Restorative Conferencing in Health Care
"Now the doctor, by virtue of accepting science so totally, creates a total imbalance, forgetting the art of healing, forgetting the art of engagement, forgetting the art of listening, forgetting the art of caring and ceasing to invest time with the patient. So I believe medicine has lost its human face.” ~ Dr. Bernard Lown Doctors do not like to be shamed or blamed. Neither do nurses. Nor surgeons. As a matter of fact, any query from a patient to the healthcare provider is received as critique of job performance. Much of this is a result of the disconnect between physicians and their patients. Physician, by the way, is the term I prefer to use over “doctor” since learning the definition variations: per Merriam Webster dictionary a physician “heals” and a doctor “has been awarded a medical license” (Webster, 2005). This is a worthwhile difference to note when seeking quality medical care. Dr. Bernard Lown described in his book, “The Lost Art of Healing” his inspirat...