TRANSITION PHASE - Dr Muhammad Ali Shuja

                                

                                                                 Dr. Muhammad Ali Shuja (Batch'18)

"Transition phase" is no doubt a period full of excitement,hope,surprises and what not. But at the same time  it is the most sensitive time of ones life. One has to be well oriented in time,place and person with a GCS of 15/15 to respond fully to the commands of time. What I mean by this transition is the time when one gets in the Med school. Learning methodology takes a total drift from what it is like in school and inter years and this is why most of the students find it difficult adjusting themselves with the medical education in first few years.

Selection of books, finding good notes, completing manuals, attending lectures,passing stages,mids,grandtests, professional exam,written,viva etc are all the stress factors that could fatigue your Neuro-hormonal systems. No matter how smart you are, you find yourself exahusted with this routine.The simple principle that always helped me get through this is to remind myself why I started! one simple solution to help you find purpose! Keep yourself motivated and keep working, then just watch things fall into their place.

Lets start with the books first,there is always a list of text book circulated by university for all the subjects but most of the students find it difficult to make the right choice. Leaving aside the minor details, I'll just say "A standard textbook will always make a difference" no matter how many times you get to hear that there are short books available. They do help sometimes (eg. a class test you could not study for)

but not always, and are never a reliable source to be mentioned.

Unfortunately,we are into this system where exam is the prime concern and not the clinical acumen,skill and practical work. This is why even after having alot of knowledge, we just simply fail to correctly measure the blood pressure.. It's alarming! Learning text is important but the practical implementation of your knowledge is the most important one,make no mistake about it. 

Every year has it's own significance, but 3rd year marks the most critical one where we start to have our clinical rotations. This is the most important time to learn, prepare and polish your clinical skills. Attend the OPD's as many as possible,invest your interest in clinical skills, move in the wards with all confidence, interact with patients, learn about the behaviour of a sick person and how to handle. 

Everyone who gets in medschool is going to get a degree,only few will master the art of healing,that depends on how eagerly you work during your clinical time and keep yourself updated with the latest and finest available data on diseases.

Just be passionate about your profession and extremely compassionate towards your fellow human beings. Qualifications alone will not define you,but the quality of health care you will provide. no matter what your designation is, if you work as G.P, as a consultant, might that be in US,UK or just some slum in your dear homeland,serve to the best of your abilities with utmost honesty. 

Treat your patients exactly the way you would like to get treated.