At Texas Medical Center (TMC), I gradually realized the importance attached by American medicine to medical humanities and medical care. Medical humanities and care are an indispensable part of modern medicine, even more important than many clinical devices and techniques. Taking cancer patients for instance, each patient will have a treatment group at the outpatient clinic or the hospital. The team consists of a clinician, a nurse, an administrator, a physical nurse and a psychologist or a pastor.

    On the first day of admission, the division of labor in the treatment team is clear-cut and each treatment plan must be discussed together by team members. In the course of treatment, nurses and psychological counselors will make the rounds of wards every day, mainly inquiring about the physiological and psychological changes of patients, and timely recording and discussing.

    In addition to the routine medical procedures, every patient will also attend the church activities, entertainment activities, patient sharing activities and so on. After the patient was discharged from hospital, there would be a small farewell activity organized by administrators, doctors, nurses and patients. Later on, the hospital will regularly carry out the follow-up visits to the patients. In this hospital, each patient is both a healer and a participant, and each treatment plan is unique and special, which make the patients feel that their treatment is human and autonomous.

    Medicine is about the treatment of physical diseases, and as well psychological rehabilitation. Therefore, physical health is the basis, but mental health is more important.

By  Zhang Yu/ Lin Juanzhen

Edited by Office of International Cooperation and Communication