When I implant a central venous catheter, the patient’s face is covered with drapings. Many patients who are conscious during this kind of intervention are very nervous. I can only imagine that it’s not much fun to have your face underneath a blanket, it’s 40°C, dark and you are waiting for some guy to put a needle in your neck. There are definitely things more fun to do, I imagine.

Since I started studying medicine I got to know numerous different work environments. I counted up to twenty different internships, hospitations and rotations, most of them lasting only a couple of weeks. They enable you to get to know different fields but also require you to integrate you fast, if you want to be taught something. If you want to learn something during your internship, you need a plan:

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During my first clinical clerkship on a nephrology ward, we went on rounds and the chief resident attempted to explain to a patient why her kidneys didn’t work: “…your disease is of inflammatory origin.”

I thought: “What? Inflammatory…as opposed to…? I have no clue what he just said! OK I’m still a beginner. I have only studied two years of medicine, but odds are.. that’s more than the patient studied!”

Six years or more we spent to learn how to use the medical language. And it is important to use it when talking to colleagues to minimize risk of misunderstanding.

But to make sure that we are also understood by the patients, we have to learn a different skill: we have to switch from medical to nonmedical tongue.

So, how can we make sure, the patient understands us?

In the beginning of my career I thought I had more than enough to do with handling ONE patient. Having relatives around seemed to me like having additional “opponents”.  They appeared like someone who has additional demands and wishes. Turns out I was wrong.  The truth is  that the patient’s relatives are our allies.

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Ever since I started studying medicine I get several medical questions during every party.

Many people have a bad conscience, questioning me, because they think I don’t like to talk about medical  issues  in my free time.

But the truth is, it never bothered me to listen to their experiences. I can also profit from these conversations, because I get an unfiltered view of a patient and she can tell me what she liked and disliked about her doctor.

But what I`ve learned – mostly by trial and error – is that you have to obey certain rules. Otherwise you can get into big time trouble…

Sooner or later you will find yourself in a position to prepare a presentation about a clinical topic. You can either kill your audience’s curiosity or you can excite them, it’s up to you. Here is my approach to how to excite your audience:

Your time with the boss -the attending physician- will always be very limited. Often you will only have two minutes to present a patient, discuss the results and make a treatment plan.
This is difficult, but it is possible.

The other day I had an important matter to discuss with the attending. He had to be at another meeting, so I walked him to the meeting, which took two minutes and we managed to solve the problem during that time.

But to get this done preparation and a plan is necessary.