It’s hilariously difficult to even get an IV line inserted. “Jesus, are you going to pin prick me to death?“
Or get a good symptomatic history. ” I had my stomach pains and vomiting since 10:30 but I could handle it till 1:00am so you can bring me to ER” She was dehydrated by then.
They have their own diagnosis. ” I only ate small amounts of pancit…maybe its my UTI!” Maybe. But her blood sugar is also 290. With some signs of dehydration..
And their treatment : “ I’ll just lessen what I eat so as not to perk up my sugar“
And discharge plans: “I’ll go home tomorrow, where are you?“
They also can be your chief of clinics :”When are you going to see me? Who is my doctor, what time will he be here??“..
Ugh, well. I just resigned my job and endorsed my patient! I’d rather just be, “the Son”. Good luck doctor!
In all my years of practice as a physician and orthopedic surgeon, it dawned on me that I get the ultimate satisfaction from patients’ “‘smiles” at the end of their treatment program. There’s no doubt also that I get extreme satisfaction from technical masterpieces of orthopedic work that came my way during the course of my practice. But there’s none yet so far, as equally as pleasurable and satisfying as seeing your patients beaming with a smile on the last day of your rehabilitation program.
One time, when I was alighting my car on a parking space near a fast food center, I almost had a misstep after a short, muscular guy shouted, “Doc A!!!!” . The guy is sporting sunglasses, a Lakers bull cap, city shorts and tennis shoes. He was beaming with a smile and was waving his hand frantically while moving towards me. I stopped for a moment standing near the stairs, totally confused at who this stranger is coming towards me. I didn’t recognize him even if I tried so hard to remember his face. When he was an arms length away from me, he extended his right hand for a handshake and is now smiling and laughing at me. “You don’t remember me now doc?!” said this stranger. “I’m Mr. B!, the one of your patients who had this below knee amputation after that bombing incident near our marketplace, remember?” I looked down his lower extremities, I barely recognized his prosthetic leg despite the city shorts he’s wearing! “You’re Mr. B?!” I blurted surprisingly. “But you look and walk so “normal”! “Thanks to you doc. If it weren’t for your help, I’m probably be some useless person, begging my ass in the streets by now”. For a moment, I felt like a big man beaming with pride. I smiled back and offered a tight handshake and a hug.I was so damn happy he was smiling and was walking like a normal person again!
I treated Mr. B in the hospital for more than a month, trying to save a mangled lower extremity brought by an exploding improvised explosive device( IED). Undergoing several operations, I was hoping I could save a few inches more of an amputation stump, so it wont be an above knee amputation. It’s relatively easier to rehabilitate below knee amputees than patients with above knee amputations. But there’s more than to amputations and surgeries for this patient. I was trying to help a person recover from a traumatic experience and help him become functional person again, contributing to his community. I was giving him hope that even with prosthetics, even if without money for prosthetics, he’ll live a normal, life again. That was the challenge.
Together with his family, we inched our way, through rehabilitation and difficult obstacles along the way. Finances were dwindling and prosthetics are almost always costly and difficult to obtain in this part of the world. Rehabilitating patients with prosthetics is even harder. Most patients complain that it is far more eassier for them to just throw of their prosthetic leg and use crutches instead for the rest of their life. But me and Mr. B is pinning our hopes on, hope. We annoyed many agencies with our persistence – foundations, prosthetic centers, rehabilitation centers. When Mr. B finally got into an in house rehabilitation for the differently abled person, I lost contact with him for more than 6 months. He was in another place the last time we talked on the phone.
Then this unexpected meeting happened.
“You mean, you are really Mr. B?” I was asking him again and again out of disbelief. “Opo, doc!” his huge smile is most viral. I can see the very happy, lively and “normal” guy in him now. It was as if nothing happened in the past. This guy, who was at the brink of depression months ago, is one very happy, one very normal person again.
I tell Mr. B’s story to all my patients who are at the brink surrendering to their afflictions. He even serve as a model for my patients that has had amputations. Even such traumatic experience couldn’t erase one of man’s hallmark of ” humanity”- hope.
As for me, I smile with pride and confidence telling this story to all my other patients. I always take pride in my patient’s stories of hope and how’d they’d live through years despite their predicaments. That was always my mantra in this profession. Hope for my patients, smiles in their heart. I’d be one very happy doctor if I can at the very least achieve that…
Lift your head, baby, don’t be scared
Of the things that could go wrong along the way
You’ll get by with a smile
You can’t win at everything but you can try. “With A smile, Eraserheads”
In my last post, I presented a research that summarizes the current internet usage of physicians, in the US, Europe, Australia and South Korea. It was a ” backgrounder” really, in my attempt to determine how many physicians in the Philippines use the internet and social media in their practice.
But this data is really difficult to find or is perhaps not available yet. To give an approximate of how much social media (such as Facebook) has penetrated the Filipino online market, let me show an interesting graphic summary (of facts) about Facebook and its Philippines “market”. This was based on the data compiled by socialbakers.com and graphically summarized by the Yehey digital group. I’ll leave you to draw out your own conclusions.
Philippines and Facebook facts
How many percent of this Philippine market are physicians or patients using FB for their practice or in search of medical information? If you have an idea, leave your comment below and let’s start some discussion!
The emerging social media is undeniably capturing the attention of physicians. If we are to believe the recent Manhattan Research survey, some 81-89% of physicians in US, Europe and Asia access the internet to gather medical and pharmaceutical information. A S and R survey recent survey onSermo TM, an online community of physicians, approximately 77.5% of physicians use social media professionally, especially to communicate with colleagues. In Asia, physicians from South Korea is second only to US physicians in terms of internet usage professionally beating their European counterparts by as much as 7%!
What about physicians in the Philippines? Are they taking advantage of social media as a tool for their professional practice?
In my succeeding posts under the category “social media”, I will be attempting to report on the current usage of social media among physicians in the Philippines. But before that, let me post this JESS3 / The State of The Internet video from Jesse Thomas on Vimeo, which sums up beautifully the current global internet and social media use .
Overwhelming? Indeed it is. But what’s more interesting is the social media usage of physicians in the Philippines. Since some physicians maintain “profiles” on many online social networking sites, it would be interesting to know if they use social media in their practice. If you are a physician or a para medical personnel, do you use social media in your practice? Leave a comment here and we’ll know in my succeeding posts!
Last Monday, on my way to Davao City, I was again a witness to two road accidents involving motorcycles. In one roadside, a lifeless body, lay on the ground after he and his motorcycle drove straight underneath a hauler truck. In another road just several miles away, another motorcycle rammed into another motorcycle head on. Broken glass and blood are splattered all over the road. Both drivers were rushed to a hospital.These gory sights shocked even surgeons like me.
Motorcycles accidents top the list of vehicular accidents in our country today. This is according to the Trauma Registry of the Philippine Orthopedic Association. In my orthopedic practice, approximately 60-75% of cases I’ve handled are related to motorcycle accidents. In government health care institutions, more than half of the ward patients are victims of motorcycle accidents.
A “shredded” motorcycle and its driver.(Photo from this site http://www.vf750fd.com/motorbikes/crashes/accident/motocrash.jpg)
The type of injuries that motorcycle accidents bring are not only complex, but also unique. These injuries pose great challenge to our surgeons and require costly, repeated operations that exhaust both the patients and health care providers. I bet if the health care community do a cost analysis of treating motorcycle injuries and the amount at which government spend to save this patients, we’d be all shocked.
Some observations I have regarding motorcycle accidents:
Drunk driving or driving under the influence of alcohol. Illegal but rarely enforced.
You only need Php 2,000.00 downpayment to get and drive your new motorcycle. The motorcycle industry is a huge market. Motorcycle makers really made acquiring motorcycles easy.
Lukewarm or almost non existent enforcement of motorcycle laws and regulations.
It’s very easy to get drivers license in the Philippines. Some say, in the Philippines, even a blind person can get a driver’s license.
Teenagers sneakingly drive motorcycles and they drive like road kings.
Some schools give parking spaces for students with motorcycles. I mean, do they check if these kids have driver’s license?
Approximately half of motorcycle drivers nowadays have one violation or two in their motorcycle ” papers”. No or expired registration, etc..
In the Philippines, because we are culturally magnanimous, we still shoulder medical expenses of motorcycle accident injuries even if it was the motorcycle driver’s fault.
Motorcycle injuries in my city dropped when there was a rise in motorcycle theft and deaths.
Motorcycle injuries also dropped when the gasoline prices rose sky high.
There I’ve said it. Well, authorities can simply deny all these and more and say we’re all fine. Lack of budget and manpower seem a pretty good excuse I suppose. But the fact still remains, motorcycle related accidents keeps on rising. Just watch your TV channels evening news and you’ll know what I’m talking!
