Healing with Heart from Moss Communications

Humility

Many of us in health care encounter death or outcomes that aren’t what we would have wished for our patients. Healing with Heart: Inspirations for Health Care Professionals, the latest book from Moss Communications, raises the issue of humility as a remarkably important human value for all of us in the health care community.

Using everyday stories, Healing with Heart offers inspiration and practical suggestions for dealing with disappointment, re-igniting our passion for our work and tap into our resilience to become better at our work and more fulfilled in our lives. The following reflection, Humility, uses a true story to illustrate how disappointment comes to all of us, regardless of our advanced degrees, training, and talent. How we deal with that disappointment will determine whether we burn out and become despondent about our work, or pick ourselves up and re-invigorate our passion for our work. Here is an excerpt from Humility, a reflection from Healing with Heart:
 

Yesterday, as I stood behind a surgeon in the cafeteria line, we exchanged small talk. “Doing anything for fun these days?” I asked, expecting him to tell me about wilderness skiing, which I knew he loved. Instead, he was unusually pensive. “No, not really,” he said quietly. In our previous talks, he was always funny and quick to engage.

After a minute went by he said, “I just lost a patient. She was elderly, but her heart was strong so we decided it was all right to operate. The procedure was a success, but I just received a call. They told me she stroked.” As he paid the cashier, his movements were stilted. This was all he told me. For him, silence was preferable to any further conversation. He seemed far away.

I knew this man well. He is a highly qualified physician, a national leader in his area of expertise. He and his team made an informed clinical decision, took control of the patient’s care, and did what their experience told them was correct. Yet the patient died. I knew that this physician’s silence was borne of care and a reflection of his sadness, but was he also withdrawn because he now doubted his judgment?

Now and again, all of us are in a similar position. We do what we can. Once we have done our best, we must relinquish control…