Dr. Dev (fictional name) was posted in the Department of Cardio-Thoracic-Vascular Surgery (CTVS) of AIIMS, New Delhi, during his rotation posting while doing his junior residency in the MS Surgery course. This posting occurred after his Neurosurgery rotation posting. Both the departments were in the same building, CNS Center, but on different sides of the building.
A patient was to undergo an operation for Tracheostomy/Tracheotomy in the CTVS department.
In the Covid-19 era now everyone knows about the tracheal tube
inserted from the mouth if a patient is not able to breathe on his own and
artificial respiration given by ventilators. If a patient requires a tracheal
tube and ventilator support for a long time, then the surgeon makes a direct
hole (incision) in the front part of the neck, exposes the trachea (windpipe),
and inserts a tube directly in the trachea through it known as tracheostomy or tracheotomy.
In the CTVS department, the assistant professors used to do the operation of tracheostomy with the Mch Senior residents assisting them. The Mch senior residents were doctors who had completed their MS General Surgery degree course and now have further enrolled in the super-specialist course to become Cardiac surgeons after clearing a tough entrance exam.
Dr. Dev was on evening duty in the CTVS ward that day. The Mch senior resident on duty informed Dr. Dev to report to the CTVS emergency operation theatre to assist the assistant professor in the operation of tracheostomy.
As those of who had read the previous blog post, https://agnipathdoctors.blogspot.com/2021/08/the-first-tracheostomy.html
Dr. Dev had done many tracheostomies independently without any assistance during his neurosurgery posting, yet he was excited to observe firsthand how a faculty member perform the operation so that he can learn some fine points of the operation.
When Dr. Dev reported to the operation theatre, the assistant professor got angry on seeing that a junior resident had been sent to assist him. He angrily phoned and asked the Mch senior resident why had this under-qualified junior resident has been sent to assist me instead of an Mch senior resident. He made his displeasure clear to Dr. Dev who was shocked by his behavior. During the operation, he found fault in Dr. Dev’s assistance multiple times and reprimanded him for it.
Dr. Dev felt angry and sad at the same time. At one point he even felt like saying to the assistant professor, ‘Sir, you stand aside and watch me perform this operation without any assistance better than you’ but kept quiet out of respect for the faculty member.
He pondered on the irony. In the same CNS building, in the Neurosurgery department, Dr. Dev was performing the operation of tracheostomy independently without any supervision, and in the other end of the building in the CTVS department, he was considered not even fit to assist in the same operation.
In the same institution/company/corporation different departments and divisions may have a different policy regarding who is qualified to do some work. We have to mold ourselves and accept accordingly.
Sometimes you may be caught in the crossfire of inter or intra-departmental politics. At that time things were not so cordial between that Assistant Professor and the Head of the Department of CTVS as he was demanding an independent operation theater slot. It is probably because of this a junior resident was sent to assist him instead of a senior resident. Some of the anger of the assistant professor was due to this and not personally directed at Dr. Dev. Well, this is life.
People may form a judgement on your qualities and capability based on your post or background without trying to bother to find out your competence. In this case, the Assistant Professor got angry on learning Dr. Dev’s post as a Junior resident instead of finding out his previous experience. Accept it and take it as a challenge to prove yourself.
Read about the experience of
an Mch GI Surgery aspirant when he was judged more on from where he had done his
Master of Surgery (MS) degree course rather than his personal ability. https://agnipathdoctors.blogspot.com/2019/02/the-gi-surgery-viva.html
Read about the experience of
a faculty member from AIIMS, Delhi, in the UK who was judged more on which country (India)
he was from rather than his professional competence. https://agnipathdoctors.blogspot.com/2018/07/the-beginner-eye-surgeon.html
— ND
(Based on allegedly true incident.)
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DISCLAIMER: This article is intended only for fun purposes. The author does not promote or recommend any behavior illustrated here or claim it to be useful. Use the information herein is at your one's own risk. Before trying to emulate or follow anything the reader is well advised to take into account ethical, moral, legal, and other considerations. The author recommends that Medical Practice should be of the highest ethical and moral level keeping in mind the interest of the patient as foremost.
DISCLAIMER: This article is intended only for fun purposes. The author does not promote or recommend any behavior illustrated here or claim it to be useful. Use the information herein is at your one's own risk. Before trying to emulate or follow anything the reader is well advised to take into account ethical, moral, legal, and other considerations. The author recommends that Medical Education should be of the highest ethical and moral level keeping in mind the interest of the patient as foremost and according to MCI and other Board norms.
