Words of Advice for Final Year Students.

 by

Eric Tam, Medical Student, Surgery, General, 02:08PM Feb 20, 2010

5th Year Medical Student, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

As our graduation is getting closer, professors and doctors who have taught us frequently share lessons learnt from their past experiences and highlight certain things we should avoid as junior doctors. So today I am going to share some of the words of advice with you:

 

1. "Medicine is showbiz"

Terrible as it sounds, there is some truth in it. The point my professor was trying to make was: It is not enough to be nice. It is more important to act nice. It is easy to ignore or act briskly with a patient when ten tasks await you. You have to actually show that you care about the patient and make it obvious to the patient, the patient's family, nurses and your colleagues. This does not mean that we have to be hypocritical, but that it is important to both be nice and act nice. Our professor told us there was once a bystander who filed a complaint because he witnessed that a doctor did not attend to a patient and thought that the doctor was non-caring. However, the bystander does not know the patient at all.

2. There is a higher calling for doctors

Our tutor asked if anyone in my group took the swine flu vaccine. He reminded those of us who have not taken the vaccine that as a responsible medical professional we should minimize our chances of spreading infections to our patients. He said that as doctors "we have a higher calling" and should bear that extra responsibility and risk for the benefits of our patients. Other examples would be vigorous hand hygiene and also just simply keep doing your job in times of crises. For example, Hong Kong was hit hard by SARS in 2003 and many health professionals contracted the SARS virus while caring for their patients. A small number of them even sacrificed their lives.

3. Spotting Simons

During our plastic surgery rotation, our professor introduced us to a hypothetical patient, Simon. Simon stands for "Single, Immature, Male, Overly-Expectant and Narcissistic". These characteristics were intended to describe the difficult patients undergoing cosmetic surgery who are more likely to be dissatisfied with surgical outcomes. The good patient for plastic surgery on the other hand is Sylvia and it stands for "Secure, Young, Listens, Verbal, Intelligent, Attractive" These two concepts were introduced by Professor Mark Gorney who worked in Stanford some years ago and mostly represent personal experiences rather any scientific criteria. The more important lesson here, however, is that you will encounter difficult patients whichever specialty you choose. Trust your instincts and don't promise things you cannot deliver just to make your patient happy. There may be medical-legal consequences which you cannot handle.

4. Seek senior doctors when appropriate

The professor who made point no.1 also warned us to seek senior doctors (or refer) when necessary. She quoted a story which made its way to the front pages of newspapers in Hong Kong. There was an A&E junior doctor who suggested to the family of a patient who had uncontrollable bleeding that they have to pay for Novoseven (recombinant factor VII) because it was a new drug and not provided freely under the government hospitals. Although the drug was not really that expensive and the family could afford it, the family was furious that the doctor even dared to talk about money in such life-threatening situation. The doctor did nothing wrong, followed protocols, but he should have consulted his seniors and let them handle such a sensitive issue. 

I hope you find the above advices useful and please share some of your own!

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regards, taniafdi ^_^