I found Mica Skilton’s Dangerous Idea1 published in the February BJGP interesting and persuasive in a context of remembering my own inept attempts to interview and examine patients in the late 1960s. The app would have been invaluable to hone some skills before experimenting on patients. However, I don’t agree with the conclusion that it would replace the need for patient contact. For the provision of health service to improve, the development of empathy of providers with their patients is essential, and avoiding contact with people early in clinical training won’t further that goal. However, if some of the wasteful and misdirected patient contact time is diverted to sessions of diversionary therapy or personal care of patients in activities with which a student is familiar, the relationship would benefit both parties. It will impact on the student’s understanding and acceptance of people and what it means to be ill through here-and-now issues, which are relevant and focused on the patient’s needs.
I have always thought my privilege of a few months employment before starting medicine, as an assistant nurse in a psychiatric institution, was one of the most influential experiences of my career for helping me to absorb the reality of other people’s lives which were very different to my own. The other, was 20 years later when I worked for 2 years on a Western Pacific Island.
It’s never too late to add to life experience. Good luck in your career.
- © British Journal of General Practice 2015
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