The above images has a triptych affect, meaning the arrangements of the three panels of art which is joined together, ultimately forms a bigger picture (Merriam Webster, 2018). Looking at the three panels individually will not have any significance and be very abstract. On the other hand, looking at the three panels collectively will prove that the images have more significance.
This links to my clinical practice experiences. If you look at each day separately it involves so much emotions, empathy and feelings and each of these are not left behind after a day. They travel with you and it piles on top of each other. It gets you so personally involved with every move of the patient. The patient’s social history, conditions and their recovery outcomes stays with you. Your mind is so focused on them. You are also always seeing them when you close your eyes. If we are excessively empathetic, it will feel like our whole being and life are totally overwhelmed by what is happening in our daily live as physiotherapy student (Dolce, 2016). Too much of this empathy led to me having much less, because I want to protect myself and push the feelings away to be more professional.
Someone once said; it is as if you are a sponge that is completely saturated and has never been wrung out, you can only take so much. My excessively empathetic approach towards my patient has influenced my emotional well-being, negatively. With that being said, I realised that in order to protect myself, I need to become slightly less empathetic towards my patients as this will all aid in my bigger picture, which will ultimately lead to me growing a physiotherapy student and one day, as a qualified physiotherapist.
Furthermore like the waves that come and goes so that a bigger better wave can be formed. The same counts for your empathy, sometimes it is better to leave it at the door but when a new day comes forms your bigger impact wave. This will help you treat the patients you have by putting yourself in their shoes, but still you will be focusing on your own well-being. Like the picture above is divided your empathy should be divided to yourself and your patient.
Therefore when taking our empathy toward our patients, our emotional well-being, our actions toward our patients and the valuable experiences of clinical practice, it enables us to see the significance and the importance of the lessons we learn, daily. To conclude, showing love, care and compassion towards our patients, but also to ourselves are of utmost importance in order to grow as physiotherapy students. All of these clinical practice experiences and emotions forms he bigger picture which is you.
References:
Dolce, J. (2016). The dark side of empathy: When too much turns into none. Retrieved 14 September, 2018, from
https://jessicadolce.com/the-dark-side-of-empathy-when-too-much-turns-into-none/
Merriam Webster. (2018). Definition of triptych. Retrieved 14 September, 2018, from