Fearless Communicator
Dr. Moreland says his deafness presents no impediments to his practice of medicine. “I grew up working with interpreters, so I’m used to that process,” he says. “It forces you to become less inhibited about what you’re doing. People have questions [‘who is that other person in the room?’], and you learn how to handle those questions quickly, without interfering with communication in order to advance the work.”
When Dr. Moreland started his clinical rotations as a third-year medical student, he grappled with the best way to introduce himself and his interpreter to patients. His first attempt at explaining the interpretive process “went on for quite a while” and was too much information. “It ended up overwhelming the patient,” he says.
The next time he chose not to introduce the interpreter but to simply address the patient directly. “That didn’t work either, because the patient’s eyes kept wandering to that other person in the room.”
Finally, “I realized that it wasn’t about me,” he says. “It was about the patient.” So he simply shortened the introduction to himself and the interpreter and asked the patients how they were doing.
“Once I became more professional about the situation, the more positive and patient-centered it became, and it went well.” He says he’s had no negative experiences since then, at least not related to his deafness. He approaches each new patient interaction proactively, and he and his interpreters become part of the flow of care.
Teaching’s Missing Pieces
As illustrated with his first question, Dr. Moreland intends for his trainees to learn to think globally about their patients.
“Although rote information has its role,” he explains later in the conference room, “I’m always afraid of overemphasizing it. When I trained in medical school, we didn’t learn that much about communication skills and teamwork. We talked a lot about information we use as physicians—the mechanism of disease, the drugs we use.
“What I try to emphasize with trainees is, what skills in communication, teamwork, and self-education can we develop so that we can use those skills continuously throughout our practice?”
Dr. Moreland takes setting resident-generated learning goals seriously, says Dr. Simon, for which he and trainees give him high marks.
“He is very supportive and encourages us to make our own management decisions,” Dr. Victor says. “Though, of course, he will let us know if something is likely the wrong choice, usually by discussing it first.”
Patrick S. Romano, MD, MPH, professor of general medicine and pediatrics and former director of the Primary Care Outcomes Research (PCOR) faculty development program at the University of California Davis, where Dr. Moreland was a resident and then a fellow, found his trainee was always “very thoughtful and conscientious, presenting different ways of looking at problems and asking the right questions. And, of course, that’s what we look for in teachers: people who know how to ask the right questions, because, then, of course, they are able to answer students’ questions.”
Christopher Moreland, MD, FACP, MPH gives a mini lecture to members of his medical team prior to starting morning rounds on the general medicine floor of University Hospital in San Antonio, Texas.
Transformational and Inspirational
For many of Dr. Moreland’s colleagues and trainees, working with him has been their first exposure to a hearing-impaired physician. Richard L. Kravitz, MD, MSPH, professor and co-vice chair of research in the department of medicine at UC Davis, supervised Dr. Moreland during his residency and later during his PCOR fellowship. The American Disabilities Act-mandated interpreter for Dr. Moreland introduced a “change in standard operating procedure,” Dr. Kravitz notes. “None of us knew what to expect when he came onboard the residency program. But, very quickly, any unease was put to rest because he was just so talented.”