My favorite class that I’m taking this semester is “Communicating Health Messages and Medical Issues.” In this class, we research and discuss the physician-patient relationship. We analyze case studies that consist of research papers, personal stories or accounts, and TV shows like Grey’s Anatomy, ER, and Nurse Jackie. Our class is mainly discussion based, which is especially interesting because we have a couple practicing physicians that are taking this class, too.
Our first assignment was to interview someone who has recently visited the doctor for any reason. We had specific questions we were directed to ask, then the assignment was to analyze the patients’ communication skills with his/her physician and the physicians’ communication skills with the patient. It was interesting to see the varying responses in the interviews throughout the class. It seemed that, more likely that not, patients withheld information or accidentally left out information when speaking with physicians. It also seemed as though many patients were nervous to ask physicians questions, particularly clarifying questions.
Our next assignment is to watch an episode of Nurse Jackie and analyze the accuracy of the information portrayed by the show. We are to talk about what a viewer could potentially learn from this show and also about what Nurse Jackie does for her patients that is either good or bad, likely or unlikely.
I am learning so much from this class about how to appropriately present medical information and how to be prepared for my own medical consultations. The class is pretty eye opening, and it is allowing me to think about issues that I had never thought about before. I look forward to what we will discuss each class period, and I think this class will leave me with some really great information to move forward with, both personally and potentially for a future career in healthcare!
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