Moving back to Sri Lanka, I had very little knowledge about how the medical system works here. Still to this day I\u2019m not sure most Sri Lankan doctors understand how the system works here. There is no magical diagram to move up the ranks or exit at a particular level. So starting my internship I was more than a little puzzled.<\/p>\n
How do you interact with fellow healthcare workers? How do you treat unruly patients? Should you teach medical students? How much of work are you actually supposed to do as a junior doctor? How on earth do you find a patient\u2019s medical records amongst that huge pile of paper?\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n So many questions, not many answers. I mean I\u2019ve obviously done the work experience stints at some hospitals in Sri Lanka, but yet never truly got integrated into the local system. During internship, I truly learnt a lot \u2013 not just medically, but how different the work environment is in Sri Lanka. Fellow interns can be challenging, nurses can be extra challenging and don\u2019t even get me started on the patients. Here\u2019s my top 5 lessons learnt whilst on internship and I\u2019m sharing them because maybe it would come in useful for future interns.<\/p>\n 1. Don\u2019t give out your phone number to patients<\/strong><\/p>\n When you work in a small town, everybody knows everybody. If you give your phone number to one patient then every time someone they know comes to hospital you will get a phone call. This anyway should be a no brainer no matter how sorry you feel for the patient. When you need to check up on patients that are transferred, e.t.c, always contact them through the hospital phone system because that way they cannot have direct access to you. One of my colleagues learnt this the hard way when a patient kept hounding him to check on other patients which obviously compromises patient confidentiality and keeps interrupting with work.\u00a0Save yourself the hassle and keep your number to yourself!<\/p>\n 2. Don\u2019t discharge patients just because they beg \u2013 if you have a gut feeling to keep them, keep them.<\/strong><\/p>\n This is something I constantly face when doing my rounds in the postnatal ward. Mothers are often frustrated with staying in hospital with their new babies and are eager to get back home. This is obviously completely normal and to be expected, but you really cannot discharge a mother at the risk of harm occurring to the baby \u2013 e.g. if she has reduced breast milk putting the child at risk of dehydration and weight loss. I\u2019ve had mothers who have begged me to be discharged and it is a very difficult\/uncomfortable situation to be in. Remember to always listen to your gut though \u2013 if there is even the mildest risk to the patient or in my case the baby, don\u2019t discharge the patient. As a doctor, always remember that you should never put the patient at risk. Adult patients can obviously leave against medical advice (LAMA) unless intoxicated or there is a risk of head injury. Babies however we generally don\u2019t let the parents take them LAMA.<\/p>\n 3. Find your voice and hold your ground \u2013 you don\u2019t need to take sh** from anyone.<\/strong><\/p>\n As a new doctor, you will be at the bottom of the food chain possibly just above a medical student. So nurses may not listen to you, you will get scolded from your seniors and your consultants may not pay any attention to you. I have had nurses who have blatantly gone against my requests and those that made fun of my sinhalese speaking skills. I didn\u2019t care and would still be nice, but not be taken advantage of. If they started going on with their own management I would simple write it down in the BHT \u2013 something that all healthcare workers are scared of. Remember to hold your ground. Find your voice. That doesn\u2019t mean to be cocky and overpower everyone else\u2019s opinion. But definitely be decisive, more often than not you will be the only doctor around. Gain everyone\u2019s respect by being a competent, responsible and kind doctor. Don\u2019t be a pushover, make a sensible decision and hold your ground.<\/p>\n 4. Know your lane and stay in it \u2013 even if you think you\u2019re being helpful.<\/strong><\/p>\n As a medical student all you ever want to do is fit in the ward. You will go above and beyond to be helpful; helping nurses, minor staff, basically anyone and everyone. Whilst this is definitely how it should be as a medical student, the tables turn once you are a doctor. Some nurses have a lot of pride and don\u2019t want to ask for any help so they would rather struggle a million times than ask for help. Remember to let them be. If they want help they would ask. It\u2019s a simple request \u2013 stick to it.<\/p>\n 5. Keep your head down, don\u2019t feel the need to over share.<\/strong><\/p>\n This is probably the best advice I ever received and I got it from one of my lecturers. Not everybody comes from the same background and not everyone is going to understand your story. Keep it professional as much as possible! Of course build friendships, but don\u2019t feel the need to over share with your work colleagues until you are 100% sure that you have built a solid friendship. Even though I am lucky to have never had to go through it, jealousy and sabotage do occur in the real world and in almost any workplace. So keep your head down and do your work!<\/p>\n These are 5 lessons I learnt during my internship and will probably carry with me throughout the rest of my career. As your career in medicine evolves, you will learn more than just medicine. Dealing with colleagues and patients takes a lot of skill, a skill that will be mastered with experience. First things first though, get through your internship! Everyone learns different lessons so let me know of any other lessons you\u2019ve learnt along the way!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Moving back to Sri Lanka, I had very little knowledge […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":894,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[5],"tags":[24,20,60,75,104,23,61,62,21,127,22],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scribblingsofamedic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/968"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scribblingsofamedic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scribblingsofamedic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scribblingsofamedic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scribblingsofamedic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=968"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/scribblingsofamedic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/968\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":969,"href":"https:\/\/scribblingsofamedic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/968\/revisions\/969"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scribblingsofamedic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/894"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scribblingsofamedic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scribblingsofamedic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scribblingsofamedic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}