Oriented x2: Rediscovering the Meaning of Place in the Physician-Patient Relationship and Use of Technology
Colin Good, BS., Fellow of Theology, Medicine and Culture, Duke Divinity School
The 21st century world is defined by technology. Technology shapes the ways we interact with each other and increasingly shapes how we see ourselves. We devote substantial time and resource to developing technology to further enhance our experience of the world, even to the point of preferring artificiality over reality. Technology, we hope, can lead us to a better future.
Medical training is subject to the preeminence of technology. While clinical years provide medical knowledge, they more importantly form students’ understanding about the nature of the physician-patient relationship and how the physician’s role fits into the healthcare system. Who am I and what am I becoming? How am I and will I relate to and communicate to my patients and other professionals? How do I use the tools and knowledge I am receiving on behalf of another? The answers to these questions are grounded in technology and something seems lost in this framework.
This loss may be expressed through the rising disenchantment among members and trainees of the medical profession. Physician burnout is at unprecedented levels, while depression and suicide is becoming increasingly prevalent among both students and physicians. Might it be that the ascension of a technological imagination diminishes the role of clinicians and fundamentally alters the physician-patient relationship?
In this paper, I unpack these questions through the exploration of two patient narratives. The first narrative involves telemedicine—a paradigmatic technology that structures the encounters of patients and clinicians. I explore what we can learn about the changing nature of the physician-patient relationship, what challenges this brings and possibilities of how to re-frame this relationship between doctor-patient and technology in the context of what it means to be human.
The second narrative follows a dying patient and his family to examine the importance of place in human flourishing—a subject largely ignored in 21st century medicine. This narrative provides an important insight into the sacredness of place and how it serves as a lesson of the fundamental importance of our connections.
In light of these two narratives, I propose there is the need for re-enchantment in modern medicine and that we require an inversion of our current relationship of the technology to medical pedagogy. Rather than starting with what can be done with our technology, we should start with the purposes of medicine in relation to the goals of human flourishing. This inversion importantly reorganizes what we do, within the framework of who we are as humans and as physicians. I will illustrate the inversion by proposing how the technology of telemedicine can honor the depth of encounter between doctor and patient by putting technology in service to rather than governing the interaction, yet recognizing its increasing role in the healthcare system.
The 21st century world is defined by technology. Technology shapes the ways we interact with each other and increasingly shapes how we see ourselves. We devote substantial time and resource to developing technology to further enhance our experience of the world, even to the point of preferring artificiality over reality. Technology, we hope, can lead us to a better future.
Medical training is subject to the preeminence of technology. While clinical years provide medical knowledge, they more importantly form students’ understanding about the nature of the physician-patient relationship and how the physician’s role fits into the healthcare system. Who am I and what am I becoming? How am I and will I relate to and communicate to my patients and other professionals? How do I use the tools and knowledge I am receiving on behalf of another? The answers to these questions are grounded in technology and something seems lost in this framework.
This loss may be expressed through the rising disenchantment among members and trainees of the medical profession. Physician burnout is at unprecedented levels, while depression and suicide is becoming increasingly prevalent among both students and physicians. Might it be that the ascension of a technological imagination diminishes the role of clinicians and fundamentally alters the physician-patient relationship?
In this paper, I unpack these questions through the exploration of two patient narratives. The first narrative involves telemedicine—a paradigmatic technology that structures the encounters of patients and clinicians. I explore what we can learn about the changing nature of the physician-patient relationship, what challenges this brings and possibilities of how to re-frame this relationship between doctor-patient and technology in the context of what it means to be human.
The second narrative follows a dying patient and his family to examine the importance of place in human flourishing—a subject largely ignored in 21st century medicine. This narrative provides an important insight into the sacredness of place and how it serves as a lesson of the fundamental importance of our connections.
In light of these two narratives, I propose there is the need for re-enchantment in modern medicine and that we require an inversion of our current relationship of the technology to medical pedagogy. Rather than starting with what can be done with our technology, we should start with the purposes of medicine in relation to the goals of human flourishing. This inversion importantly reorganizes what we do, within the framework of who we are as humans and as physicians. I will illustrate the inversion by proposing how the technology of telemedicine can honor the depth of encounter between doctor and patient by putting technology in service to rather than governing the interaction, yet recognizing its increasing role in the healthcare system.