Diagnosis: Person

Joseph Gascho, MD

In hospitals, patients are often described by those caring for them as “the gall bladder” or “the heart attack”. Healthcare workers are frequently viewed as scientifically and fact-driven persons concentrating solely on the patient’s illness. The purpose of this exhibit is show that patients are more than their disease and that healthcare workers are more than technicians.

One portion of the exhibit features portraits of patients taken in a setting of their choosing, at work or at their homes. Juxtaposed with each portrait is a terse statement, detailing the patient’s medical problems, the kind frequently made by health-care provider. The intention of these text-and-image pieces is to show that patients are more that their diagnoses. Health care workers need to reminded of this—but patients also need to be aware that even though sometimes their illnesses are the major focus of those caring for them, those who care for them are aware of the other aspects of the patient, that they do see them as persons.

Another set of portraits is of persons who have survived critically illnesses and have been discharged from in an intensive care unit. These portraits, which are also on display in the ICU of the hospital at which I work, show a person—more than a patient with an illness. They give hope to both patients and their families: patients can survive and go on to lead a “normal” live outside the hospital.

The third portion of the exhibit focuses on health care workers on the job in the operating room. Although these workers are scientifically driven, using the latest technologies, and although they are concentrating on applying their best tools to care for the patient, they are people with emotions, people who care deeply for those they are operating on.  This concern shows in their faces, especially their eyes.

Patients and more than their disease. Health care workers are more than scientifically trained technicians.