It is not about us! It really isn’t.
Everybody conducts a kind of movie in their heads. And of course, you are the protagonist of your movie and everybody around you is either an extra, a sidekick at best or a villain at worst. This view of the world is widespread and most of the time subconscious.
My life’s story or your life’s story?
If I am the main character of my movie, you are the main character of your movie. In my movie, you are not centre stage! And in your movie my role is limited to an extra, either potentially a supportive sidekick at best or an antagonistic villain at worst.
Is it about us?
Just stop for a second and let’s try to understand the consequences of this concept for the relationship between doctors and patients:
It is not about us! They are the main character of their movie.
In this case, the medical professional can only become:
-
- Either the sidekick
- Or the villain
The next step would be to decide what role we as doctors want to play. In my opinion, our role has to be to become the supportive sidekick of our patient! In the end, our task is to become irrelevant in their life!
Their story, including their disease, is not about us!
Mindshift needed
The doctor-patient relationship is not about us!
We need to let go of the idea that the patient is in debt with some form of gratitude towards us.
Our conversation is about them, and our task would be to provide any information in that way that suits them, even if it would be uncommon language or uncommon way of presentation to us!
In a nutshell:
It is not about us! Our patient is the main character of their life’s-movie!
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