Day 25: An Awareness of others enriches the self

“We must learn to regard people less in the light of what they do or omit to do, and more in the light of what they suffer.” ― Dietrich Bonhoeffer

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Lexie schooling us on the LGBTQ community

I once read a very insightful quote that went along the lines of: Your perception of me is a reflection of you; my reaction to you is an awareness of me. In some ways this quote relates to today's activities; many of the lectures focusing on understanding the needs, wants, and identities of patients outside of their medical diagnosis. In many ways, society has become even more of a melting pot with a multitude of religions and social communities blending together. One of those communities being the LGBTQ group. Not being apart of its makeup makes it difficult for me to understand, or even remember, all of the different sexualities and gender identities that make it up. Understanding that gender identity and sexuality / sexual attraction don't always line up is something I usually find confusing as well as the fact that there are more than two genders that exist. Over the break, Sanjana and I found a website that stated there were 32 gender identities. Its a bit for me to wrap my mind around since many seem to overlap but Lexie did a great job answering all of our questions, especially about gender neutral pronouns. I don't think I'll ever be expected to memorize every aspect of the LGBTQ community but if I've taken anything away from this morning's lecture its that I just need to respect my patients for who they are and treat them accordingly with respect.

After the LGBTQ presentation, Rev. John Hartman came in to discuss spiritual care for clinicians. Rev. Hartman's job, as he put it, is to create "an objective narrative assessment of the values and needs of the patients are.” This he does by creating a safe and confidential relationship for the patients, connecting them to their religious group of choice as well as educating the medical team on what the needs of the patients are outside of their treatments. A large part of his lecture consisted of highlighting the importance of spiritual care in the hospital and my favourite part was when he sited several studies that had taken place in the U.S. One in particular had been conducted in Orlando, Fl where two groups of patients with chronic hypertension participated in a long-term study. One group was given classes on cognitive behaviour / how to forgive others and the control group was left alone. At the end of the study, the patients with the classes had significantly decreased their blood pressure and one patient 3 years out did not need blood pressure medication anymore. Now, this certainly isn't something that the pharmaceutical companies want to be researched but it definitely is food for thought when considering not everything that a patient needs is within the physical realm.

Personally, the afternoon portion of our day was the hardest part for me. QPR, or suicide prevention, training is something that I've come to be familiar with, and used, since I was trained as a resident mentor 2 years ago. Talking about suicide never gets easier and talking to others considering suicide certainly is one of the emotionally hardest things I have ever had to do. At times though, it really does take just one thoughtful question to help someone during their darkest thoughts.