Reflection #week 1 of surgical posting
I am glad I have Dato Kanda as my posting mentor although I have been hearing so much from my seniors that he is a very strict doctor with high expectations from students.
Yesterday I had the first CPD session with him and he gave an inspiring overview of how and what we should be doing in a ward.
First he asked us what do we do in the morning when we are in the wards. None of us gave the answer he wanted. But then he said doctors aren't supposed to clerk patients in a way that they feel that they are interrogated. Taking a good history from a patient is merely listening to patients. When they have trust in you, they will be more than happy to spend time telling stories. And then our job is to think about their stories which could be related to their problems and then you will realize that their stories make sense.
I used to ask one of my wardmates how she always spent so much time talking to only one patient. I thought she was wasting time. But now I realized she has been doing it the right way and that I should learn from her. So on the same day, I tried to approach a patient in a different way. I did not ask him for his name nor his age. And I did not ask him why he was admitted to the hospital. I know that he just had his operation done so instead, I asked how he felt after the operation i.e. whether he was still feeling pain or drowsy from the operation and whether he ate well. I realized when the approach is different, the patients become very friendly and they will want to talk to you so badly. One patient even asked me to take a chair and sit next to him so that he could tell me all his stories. I feel truly grateful because I think I have started to gain trust from each of them.
History taking is an art. What is art? Art is no boundaries. Said Dato Kanda.
I have heard that history taking is an art but I have never known what is an art. Now that when I know the meaning, everything that Dato Kanda has been telling makes so much sense. I am sure I will be benefited a lot from him.
Talk to the patient at his or her eye level and at the most possible comfortable position. Do not carry blackboards or any papers or pens while talking or listening to the patients. Said Dato Kanda.
I think this will be possible for us to not forget about what the patient is telling if we listen to them tentatively.
I'm looking forward to my second week of surgical posting.
Cheers and good luck, have fun learning!
P/S: I'm truly grateful to all patients who are willing to share their stories with me. I will remember them for the rest of my life.
Yesterday I had the first CPD session with him and he gave an inspiring overview of how and what we should be doing in a ward.
First he asked us what do we do in the morning when we are in the wards. None of us gave the answer he wanted. But then he said doctors aren't supposed to clerk patients in a way that they feel that they are interrogated. Taking a good history from a patient is merely listening to patients. When they have trust in you, they will be more than happy to spend time telling stories. And then our job is to think about their stories which could be related to their problems and then you will realize that their stories make sense.
I used to ask one of my wardmates how she always spent so much time talking to only one patient. I thought she was wasting time. But now I realized she has been doing it the right way and that I should learn from her. So on the same day, I tried to approach a patient in a different way. I did not ask him for his name nor his age. And I did not ask him why he was admitted to the hospital. I know that he just had his operation done so instead, I asked how he felt after the operation i.e. whether he was still feeling pain or drowsy from the operation and whether he ate well. I realized when the approach is different, the patients become very friendly and they will want to talk to you so badly. One patient even asked me to take a chair and sit next to him so that he could tell me all his stories. I feel truly grateful because I think I have started to gain trust from each of them.
History taking is an art. What is art? Art is no boundaries. Said Dato Kanda.
I have heard that history taking is an art but I have never known what is an art. Now that when I know the meaning, everything that Dato Kanda has been telling makes so much sense. I am sure I will be benefited a lot from him.
Talk to the patient at his or her eye level and at the most possible comfortable position. Do not carry blackboards or any papers or pens while talking or listening to the patients. Said Dato Kanda.
I think this will be possible for us to not forget about what the patient is telling if we listen to them tentatively.
I'm looking forward to my second week of surgical posting.
Cheers and good luck, have fun learning!
P/S: I'm truly grateful to all patients who are willing to share their stories with me. I will remember them for the rest of my life.
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