Dr. Ofri's new book, "Singular Intimacies: Becoming a Doctor at Bellevue, "recounts her experiences as a doctor at New York's Bellevue Hospital. NPR's Melissa Block, host of All Things Considered, recently spent a day at the hospital to get a sense of her world, through her relationships with her patients.
Dr. Danielle Ofri is an attending physician in internal medicine at Bellevue. For her, poetry and literature are as much a part of the job as X-raysand pills. She's written about her experiences there in the book, Singular Intimacies：Becoming a Doctor at Bellewe. It's a collection of essays about learning to listen to the narrative of her patients.
Dr. Ofri tries to keep an ear tuned to the stories behind her patients' medical complaints. Answers to questions about family or jobs may not help with medical diagnosis, but conversations like these can help gain a patient's trust, and they help' the doctor、too. "At night、I recall our conversations, and wonder what else I could do for them. It makes me curious about them, "Dr. Ofri says, "so when I go back the next day, I'm more connected with them. And I think a connection has healing powers. Most of the patients. brighten. when they talk about themselves and I think they actually feel better."
A good part of Dr. Ofri's day is also spent overseeing the work of new doctors. The days are filled with jargon（行业术语）and medical shorthand、But Dr. Ofri also tries toinjectanother kind of language into the training；poetry. She carves out five minutes or so each day to gather with her interns and read a poem. She calls it her "literary rounds". Through these brief pauses in the day, she says she's giving her students" a chance to let the other part of their brain flower a little bit". "I'm just hoping the experience of doing that is helpful, and also trains my students to listen more carefully to patients." she said.
