WILTIMS #41: Uno!

We started today being bombarded with the intricacies of the arm and forearm. For some semantic reason we are calling the upper arm simply the arm. This made for some confusing statements such as, "The median and ulnar nerves don't innervate anything in the arm; instead, they travel all the way through the arm and innervate the muscles of the forearm."

We had to change into our white coats and professional attire for the second half of the day as we had the privilege of watching a sample patient interview by one of our professors of an actual patient. The patient was a kick in the pants and even though we were packed like sweaty alabaster sardines, we really enjoyed the lecture. Afterwards we broke up into smaller groups in the modular rooms upstairs to discuss the process of interviewing patients, specifically in regard to showing empathy.

I had a nice pair of experiences that I think beautifully show both my inexperience and potential. We were asked what we would say to a patient who we had just informed that she had mononucleosis. My first response was,

What's mononucleosis!? I feel like I know this... Is it a cancer? What has one nucleus? Who let me into this school anyway?

Meanwhile, one of my classmates responds by saying that she'd ask about the patient's medical history and try to find out where she contracted it from. I'm still beating myself up:

How does everyone else know what this is!? We don't take pathology until next year!

Then a second classmate takes a stab at it, saying that he'd want to find out what treatments are available and relay that to the patient since mono is treatable.

MONO!? How did I not know that mononucleosis is the full name for mono! Of course this disease isn't named the equivalent of "uno."

Hey wait, I know the answer to this and it nothing to do with the disease!

"Anyone else?" my professor asked, clearly frustrated at the direction my fellow classmates had headed with the question.

I raise my hand. "Well, I think I would first try to reassure her that..."

"THANK YOU!" The professor abruptly cuts me off. "Reassurance is exactly the word I was going for." She goes on to explain how to best reassure patients after giving hard diagnoses, while I start to feel better about my mono mental lapse.

TIL: In the loosely transcribed words of our example patient: "There are only two people you don't lie to - your doctor and your priest... and your mom!" Noted.