My patient, “Phillip,” was a veteran who was dedicated to his family and had a great sense of humor. He didn\u2019t always like to talk but he loved to hear about everything happening in my life, and just sit in silence with me or watch TV like Judge Judy together. I would say we had a very mutually respectful relationship and we were always making each other laugh. We also shared some sad moments, as hospice can be a very lonely and depressing place, and in these moments I felt like I was a calming presence. “Phillip” had two sons but both of them were very busy with their careers so I was mostly the only person visiting him. I felt a lot of responsibility being one of his only points of human connection but I just tried to be a calming and lighthearted presence and make the process of dying a little easier. I would say this experience has made me approach patient care more empathetically, helping me recognize that every patient is a complete person with their own history and struggles. I feel like I\u2019ve become more empathetic and a better listener as a result of my experiences with my patient.<\/p>\n
“Phillip” also had a lot of difficulties understanding speech and I had to be very considerate of his different needs and speak very slowly to make sure he understood. This has made me more aware of my own behavior and how it affects others and allowed me to adjust myself to accommodate others\u2019 needs. At the same time, being involved in “Phillip\u2019s” life and developing a friendship with him has made me realize that what we call a patient is just a person with their own life, interests, and family and loved ones. Health is something that everyone needs and is affected by and everyone deserves to be treated as a human being with the same respect for everyone and for their personal needs to be taken into consideration. This experience has made me more confident in my decision to pursue a career in medicine because I want to afford this same respect and personal consideration to my own patients and help people through their health struggles.<\/p>\n
I think this program will be an extremely valuable experience for my medical school applications and also one of the most meaningful experiences I’ve had. Bedside manner and empathy is of course a very important skill as a doctor and participating in this program not only builds these skills but also demonstrates them to whoever reads your application.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
My patient, “Phillip,” was a veteran who was dedicated to his family and had a great sense of humor. He didn\u2019t always like to talk but he loved to hear about everything happening in my life, and just sit in silence with me or watch TV like Judge Judy together. I would say we had … Continue reading “My Experience Volunteering in Hospice for 1 Year”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"school":[14],"program_year":[56],"class_list":["post-2615","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hospice","school-haverford","program_year-56"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.athenainstitute.com\/ahp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2615","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.athenainstitute.com\/ahp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.athenainstitute.com\/ahp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.athenainstitute.com\/ahp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.athenainstitute.com\/ahp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2615"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.athenainstitute.com\/ahp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2615\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2739,"href":"https:\/\/www.athenainstitute.com\/ahp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2615\/revisions\/2739"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.athenainstitute.com\/ahp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.athenainstitute.com\/ahp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.athenainstitute.com\/ahp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2615"},{"taxonomy":"school","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.athenainstitute.com\/ahp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/school?post=2615"},{"taxonomy":"program_year","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.athenainstitute.com\/ahp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/program_year?post=2615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}