My -un-informed consent

Hi all!! I hope you are all having a good week. I would like to reflect on M&H experience from last week (10/24). Besides the fact that I got to get away from the Stanford campus, I got to participate in the 'informed consent' exercise with the horses. This exercise is an analogy to having a patient sign an informed consent form for a medical procedure. The exercise consists of having a horse walk over a reflective, crinkly blanket. I was the first one to go, and selected Mocha, a small horse who seemed youthful and therefore -I figured- would be curious to participate in this. As I approached and guided Mocha towards the 'procedure' we seemed to be on the same page. I took a detour inside the horse pen, to give us some time to bond. As soon as we came to the edge of the blanket Mocha stopped, looked at the shiny surface and started making sounds I have never heard horses make (a grunt of some sort)... I patiently reassured Mocha, with what I assumed would be 'comforting' rubs along Mocha's neck and body, and speaking to Mocha sotfly. As I was growing slowly more anxious about 'getting the signed consent' I also made sure to not let Mocha back out too much. I could tell Mocha was curious about what lay ahead, but the curiosity did not overcome the fear. Anticipating that Mocha would be reluctant to 'sign the consent' I did not want to be forceful with Mocha, and therefore waited and reassured some more. Almost at the end of my exercise I 'called for an attending' figuring that I needed experienced help (which is allowed in a clinical setting).
Overall, this was an enlightening experience and the rest of our day was wonderful.
MA

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Comment by: Alyn at November 1, 2007 01:21 PM

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