Patient Problems Quotes

“Keep the faith. The vision is always for the appointed time. Be patient, prayerful and wait for the fulfillment of your visions.”
― Lailah Gifty Akita

“It takes patience to listen. It takes skill to pretend you’re listening.”
― Harmon okinyo

“Before you treat a man with a condition, know that not all cures can heal all people. For the chemistry that works on one patient may not work for the next, because even medicine has its own conditions.”
― Suzy Kassem, Rise Up and Salute the Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem

“Given how tedious and dull the hospital could be, I always expected hospital inpatients to be happy to see us. But they frequently had the opposite reaction. Patients cringed as soon as the door swung open to reveal, ta da! Physical Therapy!”
― Adele Levine, Run, Don't Walk: The Curious and Chaotic Life of a Physical Therapist Inside Walter Reed Army Medical Center

“Can you tell me why you added weight to your gown?" Dr. Chu asked.
Another trick question.
Bones shrugged. "I wanted you to think I was gaining weight."
Dr. Chu nodded. "We need accurate records for every patient."
(Our job is to make sure you gain as much weight as possible while you're here.)
Dr. Chu leafed through Bones's file, checking off little boxes. "Since you lost weight--even with two stainless steel knives sewn into your gown, it's obvious you've been purging. Either by vomiting or--"
(We have closed-circuit cameras and hidden microphones in your room.)
"Or engaging in unauthorized exercise."
(Bingo!)
"I know this may be difficult," Dr. Chu said. "But the nutritionist and I have decided to raise your calories."
(We won't be satisfied until you resemble a scrap-fed hog.)
"Are you listening to me son?'
Bones's eyeballs hurt from so much nodding. "Yes, sir."
(Fuck you!)
"One-hundred calories isn't as bad as it sounds." Dr. Chu dropped his voice, forcing Bones to learn forward in his chair. "That's it for now.”
― Sherry Shahan, Skin and Bones

“Regardless of a patient's true motives to get out of bed, I always applaud on the inside. That's what physical therapy is all about. To get them out of bed. To coax them down to the rehab gym. To do their strengthening exercises. To buy into the program. All in order to prepare them for the day they will eventually walk again. But I downplay my enthusiasm at a soldier's pain-tinged request for fear he'll figure out that's what I've been trying to get him to do and rebel. It's always better to make it seem like it is their idea all along.”
― Adele Levine, Run, Don't Walk: The Curious and Chaotic Life of a Physical Therapist Inside Walter Reed Army Medical Center

“One patient got up and used his wound care supplies to tape his hospital door shut.”
― Adele Levine, Run, Don't Walk: The Curious and Chaotic Life of a Physical Therapist Inside Walter Reed Army Medical Center

“Be patient with your troubles.
With patient you will overcome the mountains and the troubles.”
― Lailah Gifty Akita

“Patient and persistent attitude will move mountains.”
― Lailah Gifty Akita

“You must learn to wait for the fulfillment of your visions.”
― Lailah Gifty Akita

“I thought back to med school, when a patient had told me that she always wore her most expensive socks to the doctor’s office, so that when she was in a patient’s gown and shoeless, the doctor would see the socks and know she was a person of substance, to be treated with respect.”
― Paul Kalanithi, When Breath Becomes Air

“Whenever I saw a person I couldn't place, I quickly looked at their legs - as if that would help me identify them.”
― Adele Levine, Run, Don't Walk: The Curious and Chaotic Life of a Physical Therapist Inside Walter Reed Army Medical Center

“You do not need to be able to diagnose a patient's condition right at sight unless you are in the OR, but you must be able to genuinely recognize and realize the worry and weakness in the patient's mind right from the very beginning. Remember, you will never be a first-class doctor until you learn to have some regard for human frailty.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Time to Save Medicine

“You can make an appointment with a bad doctor only on a stretcher.”
― Tamerlan Kuzgov