ‘I’ll get a hold of myself in a minute.’” How had she become the person a grieving father apologizes to? This is a common outcome of the hidden curriculum.
Posted on: Tue, 11 Mar 2014 04:18:04 +0000
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