I am currrently on my musculo outpatient placement at curtin clinic. Most of the patients are nice and I don't have a problem talking to them and making chit chat etc. However one of my patients is a priest and the other day he was asking me questions like "why aren't you married" and I replied that I was only 21. he told me he was married when he was 22 and implied that I was getting old and should be looking at people to get married. He then went on to say that I had to work hard at getting married by making things work with someone. I found this very intrusive into my personal life and rude on his behalf. If this was a social setting I would have told him where to go but as this was a professional setting I could not do this. I think he shouldn't ask me personal questions in a professional setting where I am required to be professional and I am not allowed to be rude back to him as I have to be on my best behaviour as I am being assessed.
I did not know what to say to him and I was wondering what to say to a patient when you are trying to stay professional and want to keep the topic of conversation as such. Does anyone have any suggestions on what to say to a patient who has clearly crossed the line and you want to steer the conversation back to more appropriate subjects?
1 comment:
I have not had a situation quite as hard as that, in terms of invasion of privacy, although i have heard of such incidences. In my case however, the patient had a huge amount of respect for health proffessionals and amy contact with them, she felt better already as a result. She had taken quite a liking to simple things like release of erector spinae muscles in her lxsp region and indeed it did have some effect with re-assessment. However, she then asked if I could come to her house and massage her each week. To which I replied, I will have to check my diary but I might be a bit hard at this time. So she gave me her card to contact her. I know this is very different to your case. But i guess what i learnt from my case, is that when patients put you in situations which startle you, due to shock value or inappropriateness, perhaps is is good to take a neutral opinion, and state that everyone has varying opinions, whether they are right or wrong. We'd rather avoid conflict, but holding in what we would in usual circumstances want to say out loud, is perhaps the professional thing to do. Just a thought, but well done.
Post a Comment