In September, I returned to teaching some afternoon seminars with first year medical students at UBC. These were hands-on practical sessions on learning how to handle needles and syringes and give injections.
As an ice breaker, I asked each student (just four weeks into medical school) to briefly share why they chose to be doctors.
Their origin stories were inspiring; each had pivotal experiences with illness and the healthcare system. Many served as advocates for loved ones. Some of their experiences were positive but the negative experiences also motivated them to be better doctors. I asked them to remember the values that motivated them to serve others as physicians. They would need to remain connected with this sense of meaning and purpose as they endured the coming years of study and challenges of a physician's daily work.
I shared my own origin story. I chose healthcare — or it chose me — at the age of 10 when I was hospitalized with a severe flare up of rheumatoid arthritis.
It was a scary time for a child with whole body pain, fever, rashes and exhaustion but I felt supported and seen by the nurses and doctors who treated me as a whole person.
I was inspired to acquire the skill and knowledge to care for people dealing with the stress of illness and support them in the restoration of health. I was called to family practice when I became entranced by the stories shared by patients.
A good family doctor does not treat diseases or medical conditions. We have the privilege of long term relationships that evolves with each conversation over the years. We listen to our patients' stories, not just the chronology of symptoms and potential inciting factors but the meaning experienced by each individual and how their lives are affected by their health. To the best of our abilities, we seek to see the whole person and to see medical conditions in the context of caring for that whole person.
We also have the opportunity to see whole families and in some cases multiple generations. I delivered most of my patients who are in their early thirties or younger.
As family physicians, we are not only witnesses and listeners of our patients' stories. When needed we can help our patients transform their personal stories and empower them with the support and skills they need to become agents of positive change in their own lives.
My job description is to treat the whole person and not disease.
Disease and other health challenges are seen only in the context of that whole individual. My vision is to empower each of my patients to be agents of positive change in their own lives — to achieve their positive potentials in life according to their greatest personal values.
Of course, you don't have to be a patient of my practice to be empowered to be an agent of positive change in your own health.
Dr. Davidicus Wong is a Burnaby family physician and has written for Glacier Media since 1991.
