The other week I was hit with quite a surprise when I went on the morning ward round and was then given my patient case load. One of the patients who had been admitted overnight was a guy I went to school with. He was BIBA with a life threatening condition and had an emergency operation that night. By the time I saw him he was stable but only just. Since I went to a really small highschool we knew everyone fairly well but I wouldnt say that we were really close friends.
I told my supervisor that I knew him and she asked whether I still wanted to treat him or not. I said that I would, especially because I knew he was awake and oriented so I could see how he was doing. It wasn't until that night that I realised I probably shouldnt have treated him. I didnt really stop to consider it from his point of view, that I would be reading all about his PMHx, getting up quite close to him and he may have thought I would then go and tell all our mutual friends about his accident. At the time I was genuinly concerned and wanted to see how he was doing and because we are so used to reading about peoples lives and getting really close, I forget that sometimes people may find this uncomfortable. I suppose part of me was just being plain nosy as well. It also affected me too as I found it quite confronting having a friend so badly hurt and seeing all the family around him, it really drives it home how upsetting it can be for family and how considerate we need to be, especially when it is something so acute.
I think that if I was unfortunate enough to get in this position again, I would try and see if there were other PTs available to treat the patient. Perhaps if I was really good friends with the patient it would be different as I would perhaps put there mind at ease as there would be one less 'white coat' hovering around them. However in this situation where I knew him but not the intimate details of his past history, I think I should have respected his privacy more and passed him on to a different student who would have been more objective than me.
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Hey Laura,
Yes, this is a confronting situation and thinking about how the patient would feel is definately important. Perhaps asking your friend what he would prefer is an idea also... because he may be comforted by the fact he knows someone from the medical team who is treating him (as long as you were ok with it of course). In the city this situation may be quite rare, however working rurally we will know majority of our patients, so it is also beneficial for you to have had this experience.
On the other hand, it is good to know that there are options to change physio when these situations arise.
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