This week, I read about power and how having power can affect the way we think and act. As physicians we have more power than some of us realize. I became very aware of this power during my training! I admitted a young colleague with a stroke due to vertebral artery dissection (likely from vigorous coughing). Usually no further work up is needed. However, my attending at the time told me to order hypercoagulable work up stating that many patients have dissections with no stroke so maybe this patient has an underlying hypercoagulable condition. From this point onward I ordered hypercoagulable work up on every dissection patient. Until about a year later, when I worked with that attending again and when I ordered the hypercoagulable work up, he questioned why I was doing that when we had a clear stroke mechanism. That made me realize how much power we have. He said one sentence once, just few words. I took them to heart despite all the other education I received. It was a good reminder that when people respect us, we hold great power that we must take responsibly. I started to wonder, what other areas of my life do I have power that I am not aware of or intentional about. I think power is more than just being in a higher rank or having more resources. Often power stems from having others’ admiration and respect. When others look up to us, that places a lot of power in our hand. We can influence their thoughts and actions without intending to. After completing the best self-exercise where I asked others in to recall stories about when I was at my best, a recurrent theme was that I was a “role model”. I would not have described myself that way, but knowing that, reminds me that my thoughts, feelings, and actions do not just affect me. They can influence others. This was true both in my work as well as personal life. Do you have any powers that you might not be aware of? What is your orientation to power? Socialized where you use your power to develop those around you, or personalized where you use your power for self-advancement? Or a combination?
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