dr. ronald e. mcnair acknowledgements - University of St. Thomas

Oluwademilade Adediran
Psychology Mattering
I don’t know anything else, bye, hung up.” The patient then
called the nurse back to get some more explanation. She
explained the situation by saying “I called back, the nurse
goes, well we just got preliminary results, and we don’t know
anything else. I said why didn’t the doctor call me? The nurse
says oh well, it’s her day off, so she couldn’t call you.” As the
situation played out on the phone, the patient recalled
being told, “Why don’t you call the hospital and try to find out
something?” this patient was extremely dissatisfied with the
lack of empathy exhibited by this hospital. The fact the
doctor could not call herself was “jaw dropping” to the
patient.
Physician did not address side effects of treatments/ did not
collaborate with patients.
Patients who met with doctors to receive their diagnosis
reported the experience was negative when doctors simply
lectured and gave the medical aspects of the cancer. The
patients explained that when doctors focused on the
medical aspect of the cancer, they overlooked the women’s
opinions on how they should be treated. The patients felt
they did not matter when doctors did not answer questions
and failed to give information on what treatment would
mean for their livelihoods. There are several examples in
the transcripts of patients being given medications without
full explanations as to what the side effects could be. When
women researched the medications and came back with
questions, often times the response from the doctor was
negative. In one instance, a woman was prescribed Taxol,
an anti-cancer chemotherapy drug. The women researched
the drug and proceeded to talk to her doctor about her
findings. She said,
“When I talked to the doctor about the Taxol, he was so nonunderstanding,
so uncompassionate about it. He’s like well,
just do it and, you know…I mean, he… I don’t feel that I
was respected for my fear or my decision on what this was
going to be, and, um, I felt that it was a valid fear, or a
valid… you know, um, question. And I just felt really
disconnected by the doctor with… you know, it’s like…
okay, well, um, if you want to live you going to do this, um,
without any understanding that what it was for me to live,
you know, what it… what it took for me as a human, as a
person, as an individual, um, you know… if I couldn’t have
my music, or if I couldn’t have… and for some other people
who are passionate about something if they don’t have that
in their lives anymore, how are they going to adjust and how
are they going to survive. Piano or my music to me is really
my coping mechanism for everything else that I do. And to
be left without it… and I don’t think that he had enough
understanding about that.”
This woman is one of the many patients who were not
understood when trying to articulate their fears about
medications.
Lack of concern for livelihood
Most women reported telling their doctors they were
musicians and asked how treatments would impact their
ability to play. The results show that when the doctors
focused on the cancer first and everything else second, the
women had a negative experience. These women would also
report that the doctors only cared about them as a cancer
patient and not as a whole person with a life outside of
cancer. The doctors who treated the women simply like a
cancer patient failed to individualize care that would allow
for the women to be able to play music at their current
level post treatment. One participant who sang for a living
was concerned about her ability to sing post treatment.
This woman, among others, reported some doctors did not
understand their lung capacity had been reduced after
treatment. Doctors who did not realize that certain
musicians, such as singers, had extraordinary lung capacity
when compared to a normal person only focused on healing
the patient as a normal person. When measured for lung
capacity, this woman was told she was at ideal levels for a
female, but not at the extraordinary level she once was.
This patient reported that doctors simply did not know
how musicians functioned. She said, “But [doctors] don’t
know, they don’t know what’s necessary for a singer to sing, they
don’t know how those parts work. Aa, aa, it’s like you know I
remember long ago going to an ear, nose, and throat specialist. He
did not understand musicians and he was one of those who was
more interested in getting off to his weekend trip so told me there
was nothing wrong with my voice when I couldn’t sing above an
F. This was my upper range; he said my speaking voice was just
fine so my singing voice should be fine.” Women felt they did
not matter to health care professionals when their concerns
were met with cynicism and doubt.
Did not assist patient with “survivorship”
Many patients also expressed a dislike of the attention
given to them post treatment. These patients explained
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