Out of Pod Experience

It may have a lot to do with poor communication. When we give someone step-by-step instructions, we assume they are easy to read and understand, and we never ponder that the person may question their validity or fear completion of some of the steps. We may interpret the steps easily and trust them, yet forget that we have seen it done before or done it ourselves.

Even with an image of what to do and simple wording, the instructions can be extremely ambiguous to some people. People with even very mild dyslexia may have great difficulty interpreting illustrated diagrams because their mind does not understand the virtual third dimension portrayed. People who have lived their lives speaking in riddles, allusions, metaphors, sarcasm, similar relations, abstract concepts, feelings, and other figures of speech (which, believe it or not, is almost everyone) often have difficulty understanding straightforward instructions because they read into it too much, and don't understand how not to. People who have experienced a very thin slice of local dialect and culture only may have difficulty understanding even basic speech in their language, if it is even a little out of their region.

I can provide some specific examples within my own memories at medical facilities:

When instructed how to swab my arm for getting poked with a needle, I was shown the rubbing motion and told how long to rub, in a number of seconds. The instructor assumed I would be able to figure out how to hold the cloth - he thought wrong. While I had developed the manual dexterity within my life to hold a small cloth, I had developed my own method and it was not directly compatible with the rubbing motion as indicated, so I ended up doing it wrong. I got the right amount of time on the dot because I had a watch and had been excited to learn to count seconds. But once the nurse demonstrated how to rub the iodine, I understood perfectly because I got to watch and feel it. I've done it perfectly ever since (though usually the nurse does it, not me).

When told to lie on an oddly-shaped bench-table-bed-thing covered in paper, I had difficulty determining how to orient myself properly and often would have to ask the doctor/nurse. In my first few attempts, even after getting on the table, I still had to be manually adjusted by the nurse/doctor. It wasn't clear to me how to do it by word descriptions. However, just as word descriptions were enough for other kids, picture diagrams would have been ideal for me, and for some people, neither works. Experience is usually the big winner here, the people who do it right the first time have almost always done it before.

I was once used as an example--the kid who swallowed the pill correctly with the water. The doctor administering the pills (aspirin or tylenol I think it was) assumed I had done it correctly as there was no pill in my mouth and I did not have a grimace on my face. What he didn't realize is that I had chewed it up and resisted grimacing, because I already knew it was bitter and liked to show off my ability to eat bitter things. I still haven't mastered the ability to swallow a pill with water and to this day am so bad at getting them stuck in my throat that I just ask if it's okay to chew it instead. I have no qualms about chewing tylenol, but don't ask me to swallow it whole unless you plan to give me $5 for doing it.

It's tough to know what a person is thinking, but my best guess is either they didn't understand the importance of the prep, felt it was difficult to explain why they failed to prep, or some of both. People don't lie just for the sake of lying, they lie because they are backed into a corner and lack the skills or understanding to explain their way out of it.

Well, people don't want to lose their face. When the patient knew he didn't take the medication, he was afraid to admit it, and once he started lying, there was no way back for him anymore.
In order to get the truth out of people, you must er..kind of create an "alternate reality" where the person can admit things without losing face.
Sounds a little abstract? Here an example: instead of saying:
"Hey, we told you to take the medication, but you didn't, why the hell didn't you do what we told you?"
you could try :
"Oh, sorry, Mr. X, I was just looking through your record and it looks like we didn't give you clear instruction on how and when to take the medication. I apologize for the inconvenience, but could you please tell us when and how you took it last? It's very important..."

Page 11..

It is full of stars

Sibyyl, you always have something unique and special to say, almost as cool as the new avatar you put on every week or so.

Talk nerdy to us.

Slow as ever. Waiting on my test results to come back so I can hurry up and wait for whatever the next thing the Army wants me to wait for will be...

I don't think Pandora viruses sound scary at all. Viruses are (to me) scary because they are small and simple. That allows them to replicate quickly and unseen, and be difficult to eradicate completely. Rubbing alcohol can kill 99.9% of the bacteria on your skin, 99.99% of the bacteria on a window, probably 100% of the pandora viruses on your skin (if you had a bunch there), but the viruses might find enough protective areas on your skin that you'd only get 99% of them. That's a lot left over. But why are Tardigrades scary?

I think a scary virus is the bacteriophages. These things have "legs". They aren't just a blob of gel capsule with some DNA inside, they have special features that serve a purpose for them. They infect bacteria.

Some diseases make me think of Pyrrhic Victories sometimes, as once you finally get over them they can leave so much damage in their wake that you don't really feel victorious.

P.S. µ

these are both facts.

I think it would be interesting to see collections of pictures of the avatars some people make and the changes they do.




also: mmmm...cheeeessseecaaaaake.....

Are you ready for another ride aboard the nostalgia train?

Then I better get a spot :D