person, whether it be their physical or mental health. Social work takes in this whole perspective of everything that's happening to the patient and their trauma history… some of the issues that this patient was having in her life went beyond just her past medical history. I think especially as osteopaths, we do get that training, and we learn how to ask questions and how to ask questions beyond just what you've been diagnosed with, what your physical ailments are, but at the same time, the social work perspective is very deep into the whole life situation of a person. It's tough to know that in the future we will have 15 minute appointments, but I think even just hearing patients and trying to ask the right questions and identify when someone is having more life circumstances or issues that are directly going to contribute to why they're coming to the visit that day. It gave me more perspective and awareness. I need to be better about listening to patients. There's a lot that's very subtle.
What did you learn from the experience?
I think this is something that we get taught a lot here at UNE, but truly the importance of the interdisciplinary approach. To bring that a little bit further, it's gaining appreciation that when you have other team members that are not medical students, understanding the different perspectives that they come in with, and understand that everyone's perspectives through all the different disciplines culminate in a single patient's picture. Having all the different disciplines, all those perspectives, and not just looking at it singularly, but understanding that all of those are interconnected.
How do you think you will apply what you learned when you become a physician?
I know that at different hospitals there are specific interdisciplinary team training meetings. I definitely want to be more involved with that. I think that is a huge component of providing the best healthcare. It's not just doctors talking to other doctors, nurses, OTs, PTs and all that. It's really communicating and having comprehensive meetings for patients that involves more than just your own discipline. I think it’s going to be continued training on interdisciplinary care, and, whatever hospitals I'm at, just learning the value of listening and really appreciating and taking in other professions’ perspectives. For example, if a nurse says something about a patient that they seem agitated that day, a lot of times there is a little bit more to that picture, and to try and decipher what the nurse is saying. There is also a language difference, and I noticed that a little bit in our team meetings, when we were explaining different medical diagnoses as medical students. Dr. Hull asked us to explain it to the other students, especially social work since they just don't have a lot of experience with a lot of technical terms that we use. So trying to find ways to communicate more clearly, using common language, a language that I know another professional uses, or if I need to use a term that maybe I'm not sure if they fully understand, explain it.
COM students pose with Stacey Thieme, DO, in front of their posters at the IPEC Poster Session