“As a patient, it’s upending to be confronted with the actual fragility of everything you once believed to be a constant. Awdish understands how frightening and vulnerable they can feel. She let me talk without interruption as I shared my fears and anxieties, she hugged me as I cried and she spoke comforting words to reassure me.” In Shock by Rana Awdish

She let me talk without interruption as I shared my fears and anxieties, she hugged me as I cried, and she spoke comforting words to reassure me.” Awdish, “I have seen many, many doctors in my 60 years with this disease but NEVER have I met a doctor so genuine, so caring and so determined to help me. A patient with a long-term illness says of Dr. Awdish listens genuinely and actively, and makes comforting contact, whether holding a hand or offering a hug. It requires connection.” She saw firsthand that while patients need high-quality medical treatment, caregivers often unintentionally neglect their emotional needs and desire for human connection. “It took years of being a patient to understand that though the healing potential of knowledge is magical, it is also a lie,” she says, “Medicine cannot function in a vacuum. This ordeal provided her with a complex and deep look into how significant communication and compassion are to providing good care. “The fixed notions I had regarding my purpose as a physician did not survive,” she says. Her approach to medicine, however, was forever changed. Due to the incredible work of her caregivers and colleagues, she survived. Awdish lost her entire blood volume into her abdomen, experienced organ failure, was put on a ventilator, suffered a stroke, and miscarried. Suffering through this harrowing and life-threatening ordeal, Dr.

Seven months pregnant, she was diagnosed with an occult adenoma in her liver. Rana Awdish, a pulmonary and critical care physician at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, Michigan, discovered the significance and power of compassion and communication in care when she was faced with her own healthcare crisis. Tags: Award Recipient, Finalist Profile 2017ĭr.