|
|
Written by Randall Willis
|
Dr. Brian Goldman peeks into the hearts and minds of healthcare professionals
In June, CBC Radio One launched a new program that examines the inner workings of healthcare from the perspective of the people on the front line. The brainchild of Mt. Sinai Hospital emergency physician and CBC house medical specialist Dr. Brian Goldman, White Coat, Black Art is designed to let healthcare professionals talk about what’s on their minds, both as medical practitioners and human beings.
RW: What was the impetus behind White Coat, Black Art?
BG: I wanted to talk about the inside stories of the doctors, nurses, and pharmacists who work in the system. I would hear doctors say things amongst themselves and I would hear them say things to the public, and what I heard was a disconnect. They didn’t say the same things.
On first blush, you might think it’s because doctors and nurses don’t really want to say what they think—how they really feel about things. But if you ask them; in fact, they do. I’ve been amazed just how much doctors and nurses and other health professionals are happy to talk about the things that have been on their minds for years.
I want my show to be the place where they can tell their stories. And we’ll let listeners be the judge as to whether they like what they hear.
RW: Healthcare professionals hold a certain position of mystique in the public eye. How do you address concerns about showing people the man (or woman) behind the curtain?
BG: I think, in general, the public is less and less enamoured of expertise and mystique. They want to know what people think. They want to know how people operate. What thinking goes in to the decisions that they make.
I don’t think they need to be spoonfed what people think they want to hear. They’re ready to hear how doctors and nurses and other health professionals really think.
I’m sure there are some doctors who will say “you’re giving away trade secrets,” but I’ve been gratified by the number of doctors who not only opened their hearts and their minds, but they’ve also suggested other topics.
The title tells what the show is all about. White Coat is about the veneer; about what we see on the outside. Black Art is about the voodoo. All the stuff that doctors, nurses, and other health professionals swear by—the lessons that they learn as they go along from hard-bought experience—but the kind of stuff they may not talk about.
If patients understand the frustrations of doctors and nurses, if they understand why things take longer to happen than they want then they might be able to take intelligent steps to make the wait shorter. They might be able to at least understand or maybe accept more of why things are the way they are.
RW: How are you going to get people to talk openly on controversial subjects like medical errors?
BG: So far, I’ve asked about 8 or 9 doctors and nurses about what was their biggest medical mistake, and each one of them might have paused for half a second but then they answered. So I don’t anticipate difficulty.
There’s been a cone of silence about medical errors. We live in a day and age where there’s a duty to disclose medical errors when they occur. There’s more of an openness to talk about them. I’m not going to play—as one of my guests said—the Name-Blame-Shame Game. That’s not the purpose of talking about medical errors.
What I’ve encountered is an interest and a willingness by nurses and physicians to unburden themselves so that they feel less alone. Their stories all have one thing in common: when something bad happens in their practice, they feel terrible; they feel ashamed; they feel alone. And I think that’s something the public might be surprised to hear.
They may have thought that doctors only cover up each other’s mistakes. What I’ve encountered is less a cone of silence than a cone of shame, because there’s this tendency to take complete responsibility. Doctors are taught—they grow up thinking—they’re supposed to have complete responsibility for everything that goes on instead of seeing they’re part of a system, and that if you make the system safer then you might have fewer errors. But they still feel that shame and personal sense of responsibility. I’m sure that’s never going to go away, but I wanted to tell some stories that actually reflect that.
RW: What do you think are the biggest misconceptions the public has about healthcare and healthcare professionals?
BG: What the public tends not to understand is that doctors are human like the rest of us, and so are nurses. They have likes and dislikes; they have frustrations; they have hopes and dreams; they have days when they get up on the wrong side of the bed; they have to make a living like everybody else. I just want to open the door just a crack so that I can let listeners in to see the humanity and my hope is that patients will like health professionals even more because they see how human they are.
As to the other side—what do doctors and nurses think of patients—that’s what this show is all about. What I’m bringing is a refreshing level of honesty. We will be controversial. There will be times when you will be surprised. There will be times when you will be angry at what they’re saying. You’ll be thinking “How could that doctor say that about patients?”
But I hope by the end of it, they’ll understand a little bit more. You may not agree, but that’s the beauty of it. You don’t have to agree. My mission is to open eyes and ears and to let people see things they’ve never seen before and hear things they’ve never heard before.
RW: So what brought you to radio and television?
BG: I’ve been writing in various media just about as long as I’ve been practicing medicine. In fact, I went into Emergency Medicine so that I could write. When you work Emerg, you can do shifts. You’ve got time…it’s not like doing a family practice, where you’re on call.
I started with newspaper articles, then I went to magazines, and then I went into radio and into television.
I had my foot in the door, so I put in a pitch for a radio series, and surprise, surprise, they said yes. They said, “Let’s do a pilot.” I did the pilot last year, and they said, “Let’s make some episodes.”
It helps to have your foot in the door. I was pitching to people who know me, who know my work. I can tell you, however, the first piece I did for Sunday Morning for CBC Radio 20 years ago was a cold call. You can make a cold call and hit a home run. It’s worth taking the shot. If you don’t take the shot, all you have are regrets.
RW: What is the dynamic between your roles as radio personality and physician?
BG: I think one of the big differences is that when I’m treating patients, they’re ill. When I’m talking to listeners, they’re well. In some cases, I think sickness can really focus the mind and make you really focus on making some changes. It can be a little harder to influence people when they’re well.
The longer I do both, the more one informs the other. One of the reasons why I am a columnist for CBC Radio is that I bring a lot of inside medical knowledge into my work. But it goes in both directions. I’ve used my experience talking to listeners as a way to hone my ability to talk to patients. Whether I’m looking at patients or talking to listeners, I want to make whatever I’m saying clear. I want to get rid of jargon as much as possible. I want people to feel that they understand what they’re being told.
RW: How have your medical colleagues responded to your role?
BG: For the most part, they’re enthused. Some of them may be envious. Some of them may have come to the conclusion that I work in radio because I’m not that great a doctor. I’ve certainly had colleagues come to me for advice. They’re going to be on radio or television and they want some tips.
People tend to think I know everything because I tackle a new topic every week on the radio. What they don’t know is that I have to study to become an instant expert on everything. It’s not easy. It’s a great burden, but it’s one that I enjoy.
(White Coat, Black Art plays on CBC Radio One Wednesdays, 9:30 am and Sundays, 11 am.)
|
|
|
