Wizards Teach Medicine to Doctors
An unlikely alliance between two famous magicians and a physician has led to a program at the McBride School of Magic in Las Vegas to help doctors improve their communication skills. Their proposal: “modern medicine could use a little magic.”
Las Vegas, NV (PRWEB) August 02, 2005 -- A magic school in Las Vegas may seem
an unlikely place to instruct doctors on how to improve their communication
skills, but two world-class magicians and an expert in Oriental medicine think
otherwise. Each is convinced that modern medicine could use a little
magic.
Lee Grotte, M.D, the non-magician of the trio, points out that the
goal of all systems of medicine, whether ancient or modern, is to establish a
good relationship between the doctor and the patient. Once this "therapeutic
relationship" is established, the common goal of improving health can begin.
Grotte adds that doctors must not only have the technical skills to
diagnose and treat, but also need to master communication skills to help the
patient understand the doctor's viewpoint as well as how to change negative
emotional habits, dietary, and exercise behaviors that contribute to disease.
"Sometimes the patient's beliefs have to change, and sometimes they just
have to consider that change is possible," Grotte said. "Just accepting that
they can feel better is a major achievement for some."
"To convince
patients to change old and tightly held beliefs and misconceptions and habits,
doctors have to be both flexible and persuasive," he added. "But, patients
nowadays often question whether they can trust their doctor's
advice."
Indeed, patients in the United States are less trusting of their
doctors than they were even five years ago. According to a 2004 poll by the
Kaiser Foundation, nearly half of all consumers worry about the safety of their
health care. More than half (55 percent) also say they are dissatisfied with the
overall quality of health care in this country – up from 44 percent who reported
the same complaint in a survey conducted in 2000. Of those who have chronic
illness, 66 percent are dissatisfied with their healthcare.
Grotte
believes that poor communication skills and a habit of using fear to motivate
patients is responsible for some of this situation. In addition, he believes
many doctors don't even realize the negative effects that result from using fear
tactics.
"It affects (doctors) also, so that we become more fearful,
tense, and irritable," Grotte said. "We then fail to project the warmth and
confidence that patients would like to see.
"We aren't trained as
professional communicators and teachers, although this is one of our most
important roles," he added. "Most training doctors receive in communication is
unrealistic: we use 'simulated' patients and role-playing, or re-enactments."
He says that these experiences are not as useful as real life
experience.
"Who wants to eat a meal cooked by someone whose only
experience is reading cookbooks?" asks Grotte. "You want your airline pilot to
have some hours in a real plane; no matter how much they have been in a
simulator. Surgery is not like the computer simulations that we train with.
Doctors should understand and practice the techniques proven to really motivate
patients to change."
In response he has begun working with Jeff McBride
and Eugene Burger, two of the faculty of the well known McBride School of Magic
in Las Vegas, to offer classes for doctors. Grotte met them when they were
visiting Cleveland for last year's International Brotherhood of Magicians
convention.
Grotte had been exploring the interface of ritual magic and
medicine in Oriental culture for many years, and wanted to compare notes with
McBride, who received some of his training in Asia and also widely performs
there. “Soon we were discussing techniques for establishing rapport between
members of different cultures and ages as they relate to both medicine and
magic. Our perspectives were very similar.”
The Dean of the Magic School
also had a remarkable viewpoint to share: “On Friday night, Eugene (Burger) had
given this powerful presentation on compassion, kindness, and mindfulness in
magic, all subjects of great relevance to medicine, also.”
"Here were
two men who had developed tremendous skill at changing people's belief systems,"
he said. "They could even convince people that impossible events are happening
right in front of them."
Over the course of several shows and lectures,
Grotte observed how well McBride and Burger perfected aspects of interpersonal
psychology that are not taught in medical training. And, since they both have
long experience teaching at the magic school, Grotte realized that here was a
way for doctors to learn to control their body language, speech, and empathy
skills to create a better effect with patients.
Many doctors do take
courses in public speaking, and recent articles published in the Journal of the
American Medical Association and the A.M.A. News suggests that patient/physician
relationships would improve if doctors took acting lessons. Grotte believes this
is not so.
"Movie and stage acting is too contrived and occurs in a
controlled environment," he says, "but magicians have to go right up to a person
or a small group and control their attention and beliefs completely. They have
to do this in real time and under realistic conditions. Skilled performers such
as Jeff and Eugene can create a rapport with a stranger or a group of strangers
that is exactly similar to that needed between doctors and patients. It is much
more than just delivering a speech well."
Strange as it seemed, the more
the three considered the similarities between magic and medicine, the more
parallels they found.
"In some ways, magic and medicine are mirrors of
each other," Grotte said. "The magician wants to direct attention away from the
important issues, whereas the physician wants to focus the attention onto the
important issues. Magic requires deception, and medicine, scrupulous honesty.
But both the magician and the doctor are trying to create transformative
experiences."
Consequently, McBride, Burger, and Grotte established a
curriculum of performance training, interpersonal skills management, and
personal discipline that they believe will assist medical professionals in
having better relationships with their patients, colleagues and other members of
their healthcare team. One three-day program is presently scheduled for
November, 2005 in Las Vegas.
"Jeff and Eugene are highly skilled
magicians, so it makes sense to use magic as the vehicle to teach these skills
to doctors," Grotte said. "It makes the lessons much more entertaining and fun
for the students. But most doctors will find that the real secrets behind the
magic will help them to create better relationships. Once that happens, we
expect that another result will be that patients understand and adhere to their
treatment program better."
Jeff McBride adds, "Magic is good medicine;
it can change the way the viewer feels as well as the way the performer feels. I
teach students to always leave the people in a room feeling better than when
they entered. Believe me, it works!"
For more information on the McBride
School of Magic workshop, Magic for Medical Professionals, visit http://www.magicalwisdom.com/details.php?id=336
Contact:
Lee
Grotte, M.D.
216-383-0800
e-mail protected from spam bots
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Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/8/prweb259893.htm