“Listening to someone's story costs less than expensive diagnostic testing but is key to healing and diagnosis.”

    I believe listening is powerful Medicine.

    Studies have shown it takes a physician about 18 seconds to interrupt a patient after he begins talking.

    It was Sunday. I had one last patient to see. I approached her room in a hurry and stood at the doorway. She was an older woman, sitting at the edge of the bed, struggling to put socks on her swollen feet. I crossed the threshold, spoke quickly to the nurse, scanned her chart noting she was in stable condition. I was almost in the clear.

    I leaned on the bedrail looking down at her. She asked if I could help put on her socks. Instead, I launched into a monologue that went something like this: "How are you feeling? Your sugars and blood pressure were high but they're better today. The nurse mentioned you're anxious to see your son who's visiting you today. It's nice to have family visit from far away. I bet you really look forward to seeing him."

    She stopped me with a stern, authoritative voice. "Sit down, doctor. This is my story, not your story."

    I was surprised and embarrassed. I sat down. I helped her with the socks. She began to tell me that her only son lived around the corner from her, but she had not seen him in five years. She believed that the stress of this contributed greatly to her health problems. After hearing her story and putting on her socks, I asked if there was anything else I could do for her. She shook her head no and smiled. All she wanted me to do was to listen.

    Each story is different. Some are detailed; others are vague. Some have a beginning, middle and end. Others wander without a clear conclusion. Some are true; others not. Yet all those things do not really matter. What matters to the storyteller is that the story is heard — without interruption, assumption or judgment.

    Listening to someone's story costs less than expensive diagnostic testing but is key to healing and diagnosis.

    I often thought of what that woman taught me, and I reminded myself of the importance of stopping, sitting down and truly listening. And, not long after, in an unexpected twist, I became the patient, with a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis at age 31. Now, 20 years later, I sit all the time — in a wheelchair.

    For as long as I could, I continued to see patients from my chair, but I had to resign when my hands were affected. I still teach med students and other health care professionals, but now from the perspective of physician and patient.

    I tell them I believe in the power of listening. I tell them I know firsthand that immeasurable healing takes place within me when someone stops, sits down and listens to my story.

    傾聽病人的訴說比昂貴的診斷測試要省錢,但它卻是診斷和治愈的關鍵。

    我相信傾聽是功效強大的藥物。

    有調查表明,病人陳述18秒后,內科醫生會在就打斷他的講話。

    記得那天是星期天,我就剩最后一個病人要看了。我急匆匆的到了她的病房站在了門口。她上了年紀,正坐在床邊費力的往她那腫脹的腳上穿襪子。我邁過門檻,語速很快的和護士說著話,細看了一下病人的圖表,她沒什么,病情很穩定。我幾乎要忙完了。

    我斜靠在床欄桿上俯視她。他問我能不能幫她穿上襪子。我沒回答,卻滔滔不絕地說了大概像下面這樣的話:“您今天感覺怎么樣?您的血糖和血壓本來很高,但是今天好多了。護士說您的兒子今天要來看您,您急于見到他。有家人遠道來探望真的是件好事。我敢打賭您一定很期待見到他吧。”

    她用嚴肅的命令的語氣打斷了我:“坐下,醫生。這是我的故事,不是你的。”

    我很吃驚,感覺很尷尬。我坐下了,幫她穿好襪子。她告訴我他兒子就住在她家那條街的街角,但是她已經有5年沒見過他了。她認為這樣的壓力是造成她健康問題的主要原因。當聽完了這些并幫她穿好襪子后,我問她還有什么可以幫助她?她微笑著搖搖頭表示沒有了。她只是希望我能聽她傾訴。

    每一個故事都不一樣。有的很詳細,有的很模糊,有的有開始,中間和結尾,有的卻沒有一個明確的結論,有的是真實的,有的是虛構的。然而這些并不重要。對于傾訴者來說,重要的是他們的故事有人傾聽,而無需打斷、假設或判斷。

    傾聽別人的訴說比昂貴的診斷測試要省錢，但它卻是診斷和治愈的關鍵。

    我經常想起那個老婦人給我講的故事，我也經常提醒自己停下來，坐下去，真正傾聽的重要性。不久之后，在我31歲的時候由于一次意外扭傷，我成了病人，被診斷出患有多發性硬化癥。現在20年過去了，我一直都坐在輪椅上。

    在我能做到的時候，我坐在輪椅上還堅持看病人。但是當我的手也收到影響時，我就不得不辭職了。我現在仍然在教醫學專業的學生和保健人員，但是現在是從醫生和病人的雙重角度來教。我告訴他們我相信傾聽的力量。我告訴他們當有人停下來，做下去傾聽我的故事時，我知道我的病正在被治愈。