I was on an inpatient gerontology placement in a perth hospital. I was asked to go see a patient who had a chronic pain problem resulting in mobility issues. It is really weird how it came up…something about wine and Italian food…but this patient turned out to be a ‘distant relative’ of mine (by marriage not blood).
The supervisor asked me if I would be comfortable treating this patient. I decided that it would be ok because at the time I could see any reason not to treat her.
As I started treating this patient I realised that I felt a personal responsibility to get her better. Unfortunately, her problem was chronic, so my want to get this patient better was unreasonable but hard to get rid of. To make this situation worse, I wasn’t sure if she understood that I couldn’t get her better, but just get her home. This was a stressful situation for me.
From this experience I realised that treating family members is different because of the personal responsibility one feels to the patient. I felt this way even though this patient was a ‘distant relative’ not by blood. If faced with this situation again I would get someone else to treat this patient. In general I feel that the decision to treat people who are associated with family should be thought about very carefully. I feel that in some cases it would be ok to treat, but for me I don’t think I would feel comfortable treating another ‘distant relative’ with chronic pain.
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1 comment:
It is natural to feel obligated to a family member no matter how distant you may be related. I think it be an extremely uncomfortable situation as they would expect you to treat them better than any of your other pts. I guess to deal with that would be to avoid the situation. If this is not possible then provide them with a detailed explanation about your treatment. This essentially shows that you are taken responsibility that you know them at a personal level.
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