Reminds me of a cartoon song;
Doc is in and she’ll fix you up
If you are a toy, then you’re in luck
It’s okay, don’t be afraid
Doc really knows her stuff…
…Doc will make you feel better…
…it’s the place to go
If you are feeling under the weather…
You may not be able to guess the cartoon. In that cartoon, the doctor was a little girl. She was a doctor for toys and one of the things I really liked and admired about her was her attitude. This doc had a really great attitude, warm, caring, sweet, respectful and still, very efficient. Yes, she knew her stuff. She was a doctor as doctor can be.
I am also reminded of those exercise books we used in Nursery and Primary schools. Those books that had the alphabets and pictures on the back cover page. There was A for Apple with the picture of an apple. If it was a birthday party souvenir, you could find E for Esther with the picture of the birthday celebrant Esther, M for Mango, N for nurse.
I remember the fearful pictures of nurses that were used sometimes. Sometimes, you would find these wicked-looking nurses with syringes raised. They looked ready to prick and puncture, not in a nice way. One might wonder, what kind of picture is this? Are all nurses this wicked?
Surely not, Just a mistake on the part of the graphic designer. Permit me to ask, are these pictures even rightly portraying the attitudes of some medical personnel today? Maybe such pictures fed or fueled phobias people have about hospital personnel.
Call us whichever you like, doctor, medico, medical personnel et cetera. These words refer to people trained to care, cater for patients and bring solutions and smiles to many. I tell you, a doctor with a bad attitude cannot do much with caring for patients.
If you have gone to see a doctor before, you can relate with how relaxed you are when you see that the doctor is nice, warm, ready to listen and relate with you and how you feel. A harsh doctor can be depressing and even make a patient incoherent in stating how he or she feels. The patient would just want to leave the doctor ASAP.
In the end, both sides lose. The patient can’t think clearly enough or
speak to let the doctor know the symptoms he or she is feeling and the doctor
doesn’t have enough information to work with. In fact, the possibility of a
good job done is very low. Communication has been cut off by bad attitude. You, a medico, medical student, student doctor or doctor in training, when you imagine yourself a practicing professional, what do you imagine? Are you so book-intoxicated, you just want to throw people’s faults and problems at them, dash answers at them and shoo them away unceremoniously? You just want to recite your textbooks which you are so good at them?
Being a student doctor is not just about studying volumes and memorizing books. It is also training to care, with the most pleasant of attitudes. It is not just about distinctions all through in all the school courses, it is about learning with love, having a heart for the people, with wisdom and excellence, most importantly by God’s grace and help, finding and giving solutions to them of and for life.
Don’t you want to be the “Doc that knows his/her stuff”? Your presence alone makes a patient feel better. Don’t you want to be the doctor with that smile that lightens up other faces? The doctor everyone wants to see?
There, you may think, no. I don’t want all the patient’s stress. I
don’t want them all running to me, stressing me out, requesting to see me when
they can see other doctors. Let me just put up this not-too-friendly air and
attend to just the necessary patients. NO. Don’t make a patient all the worse than when they first stepped into the hospital. Harsh words hurt and a harsh medical personnel leaves a bad taste in the mouth, worse than sour grapes.
Don’t forget that even in that career, your good attitude will open so much great doors for you.
Make no mistake, bad attitude= bad career.
So, ensure you imbibe a great, warm, cool, calm, lovely, pleasant “doctitude”, and you will be grateful you did. When next you imagine yourself in a white coat, and walking along white walls with your stethoscope, imagine a real pleasant great smile on your face.
Listen, care, love, Sympathise and empathize.
The Bible says rejoice with those who rejoice, mourn with those who mourn.Romans 12 :15.
From now on, a great smile, a warm heart, if need be, a gentle touch.
That you will be a vessel of healing, let GOD bring peace through your hands, your heart, your mind, your presence and your real smile.
Bringing healing, one step at a time.
Golden hearts, peaceful words, gentle hands, gifted to care andblessed to heal.
KELECHI CHIMA
Department of Dental Surgery,
Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH),
Idi-Araba,
Lagos, Nigeria.
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