My Greatest Moment

My greatest moment was being able to actually talk to a patient. Entering into someone’s personal space is very sacred to me. One of the patients shared his poetry with us. His poetry gave us an opportunity to open conversation and really get an understanding of how he is doing and where he is with his illness at this time. Being able to learn more about people and their lived experiences allows me to have greater perspective on the barriers patients face on a day to day basis. Additionally, I have learned to critically think about how a patient will manage their diabetes in the long term. With this, it is important to think about what resources we need to give them now in order to set them up for long term success. Something new I learned about myself today was that I need to prioritize the topics that are urgent and applicable to the patient now. It is important to take advantage of the time we have with patients to learn what their priorities are which then gives us a better idea of their needs.