As an audiologist I have three degrees a Bachelors , a Masters and Doctorate but what is interesting is that the paper with the most power hanging on my walls are pictures. When I first graduated and started working as an audiologist I was proud to put on my white lab coat over my formal shirt and tie attire. As a young man I felt like I really needed my diploma on the wall to convince my patients that I was qualified to see them. In some ways this might have been my own insecurities coming forward. I honestly had to pinch myself in those early days knowing that people actually came to see me as the expert in my field. The lessons I started to learn however moved me slowly in a different direction. I started to learn that the white lab coat actually scared little children as they related the coat to pain incurred through needles etc. . I learned that my ability to learn to listen to my patients and my ability to communicate valid applicable pertinent knowledge to them instilled far more confidence in them than the multiple diplomas on the wall.
I was in private practice when my wife and I had our first child and I was definitely the ultimate proud father. In my private practice I had a beautiful new office and I started to put on the walls and on my desk pictures of my son. As the years went by my wife and I added to our family with five more boys, six in total, we had six sons in ten years. As you might imagine my collection of pictures grew. As a father I wanted those pictures of my family in my office to remind me of how blessed I was as well as to sit back and imagine what in the world that child might have been thinking. My wife loves taking pictures and she gifted me with many pictures of my boys simply living their lives which found their way onto my wall, there are pictures of the boys on the ski hill, on the beach, snuggling with Dad, eating snow, eating worms ( this is one of the favourites of other children)and the list goes on.
Here is the interesting phenomenon. What I have found over the years is that when patients walk into my office/testing room the conversation often turns to family. When children come into the room it is so apparent that they are drawn to the pictures on the wall as their eyes take it all in and as they glance around there is an effect on young and old alike. I can visibly observe these people relax. This observation actually is one that I even see in prelingual toddlers and babies. I can see them drawn to the pictures on the wall. Many of the conversations I have with these young children are about the boy eating the worm or the boy at the beach or the boy on the ski slope etc. .
It is my contention that in our human interactions and in the early stages of relationship we all search for commonality, there is comfort in knowing that the person we are with is somewhat like us. We probe and delve until we find that thing that gives us some degree of comfort before we start to trust the person we are with. When we become comfortable with the professional we are talking to and we begin to relate to them we are more likely to take in their words with confidence. As an audiologist I too want to know the person I am with and have that same sense of connectedness with them as they seek in me.
When I learned to combine the ability to listen to my patients, relate to my patients, find commonality with my patients our clinical relationship was vastly improved. The knowledge and information I share is taken in by them with greater confidence and trust and as a result their outcomes improved. My patients end up leaving having somewhat enjoyed their time in office and are willing to tell others about their good experience.
My lab coat and diplomas told my patients that we were different my pictures tell them that we are the same.
