Morgan Wachowski CMNS-315 Paper-#4 The Longest Rite of Passage in the Western World The caregiver perspective within

the healthcare environment is an important topic to discuss since there is an issue with the communication that occurs between patients and caregivers. Du Pre emphasizes the extensive studying that medical students encounter which leaves the role of socialization to get put aside (du Pre, 2010-2014). Socialization in the medical field is learned through modeling which can be problematic because becoming a medical doctor is a rite of passage. This can mislead residents to follow unethical behavior since they rely on their status in order to proceed in their profession. Based on chapter five in Communicating About Health (du Pre, 2010-2014), and the online readings Behind the White Coat (Bonsteel, 1997), and Blood, Vomit, and Communication: The Days and Nights of an Intern On Call (Hirschmann, 1999), I will discuss each perspective and connect how they represent the challenges caregivers face due to the extensive studying, training, and long work hours they take on in order gain status within the medical world. In chapter five of (du Pre, 2010-2014), it explains how the role of a caregiver can be emotionally challenging from the time medical students are studying and memorizing to the time when they actually become professional doctors. Stress and burnouts become common due to this long and stressful workload which is where socialization lacks because caregivers time and energy become limited. Many caregivers learn to have detached concern in order to lessen the amount of stressors they take on in order to focus on their job (du Pre, 2010-2014). In the online reading by (Bonsteel, 1997), it focuses on his specific experience when training as a medical doctor and how communication needed to be more emphasized in order to prevent fewer errors.

This reading also focuses on many faults within the medical system and how many situations get covered up and/or forgotten due to the, again, stress in which caregivers undergo when working such long hours. This is how miscommunications occur because they dont have the extra time to be precise and double check information. He even gives an anecdote about his life saving experience and how he was satisfied with taking the time to do more tests in which he found fault from another doctors orders. Even though there are many faults, he does touch on the fact that there are still good aspects when caregivers come together in order to save lives (Bonsteel, 1997). In the other online reading by (Hirschmann, 1999), she shadows an intern for two of his on call shifts. This experience gave insight to what stressors caregivers take on, especially as interns since they are still learning their profession and how to deal with certain situations. An example of this would be when the intern is conflicted on whether to give a patient 7-Up or not because he is unsure of the patients diagnosis. I thought it was interesting to see the different perspectives of caregivers that each author expressed so that the reader can understand what goes on behind the scenes. In my own experience with doctors, I think I stigmatize them to be super people who should have all the answers to my questions while being sympathetic. Now I have a better understanding of their perspective and it is easier to understand why and how they approach patient-caregiver interactions. Although they do spend many years studying and use up many hours when they become a doctor, it is still important for them to be able to take more time in learning socialization. It could be beneficial for both patient and caregiver because it seems like many of the mistakes that were made in the examples from the online readings were due to lack of communication and/or time spent on each patient. Using the 7-UP example again, it seemed to me that more time was spent over deciding whether or not the patient could have it or whether

the intern should call the doctor. I think if the intern had already knew that information then it would have been less complex for him to think about whether the patient was able to have the 7Up or not. Overall, I think it is the responsibility for both the patient and the caregiver to take a little more time to get more personalized with their interactions so that everyone can be on the same page.

Bonsteel, A. (1997). Behind the White Coat. 15-18. du Pre, A. (2010-2014). Communicating About Health: Fourth Edition. New York: Oxford University Press. Hirschmann, K. (1999). Blood, Vomit, and Communication:The Days and Nights of an Intern On Call. Health Communication , 35-57.