Medicine is unique!

https://www.tedmed.com/talks/show?id=528918

Great talk by Dr. Pamela Wible!

After a long day of work, a simple question like how are you, how was your day, is there anything I can help you with or a simple gesture like a warm hug, a pat on the shoulder, the touch of the hands is much more comforting and valuable than anything else. A million-dollar cannot buy one the comfort that these small things can.

Medicine is not about writing a note to submit to the insurance company for billing nor is it about saving the notes as a defense against a potential lawsuit. Medicine is not a matter of the bottom line. There is a difference between a factory and a hospital. What works for Mc Donalds and Burger King may not work for Medicine. Perhaps, its time for the insurance companies to realize that Capitation would not necessarily lead to high standards of healthcare. Instead, it can lead to multiple readmissions and closing of the hospitals. Perhaps capitation is decapitating Medicine itself and the treatments have become mere reflex actions based on algorithms instead of involving critical thinking. If the human body was as simple as machines, it would work perfectly. Fortunately, human beings are not machines, they are very complex human beings. Perhaps we need something else. Perhaps its time to bring the human touch back into the world of Medicine.
Doctors are not and should not be treated like assembly line workers for the sake of humanity. There should be some respect for the super amazing human body and its caretakes should be treated differently and somewhat uniquely.

Medicine is a very unique profession. It indeed bares all the nerves in the process of becoming a doctor. We see the full cycle of life: birth and death in a day. There was a time when the word 'death' was so scary to me that I wouldn't even allow my ears to hear it. Now I see it and don't blink.

One of the recent wellness talks revealed that doctors are the strongest personalities when they start but the system and personal or professional struggle beats them down to a level that they find ending their lives as the easiest solution.

Doctors use every single neuron in their brain for critical thinking, they use every single myocyte for running around day and night to make their patients rest comfortably on their beds, they force their eyes open for their patients to get a sound sleep. They miss their meals to make sure that their patients eat well. Doctors work very hard. After all the hard work, they don't deserve a tragedy in the end. They deserve a happy ending.

It is very hard to understand the struggle unless one is in the same profession, that's why it is even more important to share these Talks. To all those who have a spouse, a relative, a friend, a neighbor or even an acquaintance as a doctor, please be very kind to them, especially when they are post-call. Please do not forget to ask them how was their day, maybe give them that warm hug. Who knows they might just have declared someone dead.

Dr. Pamela Wible has done a beautiful job in spreading awareness. I just felt like sharing her work forward. My heart goes out to all those who have lost their lives. They deserved to live and save lives.
-Jaya Sonkar M.D., M.P.H.
9-28-18

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