28 October 2012

Mastery

At Commonhealth, Rachel Zimmerman describes an amazing encounter with a pediatric doctor at the emergency room.

He was interested in how the wound was healing, but also about her experience in the ER — her memories and the language she used to describe the treatment. Honestly, I said, she loved it. She said she would go back to the hospital any time.
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After our conversation, I hung up thinking this guy is too good to be true.

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So, why aren’t all medical interactions this way? Why isn’t pain reduction, particularly for children, a priority for all doctors?

It's a terrific story for a bunch of reasons. It starts with the doctor's interaction with the kid, which is Heartwarming. Then it gets into what techniques the doctor actually used to comfort the kid, which is fascinating. And then seeing how the doctor approached his work, it is also a story about mastery of a craft.

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