Sara Park, MD
Clinical Anesthesia Year 2
Rhode Island Hospital/Brown University
Sara is finishing up her CA-2 year at the end of the month at Rhode Island Hospital. When she is done with residency, she is planning on taking a job practicing as a General Anesthesiologist, possibly closer to her family down South. She has a particular interest in Global Health and hopes to incorporate it into her future career. In this post, Sara reflects back on a patient that she helped take care of in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). Her message of “caring for patients is a privilege” rings true and makes working in healthcare super rewarding. There can be some really challenging times in the job, but you have to recognize the things that you gain from it - that’s what will keep you coming back for more.
Caring for patients is a privilege.
However, it saddens many hearts when a newborn is admitted. Only two weeks old, he is as "Blue 4 pod”. His body unlaced by skillful hands day after day. Countless uninvited visitors in the form of the pediatric residents, gastroenterologists, surgeons, nutritionists, social workers, nurses and even medical students alternate in listening and poking around. He is the subject of many inquisitions and delicate touches from professional inward-lookers, sterile and gloved, hushed and worried, wearing white coats as a sign that there will soon be a definitive diagnosis.
I pray that he would live to hear his grandparents' stories of this day; how his heart was visible for days on end, bounding between broken whispers. I pray that the mere labeling of his condition has minimal impact on his lifespan.
When everyone exits the room, tears gently trace the outline of the mother's face, as emotions rise with the breath of her words. She spoke of anxiety and fear. And she spoke of hopelessness. Most days her smile stretched across her face, a smile as brilliant as the sun breaking through the clouds on a wintery day. But once in a while, the smile washed away with dark showers and her confidence in her baby boy's survival was defeated to the point of despair. I fought to maintain a grip on my composure. In this moment, the act of listening and my empathy for her suffering was the single most healing act I could perform. Weeks later, on the day of the long-time dweller's discharge, I had heard that the mother was in her usual state of positivity, hopeful and thankful for her baby boy's chance to crawl and coo.
I have learned to stop and reflect on the opportunity I am given and the gifts that patients subtly offer. I stand in awe of the breadth of the human condition from the depths of suffering to the heights of joy. Thus I am given the lens of perspective, through which to view my own life and that of the living world around me. With each day I seek to wipe the distraction from my eyes and see the beauty woven in the cloth of humanity- the poignancy of the human condition. Accompanying someone through the trial of life is a privilege.
Caring for patients is a privilege.
