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Perception

2021-10-12 View on smbc-comics.com → 1 revision
Perception
Votey panel for Perception
This explanation is incomplete or may contain errors. It was generated by AI and has not yet been reviewed by a human editor.

Explanation

This comic addresses the complaint that "people perceive doctors as being too pushy and impersonal." The first panel presents a proposed solution: doctors should take time and care with patients, look them in the eye, hold their hands, and tell them how they feel about delivering difficult news.

The middle panel labels this approach "Good idea!" and shows a doctor telling a patient warmly: "Thanks... it means... feelings..." suggesting an emotional, connected interaction.

The final panel shows the reality of this approach: a doctor saying to a patient, "It would just mean the world to me if I could put a camera down your throat." The humor is that making doctors more emotionally expressive and personal doesn't necessarily improve the patient experience -- it can actually make uncomfortable medical procedures feel even more awkward. The joke highlights the tension between wanting doctors to be more human and empathetic, and the reality that many medical procedures are inherently impersonal and clinical for good reason. A colonoscopy or endoscopy doesn't become more pleasant just because the doctor shares their feelings about performing it.

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