{"id":1009,"date":"2017-01-16T13:12:29","date_gmt":"2017-01-16T12:12:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/?p=64663\/"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:22:05","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:22:05","slug":"s-winters-met-blote-voeten-op-het-strand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2017\/01\/16\/s-winters-met-blote-voeten-op-het-strand\/","title":{"rendered":"Barefoot in the sand in winter"},"content":{"rendered":"
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'Having really listened to all my patients has made me a better person. And that makes me a better doctor.'<\/span><\/p><\/figcaption><\/figure>

Where do Erasmus University\u2019s students end up? In this section, graduates talk about their careers and their lives: what have they learned? In passing, they provide tips about what you should and shouldn\u2019t do when you\u2019re building your own career.<\/p>\n\t

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Name:<\/strong>\u00a0Zohra Moallemzadeh<\/a>\u00a0(31)<\/p>\n

Study<\/strong>: Medicine (2004-2011), trainee general practitioner (2013- summer 2017)<\/p>\n

Current job:<\/strong>\u00a0Trainee general practitioner (GP or doctor) with practice in Rotterdam Overschie; she also gives \u2018Clinical Reasoning\u2019 lectures at Erasmus MC.<\/p>\n

Extra:<\/strong>\u00a0In 2008, Zohra won the Dutch excellent student award<\/a> in elections organised by ECHO, the Centre for Diversity Policy. She used her prize to follow a summer course<\/em>\u00a0in psychology at the University of California<\/em>\u00a0in Los Angeles. In addition, she followed programmes at both Cairo University<\/em>\u00a0and the American University of Beirut<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\t<\/div>\n

\u201cBeing a doctor is the best of all specialisms, because you deal with the whole person. A surgeon, on the other hand, only has to discuss a \u2018wrist\u2019 or a specific \u2018fracture\u2019. A person is made up of emotions and thoughts as well as their physical body. During my training, I\u2019ve learned to take account of all three components when I ask someone what\u2019s wrong with them. I do that by asking questions that I\u2019m genuinely interested in and by watching their non-verbal communication.<\/p>\n

During a consultation, lots of things go through my mind: I mirror his or her attitude to seek an approach and I pay great attention to the non-verbal communication. I make a list of potential diagnoses, and I think about what questions I still have to ask. Communication is a doctor\u2019s most precious instrument, and I\u2019ve improved hugely since the start of my training in 2013. And not only has this benefited me as a doctor, it has also proved beneficial in my private life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Self-mockery<\/strong>
\n\u201cTo make patients feel at ease, I tend to use self-mockery, because, after all, I\u2019m just a person. And, in my profession, it isn\u2019t difficult to combine humour and conviviality.
\nAlthough it\u2019s only human to have doubts, I personally find it difficult to talk about the doubts I have. As a doctor, I can\u2019t always offer a solution. Sometimes, I can accept that, but on other occasions I find it very hard.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Urinary incontinence <\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cBecause I see people when they are at their most vulnerable, I have to view them differently. A good example was a time when a woman was suffering from urinary incontinence. When she was unable to stop herself urinating in front of me, I took a couple of steps back. \u2018No Zohra\u2019, said a small voice in my head. I immediately realised how arrogant I must have appeared, while I actually wanted to appear modest. At such times, I think about my religious beliefs and ask for the strength to help the patient.<\/p>\n

Modesty adorns mankind. However ambitious I am, I always strive to be modest. My father expressed it well: \u2018The more fruit a tree has, the heavier the branches become and the closer to the ground they bend.\u2019 In other words: all the baggage you collect in your life helps ensure you are modest or humble, not arrogant.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mindfulness was my eureka<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cAt the end of 2014, I was forced to have a six-month break due to thyroid gland problems. I loathed sitting at home unable to do anything. Nor was I able to share my distress with my friends, because \u2018positive Zohra was never depressed\u2019. Looking back at that time, I realise that you only really get to know yourself when you reach a low point in your life. However, during an eight week \u2018mindfulness\u2019 course, I learned how to \u2018feel\u2019 rather than simply think. By being well grounded, you are better able to answer questions like: what do I want, what makes be happy?<\/p>\n

One of the exercises involved walking barefoot along a beach; and I loved it straight away. I still drive to Kijkduin or Scheveningen twice a week to walk on the beach. And even in winter I try to walk barefoot, although it\u2019s really cold!\u201d<\/p>\n

My patients are my mirror<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cEvery day, whether on the beach or in a restaurant, I write something in my diary, even if it\u2019s only one sentence. I write about what I\u2019ve thought, felt and learned that particular day. As a doctor, I\u2019m learning a lot about myself; about both my strong points as well as the points I need to improve.<\/p>\n

One by one, the patients I see hold up a sort of mirror. And that doesn\u2019t only apply to consultations when patient contact is good, but also to the times when things don\u2019t go so well. Some patients come back with the same complaint twenty times. Despite that, every patient is fascinating, and I pay everyone the same amount of attention. It\u2019s only for fifteen minutes, I think.
\nThe fact that my training has taught me to approach all my patients in this way has made me a better person. Both my feet are firmly planted on the ground, which, in turn, makes me a better doctor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Plant<\/strong>
\n\u201cThere\u2019s a plant next to the waiting room door. Every time I go to call a patient in, I consciously look at the plant and feel grateful. For a couple of seconds, I think about my life and smile inwardly. At that moment, I realise how thrilled I am to be a trainee doctor and able to help patients. Mindfulness really taught me to how to \u2018feel\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t

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