Abraham Verghese Ted Talk

Abraham Verghese is a Physician and an author. In his Ted Talk, he explains that the tradidiation physical exam on a patient is much for valuable than new technology that we have established.

We, as humans, have 5 senses; sight, touch, smell, taste, and hearing. We often take these for granted. However, we can use them to our advantage in the medical field along with many other aspects of life. One part of the speech that stuck out to me was when Verghese argued that we must see patients as human beings rather than collections of illnesses.

At the University of Texas San Antonio, Verghese founded the Center for Medical Humanities and Ethics. His motto was "Imagining the Patient's Experience" which goes hand-in-hand with the theme of seeing patients as individuals and human beings.

Going Forward

Watching this Ted Talk opened my eyes and helped me come to the realization that patients really are human beings and deserve to be treated as people with feelings rather than test subjects. I will carry this information with me as I continue this course, and hopefully work with patients in my future. I also know to give myself more credit than I often do. And to rely on my thoughts and observations and data that I am able to collect myself rather than relying on technology and machines.

Sports Med So Far...

In Sports Med, I have already learned so many new things. I have been able to connect what I have learned to my experience in the hospital over the summer, which makes it even more interesting and personal to me. One thing that I am nervous for is working with amputations because amputations have always been sensitive to me ever since I was little and I am not exactly sure why. In my opinion, the biggest strength that I bring to a team is organization. I am a very organized and orderly person, which is important when carrying out many processes, including those that we will do during this course. I am most looking forward to meeting Stan in the Sim Lab and working with him.