Health care of patients dependent on more than physicians, themselves
Michelle Gourley
Issue date: 10/27/08 Section: The Scene
In the midst of all this interdependence and all these factors fits the physician. Sometimes we take an active role in making the patient better, and sometimes our best role is just to stand on the sidelines and make sure all these actors play their parts correctly.
Before arriving to Nome, all of these integral parts of health care were usually anonymous to me. In my years of clinical rotations, I have rarely met the laboratory technician or X-ray technologist who have given me valuable data about my patient.
I have almost never visited the patient's home and seen the environment in which they live. And only when working in a small ER in rural Tennessee, did I ever know the names of the paramedics who nightly transported our patients to the hospital.
Seeing the faces of all these key components critical to the care of the patient has made me realize that a patient's health doesn't depend just on my ability to treat their physical symptom; their health depends on a myriad of contributing factors and a community of personnel dedicated to helping them become healthier.
On many postcards sold in Nome is inscribed the phrase, "There's no place like Nome." For learning about all the aspects of health care inside the United States, I think I might have to say, "There's no place like Nome."
Before arriving to Nome, all of these integral parts of health care were usually anonymous to me. In my years of clinical rotations, I have rarely met the laboratory technician or X-ray technologist who have given me valuable data about my patient.
I have almost never visited the patient's home and seen the environment in which they live. And only when working in a small ER in rural Tennessee, did I ever know the names of the paramedics who nightly transported our patients to the hospital.
Seeing the faces of all these key components critical to the care of the patient has made me realize that a patient's health doesn't depend just on my ability to treat their physical symptom; their health depends on a myriad of contributing factors and a community of personnel dedicated to helping them become healthier.
On many postcards sold in Nome is inscribed the phrase, "There's no place like Nome." For learning about all the aspects of health care inside the United States, I think I might have to say, "There's no place like Nome."
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