A medical blog about kindness? Who is this crackpot doctor? Since when has kindness ever cured a disease? I’ve never seen cancer run at the site of a big hug or a free smoothy. Kindness. Yes, I think kindness is very important to medicine. I would even go so far as to say it is integral to our patient’s health. I’m sure everyone has heard of the power of positive thinking. Our feelings run our life, when we are feeling good, all is right in the world. We are more energetic, happy, helpful, loving, accepting, and we feel healthy.
When our feelings are more glum, we are less energetic even slothful, unhappy, less active, judgmental, less helpful, and we can be downright sick. This last statement is not a flight of fancy. I have seen many patients where I have come to the conclusion, after a large workup first, that their illness or chronic pain is due to their depression. Often if you can get these patients to focus on some positive aspect of their life, after a short time , walla, their symptoms diminish or even disappear.
My View
As a physician I have seen the effects of kindness on our patients. One very simple kindness we can do for our patients is to listen. Too many patients complain that their doctor doesn’t listen to them. The doctor runs in the room, runs out and then the patients are ushered out with a new prescription. This type of interaction creates a feeling of not being cared about. This is not kind. To be kind, a bedside manner of caring should be employed. That consists of sitting and listening to the patient’s concerns, asking appropriate questions, and even making a joke when appropriate to show your human undercarriage and to connect.
Making sure you have addressed the patient’s concerns is showing kindness. That kindness will create positive feelings in the patient and start them down the road of healing. Often all a person needs is some reassurance that everything will be OK, and if it’s not, then they need to know they will not be alone as they travel down their path.
Soapbox
Kindness is such a simple concept, it is by itself the same as the Golden Rule, “treat others as you would want to be treated.’ I think none of us would want to be treated unkindly. Positivity, falls within the scope of kindness. I would recommend to all, the need to incorporate positivity and kindness into our lives. What we say and do can greatly affect others. By keeping this in mind and practicing this, we can grow as a people and become greater than we currently are.
Godspeed!
