Getting into Third year of Medicine calls for the well-known “Clinical rotations" and that's the time one actually feels like a Doctor. It's quite fun; you just simply have to take a quick interview asking the name of patient and a few more things also called History-taking and you’re good to go! Patients think you're a full-fledged Doctor whereas you actually don’t even know the names of drugs, let alone prescribing them. The seniors love teaching you on Bed-side showing their clinical skills off while you just stare at them aspiring to be in their place one day and the patients are the last thing you care about, you just go and visit the wards as if you’re on a trip to the hospital, more like rehearsing to be a senior doctor. You’re not answerable to anyone and don’t even bother wasting your energy thinking over the diagnosis and treatment, you pass by the hospital beds like a flash after having a quick look on the patient’s file and leave it to God. Standing in the OT is a huge feat on it's own, you can hardly see anything other than blood and a little bit flesh; seems more or less like a butcher's shop.
The tables were turned when during my fourth year, my mother got admitted in my teaching hospital. Never knew life had to offer this; now I was the attendant and my mother who was a doctor, was the patient. I had to rush from ward to ward, search for doctors, wake doctors up during their ‘night’ duties, look around for nurses, buy medicines all the way from the stores outside, get tests and scans done along with taking care of my paralyzed mom and much more. Little did I knew there my mom's soul would be taken away and that hospital bed was in fact her death bed.
That was when I realized how does it feel like being on the hospital beds and the struggles of the attendants. I realized how vulnerable these people are in times of need and how much a small gesture of kindness can make a difference. I got to know humanity is somewhere still missing. I learnt the importance of clinical skills and highly regret missing them occasionally. I came to know we need to be much more sympathetic than we really are and that this place; the hospital, is not for joking and having fun - rather it is for learning, caring and sharing. This place is full of shattered souls and people in pain be it physical or mental.
I got many reality checks at the right time and I must say we all ought to perform our duties in a better manner.
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Image source: Google OT pics