But perhaps there is power even in protocol. In her title essay, Jamison writes about serving as a “standardized patient”; that is, an actor describing her maladies for the benefit of burgeoning medical students.
She literally adopts a persona and follows a script, all in an effort to test the medical student’s use of protocol. Did they acknowledge her as a human being? Did they voice empathy? By essay’s end, when the playacting turns real—when there are struggles beyond the script—Jamison notes, “Whatever we can’t hold we hang on a hook that will hold it.” Yes. That’s exactly what we do, isn’t it? And when empathy is the product of death, the hook in question often comes in the form of a sympathy card.
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She literally adopts a persona and follows
a script, all in an effort to test the medical
student’s use of protocol…
Did they voice empathy?
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