Vital Times 2019 - 80

CSA ONLINE FIRST

"Only Connect":
Dr. Verghese Offers
Hope for Humanism
in Medicine
By Karen Sibert, MD, FASA

"E

ach man or woman is ill in his or her own
way," Dr. Abraham Verghese told the audience
at the opening session of ANESTHESIOLOGY
2019, the annual meeting of the American Society
of Anesthesiologists held in Orlando, Florida. In his
address, titled "Humanistic Care in a Technological
Age," Dr. Verghese said, "What patients want is
recognition from us that their illness is at least
somewhat unique."
Though we in anesthesiology have only limited
time to see patients before the start of surgery,
Dr. Verghese reassured listeners that this time has
profound and immense value. He pointed out that
there is "heightened drama around each patient" in
the preoperative setting. "Everything you do matters
so much," he said. What patients look for are signs

80 | CSA Vital Times

of good intentions and competence, and the key
elements are simple: "the tone of voice, warmth,
putting a hand on the patient."
Dr. Verghese, a professor of internal medicine at
Stanford University and the acclaimed author of
novels including the best-selling Cutting for Stone,
believes that patient dissatisfaction and physician
burnout are the inevitable consequences of today's
data-driven healthcare system, where physicians
seldom connect with patients on a personal level
or perform a thoughtful, unhurried physical
examination. "Our residents average 60 percent of
their time on the medical record," he said.
"It's the '4000 clicks' problem," Dr. Verghese said,
citing a study in which emergency room physicians



Vital Times 2019

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