A couple of observations on this thread.
"Heartsink" is a term that is continually used out of context - it suffers
from being a term that is too good for what it is means, and to that extent
has spread far beyond its origins. Indeed I heard one of the tennis
commentators on the radio during Wimbledon who had the chore of interviewing
boring players, describing one as "heartsink"! At present, heartsink is
used in a similar vein to fat files, malingeres, lead swingers, or whatever
latin term is used for them, and now domino patient. Tom O'Dowd now regrets
introducing the term!
The term refers to the feelings engendered in the doctor, rather than the
latest pejorative word used to describe patients who do not conform to our
ideal pattern of behaviour. If you think a "domino" patient is a
"heartsink", you must question why you are feeling that - is the doctor
missing something, or does he/she feel impotent because of inability to
cure, and act in a way according to that rather dull but very very safe
medical model? Perhaps all these adjectives describing patients should be
replaced by tired /stressed /burnt out /bored / crap /incompetent doctor!
My favourite Laws of the House of God are:
"the delivery of medical care is to do as much nothing as possible"
and,
"at a cardiac arrest, the first thing to do is to take your own pulse"
Richard
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