The most important element
Betsy has written of a current effort in medical education to infuse medical students with the "human" element in illness, not dealing with disease as a sterile complex of symptoms, physical examination abnormalities and treatment.
I have now been teaching medical students and physician assistant students for nearly 4 decades. I have always taught them that the most important element in medical care is a caring attitude.
Now, as a non-Hodgkin's lymphoma patient/survivor, I am keenly aware of the attitude of my physicians and their important staff members.
I would like to think that my small efforts to assist fellow lymphoma patients is part of my ingrained sense of caring.
Mort