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- Nov 18, 2007
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Someone once asked me what my most awkward or amusing interaction with patient was during medical school, and I wasn't able to give them a great answer. After giving the matter some thought, however, it's unlikely that anything can eclipse a conversation I had with a young woman during my OB/GYN rotation.
The conversation in question took place on a Sunday morning. I was the medical student who came in that day to round. I was not on-call, and was looking forward to going home once rounds were finished. This woman was actually the last patient I saw during my rotation, as we had the following day off to prepare for our shelf exam.
I entered the patient's room and found her fast asleep. I woke her gently, introduced myself, and started talking with her. She was a 28 year-old G1P1 who had undergone a c-section two days prior, and so we were anticipating discharge for her. As is the case with any post-op patient, it's always important to ascertain whether bowel function has started to return. Below is how this particular aspect of our conversation went:
Me: Are you having any pain?
Patient: (sleepily) Not really. The morphine has helped a lot.
Me: Have you had a bowel movement since your surgery?
Patient: (sleepily) No.
Me: Are you passing gas?
Patient: (open eyes and sits up, looking directly at me, an enormous smile forming on her face) Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, yeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaahhhhhh!
I don't remember the rest of our conversation, though I did offer her Mylocon drops for her gas, which she declined. She was actually an extremely nice lady, and agreed to fill out a patient evaluation for me, as per my rotation requirements. I think she may have felt guilty, as she did pass gas while I was examining her.
Several weeks later, I had the opportunity to read her evaluation once our rotation grades were released. She wrote, "Extremely nice and articulate young man. Will be an excellent doctor. I'm just glad he could still breathe while he was in the room with me 🙂." Needless to say, I got a chuckle out of that.
The conversation in question took place on a Sunday morning. I was the medical student who came in that day to round. I was not on-call, and was looking forward to going home once rounds were finished. This woman was actually the last patient I saw during my rotation, as we had the following day off to prepare for our shelf exam.
I entered the patient's room and found her fast asleep. I woke her gently, introduced myself, and started talking with her. She was a 28 year-old G1P1 who had undergone a c-section two days prior, and so we were anticipating discharge for her. As is the case with any post-op patient, it's always important to ascertain whether bowel function has started to return. Below is how this particular aspect of our conversation went:
Me: Are you having any pain?
Patient: (sleepily) Not really. The morphine has helped a lot.
Me: Have you had a bowel movement since your surgery?
Patient: (sleepily) No.
Me: Are you passing gas?
Patient: (open eyes and sits up, looking directly at me, an enormous smile forming on her face) Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, yeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaahhhhhh!
I don't remember the rest of our conversation, though I did offer her Mylocon drops for her gas, which she declined. She was actually an extremely nice lady, and agreed to fill out a patient evaluation for me, as per my rotation requirements. I think she may have felt guilty, as she did pass gas while I was examining her.
Several weeks later, I had the opportunity to read her evaluation once our rotation grades were released. She wrote, "Extremely nice and articulate young man. Will be an excellent doctor. I'm just glad he could still breathe while he was in the room with me 🙂." Needless to say, I got a chuckle out of that.
