Personal Narrative: My First Patient Communication

“You will be meeting with Robert, a 35 year old legally blind man,” said the nurse calmly before introducing me to Robert. I was trained on patient communication, but felt unprepared for my first patient interaction as I had no previous experience, especially with legally blind individuals. Should I maintain eye contact? Call him by first name? What should I talk about? These questions overwhelmed me until I remembered why I was doing this – to make a positive difference in patients’ lives. Over the next three weeks, I learned to interact with Robert on a personal level. Following my first visit with Robert, he asked me if I will see him next time I am at the hospital, and I promised I would. We learned about each other’s lives, and I was now more confident and better able to communicate with him. As I look back, my interaction with Robert taught me about values important to him– autonomy, companionship, and creative expression. I realize these were the same values that united us, and attracted me to medicine. By the time he was

My years of service have taught me the compassion and kindness that form the foundation of the doctor-patient relationship. They also allowed me to gain insight into what comforts people when they are most vulnerable. For example, I was lucky enough to meet one of the children who benefitted from an operation funded by my organization, which touched me. The feeling of seeing the product of my efforts to help others was incredible and left me hungry for more. As a community advocate and close friend to those with whom I work with, I greatly value the role of communication in facilitating my work with