While these questions were designed to make me think about my own professional interactions, they also reveal what I would do if I were a real physician.
The first question is about how I would feel if I had to make a decision and was asked to make a choice between two options.
I would make my decision. The second question is about how I would feel if I had to make a decision and then had to make it fast.
The truth is, I have no idea how or why I would feel if I had to make a decision. It’s just that I haven’t figured it out yet, and that’s not a big part of being a physician.
The first question is about how I would feel if I had to make a decision and was asked to make a choice between two options.Immediately after I answer the question I know what I would do, I have a mental picture of what I would do. I also have an idea about how I would feel about the choice. Most of the time I have no idea yet.The second question is about how I would feel if I had to make a decision and then had to make it fast.
When asked to make a decision, most physicians tend to think very quickly, and that often means they make quick decisions. But I think we need to acknowledge that there is a part of human brain that takes much longer to make a decision. In my own practice, I often find that more than one person in the room has to make a decision and then quickly make another decision, then take another decision, then take another decision. I think that’s how it works in medicine too.
There are many ways in which medicine can be wrong, but the way I have used to test in my own practice has been to ask one or two people to make a decision and then make another decision.
If you have a personal problem with a doctor, you may not have a problem with the doctor, but you may have a problem with a patient. Or you may have a problem with a patient. Your doctor might be a nurse or a psychiatrist, and the nurse might be a psychiatrist.
The first part of your practice is testing your own knowledge. The second part is testing your patients.
I’ve asked many people to do this, and most of the time it works. But I’m glad I asked you to do this because it’s really interesting and insightful.