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View all search resultsmy two cents : Communication and compassion can't be crammed
One has a right to be nostalgic at the end of every path he/she has been taking
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O
ne has a right to be nostalgic at the end of every path he/she has been taking. So here I am, in sight of the "doctor" title and looking back to the past four-and-a-half years.
Some things have become clear at this point, things that will be of no use to me anymore. But it would be probably be useful to those of you considering studying medicine.
When I started, there were so many highly intellectual students from all over the country who had chosen to pursue medicine as a career. This faculty has taught me the truth of the saying "there is still sky above the sky".
Don't be so swelled with pride because you were number one in your senior high school. The person sitting right next to you might be number one in the nation. Really, those exams provided to filter the cr*me de la cr*me of brainy kids do their job.
Unfortunately, merely having a sky-scraping IQ does not supply enough fuel for you to reach your destination.
The undergraduate curriculum in medicine consists of three pre-clinical years (medical textbooks, lectures and discussions are the main learning sources) and two clinical years (plunging into the hospital environment and learning hands-on with patients).
Clinical years are the toughest part by any means. You might be able to memorize every glucose metabolism pathway, but if you can't communicate well and attain an accurate clinical history from a 6-year-old who is put off by your grumpy-lack-of-sleep face then it is your doomsday.
When you think that things just can't get any worse, it will turn out that you must draw blood from the kid while she is screaming and struggling to escape the "doctor-monster" with the needle.
The science part of medicine can be studied but not communication and compassion. So, if you are considering a career in medicine with your head so geared up with whatever it takes to score highly in exams, think about this.
Are you the kind of person who is willing to lend not only your knowledge to sick people; but also your ears for their worries, your hands for wiping their blood, and your heart for a scarce heartfelt smile amid their catastrophe?
Maria F. Deslivia
Fifth-year medical student at
University of Indonesia
