The mislabelled & misunderstood

The title of this carries a lot of meaning along with I hope some food for thought for those that fit the bill.

Let me share my experience of my mislabelling….

There is an aunty ji patient in every one’s medical career, along with the many more we come across on what seems like a daily occurrence.

Many know the perception that comes with the south Asian aunty, a matriarchal presence in every family but also the older they get, the more issues with their health & every ache & pain becomes more palpable vocally!

I had one cross my path one day several years ago. It again was vague symptoms, one of a long list but like every senior clinician, I took to her like thinking ‘aunty ji is just overthinking her symptoms’

However the subtlety of some clinical signs led to more questions & uncovered a hidden diagnosis, one she may have hidden for years but like many, did speak out but not listened to….I speculate this is down to the mislabelled perception & prejudices we carry through our lives when it comes to a certain group of patients.

We remain guilty of this on a daily basis in our job.

This is a hill I will die on but ask yourself, when did you do this last?

We do this with those individuals who live with chronic disease….

It’s very easy to live in the bubble of the physicians life where we assess, manage, treat a symptom and then move on to the next patient.

How about that individual who then lives with symptoms on a daily basis, who adapt their lives to that mislabelling & remain misunderstood.

They also remain silent or the opposite when medical professionals don’t choose to listen to the subtleties of their concerns….disengagement is a powerful statement of distrust.

What did I learn from that aunty ji & try to take forwards?

📍I take a bit more extra time with those patients who probably need that outlet to release emotions & subsequently build a rapport

📍Listening is meant to be one of our core skills, we should try to do a bit more often in those situations when maybe we don’t listen enough

📍Being a bit more compassionate with those who don’t trust us straight off means they’re sometimes hiding behind their mask of defence, they may just take it off if we show that human side

I appreciate I go on about compassion a lot! But it comes hand in hand with our role, using an extra dose once in a while hasn’t gone amiss

Sharing a few thoughts from a wise young doctor

They had her own experience of talking to the misunderstood young diabetic patient.

A life changing illness…..

who knows how that feels until you step into that persons shoes

Taking that time built that rapport, opening up a conversation & understanding the mistrust that has generated from being ignored, mislabelled & misunderstood

We take the time needed to discuss with the professional who needs support

It’s about time we do the same for the mislabelled patient, it certainly might make us think twice to dismiss those what we don’t always listen to.