See Me…Heal Me

‘See Me…Feel Me…Touch Me…Heal Me‘ forms the haunting, opening song lyrics composed by The Who for the performance of the Tommy Rock Opera in the late 1960s. As a refrain, they are particularly appropriate, poignant, and even prescriptive words-to-heed for health practitioners. Sometimes, it seems more expedient to go right to ‘healing’ whatever is the issue one of our patients presents. Thus, instead of starting with, Who is my patient?, often we go to, What issue does this person present to me? The difference is not one of mere semantics; instead, it is central or core to how we partner with our patients. Consider a case example of reacting to a person versus seeing the person first. A young child comes crying to her parent and says, “I hurt my finger, it hurts so bad!” One response, the reactive one goes right to healing when the parent responds, “I’ll fix it with a band-aid.” The more reflective, ‘seeing’ response might be, “Ouch! You hurt your finger. That must really hurt.” The latter sees the child, affirms her pain, ‘touches’ and ‘feels’ what it feels like to be in pain. The parent might follow this with the healing response, “Would you like me to get a band-aid to fix it for you?” In the same vein, if a patient says he is worried or scared or anxious, see him with a reflection like, “I see that you’re worried/scared/anxious. What’s that like for you? What would help?” Thus, in working with our clients in health care delivery, it is so important not to step over who our patient is in our zeal to heal. If we see them, we show we care and we build trust and connection and partnership, all key ingredients in the process of practicing health care.