Unique Skills

For a loving care relationship, I need to humble myself with my patients and appreciate their roles and contributions to their families, friends, and community. Inherent in this effort is for me to seek out those unique skills inherent in each person's life so I know more about who they are.

A patient who runs his own landscaping business told me the other day that he had been asked by one of his clients to install a mailbox. He had the same reaction physicians may have to a question we may think is common sense self-care issue (e.g. trial of OTC cough and cold medications for a mild upper respiratory infection); he wondered how "the man of the house" wouldn't know how to accomplish this relatively easy task. For additional background, the client is an anesthesiologist, the medical specialty involved in caring for patients during the pre-, peri and post-operative period. (For full disclosure, my own technical expertise isn't much different. In fact, I believe my wife changed out our mailbox the last time this home improvement item was needed!)

He went on to say that he and his team members have built a fair amount of trust with his various clients over the years. His daughter had even been asked, at one time, to help deep clean the same client's home in preparation for a holiday party. Following the job, she commented to my patient that this physician had a large number of books in his library and was obviously well-learned. His conclusion to me was highly informative and insightful:

"I don't have the toolset in my garage to put people to sleep. Why should I expect him to have the toolset in his garage to change out a mailbox?"

The medical applicability to this acknowledgement is that we may tease out additional information that is highly useful for the diagnostic work-up and treatment plan. We just have to be curious and tease out this additional information. More and more, work places expect the healthcare team to determine functional status and disability for work. Activities of daily working, if you will, can be just as important as your activities of daily living. In addition, we may learn, during our questioning, that certain tasks patients accomplish on the job or for their hobbies may be contributing to their underlying concerns as well.

We each have our various toolsets. We each have our skills. Find them and use them.

SECRET WORDS/PHRASES: "Job-related concern" "I think my problem may be related to my job / hobbies." For providers: "What do you know how to do that I probably can't do?"