Did your "favorite patients" change over time?

[bucks2010]

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Just a question that has come up in my mind recently. For those of you who may have been EMT's, ER techs, aides, etc. prior to med school, if you're like me, you found that you liked caring for patients with certain conditions/injuries/etc more than others. I am curious if your "favorite patients" before medical school were at all similar to your "favorite patients" when it came time to apply for residencies?

For example -- if you liked taking care of cardiac and orthopedic patients as a tech/aide/etc., did you find that you also liked learning to take care of them from a medical/surgical standpoint?

Or maybe, you didn't enjoy caring for stroke pts as a tech, but then as a medical student you found that you enjoyed caring for neuro pts from a medical standpoint?

Basically my question is, do you think one's "favorite patients" from a nursing/support standpoint would be in any way related to one's "favorite patients" from a medical standpoint? Given that the roles are so different, do you think it's entirely possible for someone to not enjoy taking care of stroke patients as a tech but to find it really rewarding as a medical student/resident/attending?

 

[dpmd]

Depends on what it is you liked about them (or didn't like). I didn't like taking care of old patients with limited function in skilled nursing facilities when I was a nurse. This was because I couldn't understand how that was a life that anyone would want to live if given the choice, and I felt powerless to do anything besides shove their 20 meds down their g tube. Now, I don't like when families force me to keep patients with limited function, and little to no chance of recovery to independent functioning, alive. I do however like having honest discussions with families and most often when the family is willing to give me info on what the patient would have wanted (not what the family wants which is to do everything as they hope for a miraculous recovery) I find that comfort care is the right thing for them.