True Tales of Medical School: OB Rounds

June 1st, 2004

Filed under: Medicine

My first rotation in the third year of medical school was obstetrics/gynecology. I had started with a month of gynecological surgery at St. Johns Mercy Hospital, and now I was doing two weeks of high-risk obstetrics at St. Mary’s Medical Center. St. John’s was busy, but relatively cushy. On the other hand, St. Mary’s was not as busy, but we ended up working at least twice as hard.

Dr. B, the head of the obstetrics rotation, called all the third-year medical students together for a meeting. We each had to present a patient for discussion. I had chosen to discuss a young lady just into the second trimester of her pregnancy with a severe case of pancreatitis.
After three students, it was my turn. I started off confidently, “A.C. is a 19-year old high-risker at 27-weeks who presented complaining of a week’s’ worth of nausea –”
“What did you say?” Dr. B interrupted coldly.
I started again, a little less confidently this time. “A.C. is a 19 year-old high-risker –”
Dr. B slammed his fist down on the table. “Stop!” He bellowed. “Never refer to a patient by her condition; she is a person, and deserves to be treated as such. Do I make myself clear?”
“Yes, sir,” I managed meekly. I took a deep breath, and then started again, “A.C. is a 19-year old who presented at 27-weeks complaining of a week’s worth of nausea, vomiting, and epigastric abdominal pain radiating through to the back.”
The rest of my presentation went well, and no one else in class made the same mistake I did. Afterwards, several other students came up to me and said they were glad it was me, and not them. Thanks, guys.
It was not a fun lesson to learn, but it’s one that I have never forgotten. To this day, I make sure to refer to patients not by what conditions they have, but by who they are.

9 Responses to “ True Tales of Medical School: OB Rounds ”

  1. Shane
    June 2nd, 2004 at 5:27 pm

    Off topic, but I wanted to let you know I finally commented on “A Lost Sense of Wonder” on my blog. I took a little bit of a diggerent turn on it after thinking about it for a while.

  2. Newcastle medstudent
    February 24th, 2007 at 2:10 am

    What do you mean by high-risker? And how is that referred to her condition?

  3. Pill
    July 13th, 2007 at 7:35 pm

    what exactly is the difference between OB and GYN?

  4. Not a doctor
    October 14th, 2007 at 6:28 pm

    @ #2: I think it means she has a high risk of serious pregnancy issues.

  5. Vineet Gupta
    April 19th, 2008 at 11:57 am

    @Pill

    An OB deals with pregnant women
    A GYN deals with diseases of the female reproductive tract.

  6. Scott
    May 12th, 2008 at 7:57 pm

    she would be a high risk pregnancy as a patient with pancreatitis, folks. Stress puts baby at risk, plus the complications of severe pancreatitis itself.

  7. Reina
    November 13th, 2008 at 6:36 am

    Interesting …=] our lecturer always emphasizes that it is “asthma patients” or “diabetes patients”, not “asthmatics” or “diabetics”

    ‘never label a patient as a disease, because then you’re defining them as that disease & not as a person’…some sort of health psych aspect to it… =S

    well, i guess some of us had to learn it the hard way! =P
    ^^

  8. R N
    May 11th, 2009 at 6:43 pm

    Interesting, I think my dad does rounds at those hospitals

  9. DNA Girl
    November 8th, 2009 at 5:57 pm

    As a forensic scientist we too are reminded to refer to out victims by name, to remember that they were people but eneviatbly they land up as the “Torso in the Thames” or the “Bodies in the Barells”

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