Clinical years of med school are the important chunks of your entire medical life since here begins your practical learning, it's not about being the most socially active person on board, it's all about talking to the patient and extracting as much information as possible while remaining within the boundaries of ethics and keeping yourself relevant.
If you take this one step, I know sometimes it takes a huge effort to walk out of the comfort zone but if you are successful in making out of it, you will surely learn a great deal about being a human.
Every patient that you see is not a textbook case, it takes years long practice to put something into a textbook as an example. Each patient is different from the one on the next bed but you are the same person from this bed to the next. So how can you be the one who makes a difference.
Well for starters, you need to be curious and the next thing you should be willing to do is, to invest your time.
Remember, your patient is a human being and we all have feelings. Taking the time out to calmly talk to the patient and establish a good association of trust before starting the history and examination will not only earn your patient's cooperation but also teach you about the importance of human touch and of having a connection.
An invisible barrier which surrounds most of the students as it did me was, what would the patient think? i.e this one is a good example, Can I take the gynecology history on my own, ah what about the gender difference; perhaps the patient would not give proper answers. Well, there is a simple solution and that is you follow the guidelines and start off asking the questions you need to ask. If your approach is respectful, there is a strong chance that the patient will answer your questions very well and sometimes in a good amount of detail. Being a doctor you should not differentiate between the patients based on their gender but if a patient has a specific requirement about their doctor or health care provider, you should respect their thoughts. Remember, your patient is a human and human beings make their own choices. Forcing medicine down someone's throat is not what being a doctor is about, you are there to treat a person not a disease. For a sore throat, antibiotics will work but for a patient with sore throat, the antibiotics will need to be supplemented with a doctor who is interested in curing the pathology as well having a positive effect on the overall health. Invest time in your patient dealing skills. Your patient will be grateful to you if you listen to them with attention, talk to them with compassion and let them know that you take them as a human being and not as a pathology.
If you take this one step, I know sometimes it takes a huge effort to walk out of the comfort zone but if you are successful in making out of it, you will surely learn a great deal about being a human.
Compassion, trust, respect and your genuine efforts, these are what really matter when you are on the receiving end, and these are what matter to the patient. Running an Out patient department of 400 patients a day is not success if 90% of your patients feel neglected even after their consultation; ensuring that your patients are satisfied, their queries are answered that is your real success.
Dr. Sermad Mangat
Batch of '18
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