1001. A Neurosurgeon Dedicated to His Craft and the Bravery of His Patients

“To say ‘intense’ is underestimating a medical education. If you can imagine putting 130 of the most obsessive, dedicated, brilliant people in one room, in one class, and you are with them for 10 hours a day for 7 years, just imagine that process. Imagine the competition. Everyone wants to get that A+. Everyone wants to outdo the other. That’s how it is. Competition is good for the most part. I think it is helpful in any field. It pushes the boundaries and makes you better. But there are a lot of people that took it too far and I think they burned out, and some dropped out, and some couldn’t do it. And I don’t blame them. There’s a lot of stress involved. But at the end of the day, surviving that experience made me a better person, taught me a lot about what is important and valuable in life and made me a better doctor.”

Dr. Paul Kaloostian is a Los Angeles neurosurgeon who, aside from saving lives every day, is an avid writer. He wishes to improve the importance of building compassionate relationships between doctors and patients, something he feels is too often lost nowadays. His main goal is to break the stigma that doctors are rigid, book smart people who lack a creative and artistic side. He wrote a poetry book with case studies to share with people in order to show that doctors are not all about science. He has some insights to share on how to improve the doctor/patient relationship, especially in trying times like these. He feels that once this barrier is lifted, the doctor/patient relationship will improve tremendously.