Abstract
Medical students learn to think like a doctor and act like a doctor—but how to feel like a doctor?
Ironically, for a profession devoted to the study of the body, the experience of medical education can deny the physical presence of a physician’s body. In this vignette, a family doctor shares her surprise at how she experienced her emotional engagement with a patient physically, through a small gesture which enabled patient and doctor to transcend the formal boundaries of their doctor-patient relationship. She reflects on the central role of the body in the expression of human caring. She wonders how medical education could re-focus on the body as perceptual to bridge the power divide between patient and physician.
Ironically, for a profession devoted to the study of the body, the experience of medical education can deny the physical presence of a physician’s body. In this vignette, a family doctor shares her surprise at how she experienced her emotional engagement with a patient physically, through a small gesture which enabled patient and doctor to transcend the formal boundaries of their doctor-patient relationship. She reflects on the central role of the body in the expression of human caring. She wonders how medical education could re-focus on the body as perceptual to bridge the power divide between patient and physician.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Pedagogies in the Flesh: Case Studies on the Embodiment of Sociocultural Differences in Education |
| Editors | Sarah Travis , Amelia M. Kraehe, Emily J. Hood, Tyson E. Lewis |
| Publisher | Palgrave Macmillan |
| Pages | 121–125 |
| ISBN (Electronic) | 9783319595993 |
| ISBN (Print) | 9783319595986 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 06 Sept 2017 |
| Externally published | Yes |