Video on Giving Scan Results

Medscape is a really interesting source for medical information, and they have a video blog feature that I've looked at a few times when they deal with Lymphoma issues.


The blog from a few days ago features Dr. John Marshall, who's the head of oncology/hematology at Georgetown Medical School. The short video (three and a half minutes) can be accessed here, if you're a Medscape member (free membership), or by cutting and pasting this URL into the Google search box: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/590083.


Marshall talks about an experience he had the day before he recorded the video, giving scan results to a patient. He came to the realization that his words weren't just affecting the patient who had the scan, but all of the people the patient will tell about it, and all of the people that those people will tell. In the video, he's speaking to other doctors, and his point is that they need to slow down and make sure they are giving as much information as possible, considering that many more people than just the patient will want to know what the scan says.


It's not a terribly detailed video (it won't give you a whole lot more than the summary I just gave you), but it's pretty interesting in light of my own most recent scan. I love Dr. R, and I had a great visit with him last week, and it all only reinforces for me my idea that Dr. R was having a bad day a month ago when he gave me the scan results. He just seemed off that day.

What I like about this video is the reminder that doctors are people, too, and that they need reminders to act that like people, for people. Isabel has been sharing my recent experiences with a medical doctor that she sees socially; she used to teach in a medical school. She told Isabel that she used to say to some med students that they should really consider becoming surgeons, because people expect surgeons to be jerks. But if they wanted to go into some other branch of medicine, they better learn to behave a little better with people.


I think we, as patients and caregivers, need to find ways to slow our doctors down. I've dealt with about a dozen different doctors in the last year and a half, and they've all been pretty great (even the surgon who did the biopsy, who wasn't a jerk at all). But they have their bad days. You need to go in prepared, and you need to ask questions, even the ones that seem basic and stupid. Good doctors will realize, after a few really basic questions, that they haven't done a very good job of explaining themselves, and hopefully will start over again. But we can't be afraid to ask.

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I'm off to a workshop for a few days, and my computer access will be limited, so don't expect an entry until the middle of next week. In the meantime, get off the computer and go plant some seeds or something.