Tough and Gentle

Despite the big-built and tough-looking appearance of most orthopaedic surgeons, I find that they are the gentlest type of doctors. Considering the problems that they have to deal with are usually bigger (think fractured femur), requires greater force (think reduction of fracture) and gruesome-r tools (think drills and saws), they are the gentlest when they talk and examine patients. I quite often see how rough doctors in the other specialties (which deal with body parts in need of a gentler manipulation) can be.


http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/732237?src=mp&spon=25&uac=141887BK

I really like this article. I have always liked Medscape's articles for Medical Students. Although I'm not yet a doctor, I do find myself bordering on the danger of losing my humanism sometimes. I talk to patients just for the sake of getting a case to present for ward round. I simply don't care. When I clerk them, I hear them but I don't LISTEN. I remember Dr Selim once asked us "What is the most important quality that a doctor needs?" The answer is, of course, HUMANITY.

(Ooo..you see the source of the journal below the title? American Academy of Emergency Medicine...How cool is that? Sigh...I wonder when will I get to affiliate my name with Emergency Medicine, like I belong there, in that team of EM Academy. I don't even dare tell people I would like to do EM in the future for fear that they would think "What! She, with her level of competency, thinks of doing EM?!" Sigh again...I have plenty to work hard for.)

I love Orthopaedics posting. For one, I'm back to doing the usual stuff; clerking patients and doing physical examination with the chance to do some procedures and observing surgeries. Unlike in ENT or Ophthalmology. Hehe..I'm so prejudiced against these 2 postings...more so against Ophthalmology. My worst nightmare would be getting posted to Opht Department during MO. I better start making backup plans now.

Orthopaedics has taught me to be more patient and more humane. Maybe because most patients are elderly patients, which requires a higher amount of patience and gentleness. Or maybe because all the patients are in so much pain that you really can't bear to speak any more harsher or act any more impatient towards them. Or maybe, no, this I'm sure of, Prof Shahril and all the orthopaedic surgeons are very concerned about patient's functionality and social history because as one specialist said "Orthopaedics is all about helping patients regain their previous functionality." By going in depth into patient's social history, you get to learn so much more about your patient as an individual, that he is just like you and me, the problems that they are facing just by being in the ward and the problems that they have to encounter after they are discharged. The thing about asking patient's social history, you need a moderate amount of rapport before you go into it so that they don't find you intrusive when you ask how much they earn a month or how are they paying for their current medical costs. In addition, by asking these questions, you get to build a good rapport with them as you convey the message that you are concerned about them, that is, provided you get past the first round without being treated as a busybody. So you see, rapport and asking social history is like a feedback loop.

Although I love orthopaedics, I don't see myself doing it in the future. There's just something about it that's not right for me. I don't know what. Maybe I'll find out why by the end of this posting.