Friday, April 30, 2010

To call a rose by any other name is wrong and you should read more.

Doctor: And what else can exacerbate MS?
Medical Student: Hmm, heat?  And so patient's can wear a cold vest in the summer as part of their treatment, I believe.
Doctor: Yup, do you know what that's called?
Medical Student:  Oh man, I know I learned this.  Starts with a U...
Doctor: Yup.  It's German.
Medical Student: Urdiff, urtenoff
Doctor: Uhthoff's phenomenon
Medical Student: Right Uhthoff's phenomenon!  I'm glad you told me.  I almost didn't know the name of the phenomenon that I just described, making it very clear that, although I know about this disease, both showing you that I'm working hard and reinforcing that I can eventually help people with this devastating diagnosis, I could never use it in a sentence.
Doctor: Yes, and as you mentioned, and I made obvious with my questioning, you almost didn't know the name, thus rendering it useless.  While trying to explain MS to a patient, without being able to say, "Uhthoff's phenomenon" you would likely have to make use of easy to understand terms describing the phenomenon directly and making it accessible to anyone.
Medical Student: Good point.  What a waste of my medical education that would be.
Doctor:  Exactly...exactly.

2 comments:

Nicholas said...

Wow, bitter much? As a member of the lay public, I expect fancy words from my medical professionals. If I wanted ordinary vernacular, I'd go homeopathic.

Anonymous said...

Sorry I think That prety much somes up all of my clinicals...Brilliant.