Internists on Duty - a Night Too Long

INTERNISTS ON DUTY – A NIGHT TOO LONG

Dr.T.V.Rao MD

                               Every Medical student on successful examination turns into a Junior Doctor who starts imagining in the beginning that he/she is on the top of the world for few days. Sooner if not later, realises that human suffering is much deeper than one’s imagination. As teacher when I listen to my students that they were excited to take up the new challenges, I always convey that if you are on emergency duty a night is too long for you. I wish them that success or failure in saving a patient in a teaching hospital or for that matter in any Institution depends on the decisions of the inexperienced Junior Doctors, as we are aware that role of the Senior consultants are limited to busy working hours. Several serious complications and critical complications can arise any time, it is certain their survival depend on how you manage the issues in the golden hour, do realise you are hero in the hour of crisis; make your contribution useful to others. In spite of having best Institutes in the country and most talented Doctors, we do not have any organised training to our residents on FIRST AID. It is unfortunate several valuable lives are lost; many become disabled in major cases of accidents due to mishandling of patients at the site of accident. Do remember you are in for a similar situation in a busy teaching hospital when we are dealing with several casualties in the dead of the night.

                                        In the last two decades the role of Internship in a teaching hospital is reduced to a state of spectator interested in upgrading his theoretical knowledge to search opportunities for higher education, thus in turn has created a great impact in lowering standards of MBBS graduates. After 6 years of training in a Medical college we are making graduates with doubtful skills and imaginary theoretical ideas. After realising the consequences of producing many highly skilled specialists, developed countries are revising their programmes on Internists; they expect that 21st century Doctors should be Oslerian generalists, seasoned clinicians possessed of knowledge of Internal Medicine both wide and deep and of clinical acumen such as follows from several years of experience caring for sick patients. Making the best use of Internship continues to be ideal goal for learning the better knowledge in life, poor and helpless are at your mercy. The men of wisdom have realised that your human touch is more important than your doubtful, unaffordable theologies and controversial treatments. The Doctors  should remember you should be concerned with people who suffer from disease and illness regardless of their economic and social status,  poor people accept your inadequacies, pardon your mistakes and spread your kindness to several people they meet in life. The seniors have a role to train the young doctors make them familiar with compelling problems which they never fail to diagnose or treat. All the early aspirations of the young doctors may not come true in early life to become a specialist or a super specialist, how ever they can be accommodated as good human being to serve the society with an honourable title already awarded as DOCTOR. Try to be a effective Human being to serve the co humans, rather than competent manipulator to become rich. The Internship programme is an opportunity for few months which will never return in life, mind the words of Jose Ortega y Gasset, ( The revolt of Masses ) “ the specialist knows very well his own tiny corner of Universe, he is radically ignorant of all the rest, so begin the career as generalist, before becoming ambitious to be specialist and superspecalist. Today there are few opportunities in the profession to become a specialist in view of several graduate doctors. Majority have to continue as just Medical Practioners, One’s great success and failures depend on simple procedures you perform, to think it is easy but most difficult to perform at the dead of the night. Let us upgrade our knowledge every day of our career; patients too know several relevant facts of their disease, that with an increasing number of patients having access to an increasing amount of health information through the Internet, doctors are losing their place in society as the exclusive source of medical knowledge. This trend has the potential, at a minimum, to greatly reduce the current imbalance in competence between doctors and laypersons, possibly resulting in a de-professionalization of medicine, Spend at least few hours with Information Highway ( Internet)) and recent periodicals, so we donot loose contact with recent advances. "Supported by humanity's need for a healing class and by physicians' genuine technical competence, the [medical] profession will survive,"  I still feel young to be inspired by the words of Jawaharlal Nehru on the Bronze bust in J.N Medical College, Belgaum, “ Success often  comes to those who dare and act and seldom it goes to timid”.  Every generation of Doctors are worried about their future; do remember the words of  Swami Vivekananda “that you alone create your destiny”. Every Medical professional’s destiny starts with Internship, how you make the best use of the given duty you perform, makes your too long night duties to golden path of success in future.

Email; doctortvrao@gmail.com