Today we the Medical Professionals are blamed by our patients and society, for many bad reasons, one

being Doctors are no longer human, they treat us mechanically, they have no time to touch us even when we are afflicted with serious illness. They say we are just human we need the compassion and human touch. There are several reasons to appreciate the patients feelings and concerns, the science and research proves there are many aspects to believe, human touch has longer impact on any one even the healthy persons, then why not our Patients. In recent years, a wave of studies has documented some incredible emotional and physical health benefits that come from touch. This research is suggesting that touch is truly fundamental to human communication, bonding, and health. Many studies have proved human touch has lot of reasons to improve the communication, the great experiment being A study by French psychologist Nicolas Gueguen has found that when teachers pat students in a friendly way, those students are three times as likely to speak up in class. Touch can even be a therapeutic way to reach some of the most challenging children: Some research by Tiffany Field suggests that children with autism, widely believed to hate being touched, actually love being massaged by a parent or therapist. Developmental delay is common in children deprived of normal sensory stimulation for example, in premature neonates and some institutionalized children. Touch has emerged as an important modality for the facilitation of growth and development; positive effects of supplemental mechanosensory stimulation have been demonstrated in a wide range of organisms, from worm larvae to rat pups to human infants. I have been following profession for more than 4 decades we had Great teachers, majority are Humanistic in approach, even when the patient was leaving the ward, they assured the recovery of the patients with human touch to say good bye and used to say see you soon, even to the serious patients, when the time was limited to survive, in view of the seriousness of the Disease, many incurable patients lived in hope died shortly. Even the relatives and friends of the patients, used to come to inform the death of his patients, to treating Doctors and nurses, and thanked for the support to the patients, however the economic and technical advances made us inhuman we rarely know what happened to our patients the moment he leaves from our chamber. The major question remains who are our Medical students? Are we simply selecting the wrong people for medical colleges? Or does the rigorous training that ensues during the residency years generate an emotional egress of what attracted us to this principled and honourable profession in the first place: to relieve the suffering of a fellow human being, be it physical, social, spiritual, or emotional? In India Majority of early residency programmes have collapsed where the young doctors entering profession are busy with studying for all sorts of entrance examinations, to get Post graduate seats. The early stage of the interns are lost with tensions and ambitions to become a post graduate student, even they lost ideas about the miracles of human touch, in reality many seniors are

missing with their own private consultation the young Doctors are really left alone to survive. I request you to read my article on

Internists On

duty a Night too long. Today we hear of several incidences of attacking the hospitals
when the matters are left to the most ill experienced people in the Profession and patient dies. Many patients are looked mechanically an objects for treating with mechanical skills and diagnostic parameters. The question raises as medicine become such a business that the human factor has been relegated to the trash? Has the paucity of autonomy or even a falling income usurped the humanistic qualities of our worthy profession? Could it be that we lack empathic and compassionate mentors to plant humanistic seeds among young, impressionable physicians? The most frequent comments from patients concern the attitude of physicians, the most common reasons for lawsuits have some link with the physician's attitude. Pain is identified as the most important factor in life of many patients, if the Doctors attend the patients in crisis with pain as in accidents, and cancer, I think it is utmost important, just giving injection to kill the pain is not going to heal the malady, however it has to be supported with humanistic approach, the most important part of cancer care is human touch, the rest is assured the patient knows that he is going to die very soon, never forget he knows well that you cannot cure him. I find many highly qualified talks very blunt to patients, that he cannot do anything to his illness ever forget the power of placebo of touch. The placebo effect may be unexplained, but it is very real; in the field of headache, it averages 40 percent. That means that 40 percent of pain relief is not due to the medication and very likely relates to the attitude of the caregiving Physician, If I look back at my class mates, who were poor in studies, majority of times back benchers become very successful doctors with simple human touch, and listening to the Human emotions never forget they made lots of money. The Government hospitals are becoming symbols of poverty and treating the poor, and medico legal cases, and majority of destitutes as no body bears their burden have excellent Doctor, however they can do little with available resources. And the privatization has taken the major role with starting of many Medical Colleges and Institutes, as Today, costs and liability concerns have taken the human touch out of medical care, and general practitioners cant get into the hospital to see patients. Hospitalists work for the hospital, not for the patient. My many years of experience in Medical Profession made me to understand the art of medicine and the power of human touch are to be blended for successful results. Occasionally, when listening to a patients frustrations about a previous encounter with another doctor or healthcare provider, they would mention, and he never even touched me. They reach out from the sick bed to make contact with some other Doctor in a plea for help, as if they will not be taken seriously until they transfer their tacit need by touch, this request not confirmed until we touch back. Just reassure the patient, tell I will care for you. I will try to give a little spark of life to you, today we do not teach this in medical college, Our Medical colleges, medical teachers, and administrators should go back to aspects of civilization how human touch, compassion, made the animal in man to human nature. Never forget we the Doctors are

potential patients tomorrow with many stresses and challenges, try to create better Hospitals of tomorrow with human Touch. It's not easy calculating the value and quality of the doctor-patient relationship, but just because it's not easy doesn't mean that it should be neglected- and until we actually start incorporating this measurement into all clinical encounters, we will never be able to fix our ills in the healthcare system, or else it is pay for the service and no longer Doctors are healers of the disease? Dr.T.V.Rao MD Professor of Microbiology Freelance writer Many articles on Human Empowerment, Medicine, Microbiology, Infectious Diseases and Theology are available on www.slideshare.com. www.scribd.com. www.articlesbase.com www.articleset.com www.authourstram.com. www. Slideworldorg.com Face book and Twitter