MiniQs

كتبهاصدى القدس ، في 4 يونيو 2009 الساعة: 10:42 ص

MiniQs

I have a lovely grandfather. Since my first day in the medical school, and even before that i.e. in the summer vacation he kept calling me Doctor Nouf. And by the time, my name was replaced by The Doctor.

Since then, he also kept testing my medical knowledge.

One day, I was in the collage and my mobile rang with his number on the screen I answered surprisingly and after the greetings and the how are you questions He asked: is parsley good for health? And what happen if I ate too much? Well, this was his first catch ya quiz! I didn’t know what to answer so I said: well grandpa all the green vegetables are good for health and even if you ate too much you are not going to be toxicated. “Yes you are right” he said to me.

Weeks after, he approached me during my visit to him and asked “if some body got hypoglycemic what are the signs?” ”coma” I answered “no there is something more important” he replied. I tried very hard to collect the scattered hints in my brain but failed to, so I acknowledge it bravely and said “I don’t know” he smiled and told me that “they-the hypoglycemic- will be short-tempered and hostile and this is why diabetic and fasting people drives nutty some times”.. Then he gave a page of a newspaper, as what he does usually, and showed me an article talking about what he just said and ordered me to read and I did, shamefully, immediately what he wanted.

Forgot to mention that, he always keeps any magazine, newspaper and even a part of papers that contains a medical stories and he give them to me in Thursday to read.

The quiz of last Thursday was “if there are two forms of the same medication (pills and ointment) and the doctor gave me that later one, explain to me why she did that?” “To avoid systemic absorption because she needs the effect to be locally and to reduce the danger” he smiled a big smile and was very happy and shouted “this is exactly what the doctor told me, congrats doctor you are a real one” and I always was :) .

Well I know that you are wondering what I want from this story. Several points clicked in my mind after the last question and have been hunting me for a week now.

The first one: The language.

As most of you know that we study medicine in English while we are going to deal with Arabic nation so how am I going to explain to the patient or to the community what I want? Just answering these questions in Arabic was difficult how about when we are going to take history from the patient? Will we will be able to deliverer the exact concept in Arabic?

My advice to you: to start from now, start learning and reading about the commonly encountered problems in the community in Arabic and never down estimate your language or say it is difficult to re-learn medicine in Arabic.

The second point: Being patient and answering the question fully.

Even if a child came to you and asked “I have a sever headache and you are the doctor what is the treatment?” tell him in simple words and tray to help as best as you can. The previous question is a real example and at that time, the child was screaming in pain, squeezing his head and crying and I didn’t have any type of medication to give. So I showed him that I’m very confident, told him that I don’t have any drug, calmed down him, dimed the light-suspected migraine or tension headache- and stayed near him massaging his head and he stooped crying. Even if it is a child, he stills your patient.

The third point: Being ready!

Be always prepared for these types of questions. Have knowledge about the local health problems such as diabetes, hypertension, hypercholestremia and many others. And learn how to deliverer the information in more than one way for old patients, women and men and how to teach them about taking care of these conditions. Also it is good to know even about the common problems in pediatric so that you can deal with both: the mother and the child – teaching the mother about her child’s condition and teaching the child how to take care for him self.

The fourth point: Being prepared!

If there is a diabetic or hypertensive or chronically ill patient around you, it is better that you know the emergency signs and symptoms and how to interpret and limit them. Learn how to inject the insulin, how to measure the glucose level and how to take the blood pressure.

The last point: BE THERE!

As an undergraduate preclinical student, many will consider you useless and meaningless until you start taking rounds. Well this is not true and people who think like are the useless ones. Even if you are a preclinical student it is never early to learn the things mentioned above. By your knowledge and experience you will be prepared for the day when you considered more useful than them.

The post-last point: this is my first full article in English. How was it??

Pulse,

Our knowledge and ethics are the tickets to the train of success some will take a seat and others will miss the station despite there age.

By Your sister,

Sada

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