My patient was a beautiful soul. Her room was fully decorated with pieces of art, lamps, little glass trinkets and it really made the place feel like it was her home. You could imagine the entirety of her home based on the decorations at hand. Her hair was always so well maintained, thoroughly brushed and shiny. She loved affection and being complimented. Each time I would go to see her, we would sit down and then watch TV. She loved watching TV. She would always make comments about who was on the TV and what was going on. She would typically dose off or talk about her childhood home. The last two times I went to visit, she was incredibly drowsy. She was asleep practically the whole time and her color became more yellow with each visit. I was glad to have been able to spend time with her before her demise.
The most important part of my hospice training was the meeting with our own campus Rabbi. She was able to walk us through a training where we worked on starting conversations with mock patients. I learned about the openness of conversation and making sure the questions are not closed off. I also learned about when to intervene and assert my own opinion and when to listen. My patient taught me to appreciate the time we have left in life. She was always positive and friendly to be around.
This experience has caused me to want to interact with more patients and learn about their lives. My favorite part of being a doctor is the patient care aspect and this was really my first look into this type of interaction. The prompt that was most interesting to me was reading the book When Breath Becomes Air. It was very interesting to see people make a decision that was different from my own and how this can be implicated to hospice care. If people choose to live in long term care, that is a decision they make and needs to be respected. Volunteering and hearing about other students’ volunteer experiences helped me to learn about how I can improve my care for others. On an application, I would talk about the benefits of interacting with patients and learning to provide comfort to those who are declining.