Amanda Swain is a full-time physician at the University of Pennsylvania Student Health Service.. Her specific areas of interest include narrative medicine and the intersection of theater arts and clinical practice. Her essay “Hand Holding” appears in the Fall 2019 issue of Intima: A Journal of Narrative Medicine.
Imagine a stranger walking into a room and placing her hands on a newborn infant while the new mother looks on without interfering. Sounds crazy, doesn’t it? Now imagine the stranger is wearing a white coat. All of a sudden, it seems natural that they have license to touch without express permission.
In Prerana Chatty’s essay “A Parent’s Trust” (Spring 2019 Intima), she writes eloquently on how she approached a newborn infant and mother during a well child check. The baby’s “pink, warm skin” is offered to her, waiting for the stethoscope to be applied to the chest. The mother waits patiently while the author examines the baby, listening carefully for a heart murmur. Chatty is struck by the trust she is given to not only handle the infant with care, but to possibly give a life-altering diagnosis.
Trust. That one small word is so heavily weighted. Trust that our touch is aimed at helping rather than hurting. It can be easy to forget the weight of that trust on our shoulders, day in and day out, heading into patients’ rooms, their faces turned up to us expectantly. But we should never forget it, nor take it for granted. I often reflect on the privilege doctors are granted to touch our patients. To peer closely at their skin, shine lights into areas no one else may ever have seen, to touch them where it hurts, to push on what they are trying to protect. Physical touch is synonymous with trust in many ways. This essay resonated with me as touch is a central theme of my own essay entitled “Hand Holding” (Fall 2019 Intima), which explores my experience as a medical student through the lens of physical contact with my patients.
“Trust is the ultimate form of empowerment,” Chatty writes. I couldn’t agree more. In asking for our opinion, showing us their bodies, allowing us to place our hands on areas intimate and vulnerable, patients are granting us immense power. I hope as physicians we can acknowledge that power and always respect it.
Amanda Swain is a full-time physician at the University of Pennsylvania Student Health Service. She is also working on expanding the Humanities and Medicine curriculum of Penn School of Medicine. Her specific areas of interest include narrative medicine and the intersection of theater arts and clinical practice.
© 2020 Intima: A Journal of Narrative Medicine