SOAP Reflexction

[Alaa Akhras]

During my clinic week, I was startled to learn my patient was told he was “a dead man walking.” My patient was very distraught as was I. He explained how he was unable to sleep for the past couple of days. “How’d did this happen” I thought to myself, “my patient has always been healthy.” Had I missed something? As my mind raced, my patient pulled out a sheet from his dental hygienist. It was a preop clearance letter. They had refused to clean my patients teeth in due to his uncontrolled blood pressure. There were three BP readings on the slip that were recorded from the dentists office which 143/92, 139/83, and 145/91. I looked at the sheet and asked the patient what he meant by ‘dead man walking.’ He explained that the dental hygienist had told him he had long term hypertension and that she refused to clean his teeth until he had clearance from his primary care physician.

This encounter has taught me the importance of the words we say to our patients. Most of the time we say things from the top of our heads without thinking about it, not realizing of the psychological harm & impact it causes to our patients. I find that there is always a thin line between telling the patients the truth while at the same time trying not to cause long term distress to the patient. In my patients case, using strong words, like ‘dead man walking’, was more detrimental than his so called elevated blood pressure elevation. We, as healthcare providers, need to better educate ourselves in the art of bedside manner in order to sympathize with the patient while at the same time being truthful.

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