Uncomfortable experiences

I'm just going to listen to your back a little. Could you just say “99' for me?” “99.” “That's super. And once again if you would.” An uncomfortable silence consumes the bedside as I try to demonstrate my impeccable manner. “Sorry sir. Could you just say it again for me?”

Nothing. Deaf? Asleep? Dead? I could not tell. I glanced at my peer with a look of uncertainty. She discounted the first and last suggestion and reflected my thoughts exactly, right down to the tempting but immoral possibility of sneaking away unnoticed.

I understand the need for experience. As in many walks of life often experience is the only way of learning. One aspect of being a medical student, however, I find awkward at best. I am not lambasting the ruthless consultants, because I have found them to be a far throw from their stereotype. They generally accept the limitations of my knowledge-that although I know my “arse from my elbow” I do not know my maximus from my minimus, my pneumonia from my pneumothorax, and so on. I enjoy the experience gained from speaking to them and the demonstrations they do on patients.

My unease comes from the medical student-patient relationship, a situation that you can only describe as tricky. It is often an awkward concoction of taboos, inappropriate questions, and misguided palpations.

Unlike a doctor, I offer no service to the patient. Patients are in fact doing me a service by giving …