The Stairs Case

Dr. Dev (Fictional Name) in his school days had read climbing stairs was a very good exercise. So he started taking and stars and avoiding taking the elevator (lift) whenever possible.

When he came to AIIMS, New Delhi as MBBS student it was a golden place to practice the stair climbing. The Pre-Clinical block was three floors high, the Clinical and Para-Clinical block and the OPD block was five floors high and the ward blocks were eight floors high. Also, the connecting passage between these different block was open on the different floor. For example, to go from the fourth-floor Clinical block to the 4th-floor Urology ward, you have to first go to the fifth floor, cross from there to the ward block and then go down back to the fourth floor.

When Dr. Dev, as an MBBS student used to go to the wards postings or classes along with his batch mates, he used to part way with the group near the lift (elevator), take the stairs and meet them once again at the destination floor.

Dev naturally thought that his classmates will appreciate his fitness attempt by taking the stairs, but he was sadly mistaken.

Once he parted way with his classmates near the lift (elevator) to take the stairs, one of his classmates said with a pitiful look on her face, “Dev, have you consulted any psychiatrist for your fear of traveling in the lift?”

It appears that due to his insistence of always taking the stairs and never the elevator, few of Dev’s batchmate have thought that Dr. Dev was suffering from a psychiatric phobia and was morbidly afraid of taking the lift and therefore he used to take the stairs instead of the elevator.

If over behavior is different from others, even if it is for a good reason, people may form a wrong impression of us, if they do not know the underlying reason.

PS: This stair climbing continued till the early part of 3^rd of junior residency in surgery in AIIMS, New Delhi, even though the surgery ward was on the 7^th floor and the Operation Theatre was on the 8^th floor. By mid 3^rd year Dr. Dev got lazy and started using the elevator (lift) and by end of the residency almost became dependent on the elevator.

PS: To get an idea of the stair climbing speed of Dr. Dev at mid residency period read: https://agnipathdoctors.blogspot.com/2018/05/the-surgical-radiological-conference.html

(Based on true incident)

— ND
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DISCLAIMER: This article is intended only for fun purpose. The author does not promote or recommend any behavior illustrated here or claim it to be useful. Use of the information herein is at you 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 purpose. The author does not promote or recommend any behavior illustrated here or claim it to be useful. Use of the information herein is at you 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’s norm. 

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The Surgical-Radiological Conference

 Dr. Dev (Fictional Name) was Junior Resident in the Department of Surgery, AIIMS, New Delhi. One of the duties of Dr. Dev was to present cases at the weekly Surgical-Radiological conference (meeting).

For Non-Medicos: In the Surgical-Radiological conference, one particular surgical unit meet with the radiological faculty members and residents. The surgery resident presents the clinical data of few selected patients such history of the present illness, clinical examination findings and reports of other blood investigations. Then the radiological investigations are discussed such as plain x-rays, ultrasonography and CT and MRI scans films. The radiology department faculty then examines the films and clears any doubts of the surgeons.

Once it happened that the Surgico-Radiological conference was on the day following Dr. Dev’s Unit’s OPD and Emergency Admission day. The workload was particularly heavy with an emergency operation ending at 3.00 am in the morning. And as it happens, the number of patients whose x-rays, CT, etc. were to be discussed was also more than the usual average with many patients getting admitted late in the evening.

After grabbing only 1½ hour sleep, Dr. Dev worked fervently to complete the notes of the patient’s detail, collect and label the x-rays, etc. with the patient’s name and bed number and arrange them in proper order.

Working continuously Dr. Dev managed to complete his work by 8.00 am and reached the conference room in the radiology department at 8.05 am.

Professor (Dr.) Tarun Kumar Chaturji (Fictional Name), the Surgery Unit Head with the Radiology Professor was already waiting in the room as the meeting was supposed to start at 8.00 am.

Dr. Dev started presenting the cases. As was expected, mentally and physically exhausted, hungry (no breakfast), sleep deprived, Dr. Dev, made some mistake during his presentation. Promptly Dr. Chaturji gave Dr. Dev a verbal blasting. Used to such things, Dr. Dev continued presenting the cases. Again Dr. Dev made some minor mistake to which Dr. Chaturji responded even more aggressively than before. Dr. Dev got suspicious that Dr. Chaturji is being more strict than usual and tried to think what may have put in such a foul mood.

When Dr. Dev made his third mistake Dr. Tarun Kumar Chaturji himself confirmed the reason; “Look at this donkey. Making such silly mistakes and he had not even bothered to shave before coming to the hospital.”

Enlightenment dawned on Dr. Dev. Professor Tarun Kumar Chaturji was a staunch believer in that a smart doctor is a smart appearing doctor. According to him, a clean shave is must for a smart looking doctor. In his rush to complete the presentations, Dr. Dev had neglected to shave and came few minutes late to the meeting after the faculty members had already arrived. These two things had angered Dr. Tarun Kumar Chaturji and Dr. Dev’s even minor mistakes appeared to Dr. Chaturji as major infractions.

The surgical-radiological conference was finally over. Dr. Dev, Professor (Dr.) Tarun Kumar Chaturji and other faculty members and residents started moving towards the ward. When they reached the stairs near the junction of the AB and CD ward block, Dr. Dev gave the surgical-radiological conference register, the x-rays, etc. to his junior and rushed to the ward, situated at 7^th floor, by stairs.

Dr. Tarun Kumar Chaturji along with other members of the unit continued till they reached the private ward elevators (lift). This was time before the fast elevators were installed near the private ward for the use of the staff at AIIMS, New Delhi. They took the old elevator and reached the 7^th floor where the surgical ward was situated.

When Dr. Tarun Kumar Chaturji started the ward round he found Dr. Dev already waiting for him in the ward. Dr. Chaturji stared hard at Dr. Dev’s face. Dr. Chaturji started listening to the daily clinical notes of the admitted patient’s status at each of the bed one by one. But all the time he was staring at Dr. Dev’s face. Finally, by the 7^th patient he could not hold back and asked Dr. Dev in amazement, “You were unshaved in the radiological meeting in the morning, but how come you are having a shaved face now?”

To avoid what happened in the surgical-radiological conference, while Dr. Tarun Kumar Chaturji slowly walked to the elevators, which being morning rush hour stopped at each floor to slowly reach the 7^th floor, Dr. Dev had rushed to the 7^th floor by stairs. On reaching the duty room, he took his shaving kit from his locker and hurriedly shaved before the ward round started. Yes, Dr. Dev had completed shaving faster than Dr. Tarun Kumar Chaturji made his way from the conference to the ward. Needless to say, Professor Tarun Kumar Chaturji was now in a much milder mood during the ward round as compared the radiological meeting.

Most people keep on working until the last minute of the allotted time while preparing some presentation, reports, case-study, project, etc. It is better to stop working early and use the last few minutes to polish the appearances, whether personal or of the work.

Tip: It is better to present an incomplete but polished work than present a complete but unpolished work. Polish here means activities such as arranging the presentation material in proper order, checking for any spelling mistakes and uniformity of fonts and style.

Tip: People are more likely to overlook mistakes by polished presenter than one who is unkempt in appearance. Polishing your appearance means wearing a neat well-ironed dress, a clean-shaved face, well-groomed appearance.

Tip: And always reach the venue before time.

In Dr. Dev’s case, he should have stopped working at around 7.40 am, and used the time to arrange the patient’s files in proper order, should have shaved and changed his shirt and left the ward by at least 7.55 am to arrive at the venue at or before 8.00 am.

(Based on true incident)

— ND
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DISCLAIMER: This article is intended only for fun purpose. The author does not promote or recommend any behaviour illustrated here or claim it to be useful. Use of the information herein is at you 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 purpose. The author does not promote or recommend any behaviour illustrated here or claim it to be useful. Use of the information herein is at you 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’s norm. 

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The Elevator Sign

My friend, Dr. Dev (fictional name) told me about his experience while waiting for elevators (lifts) at AIIMS, New Delhi. 

During his MBBS and junior residency he noted even when the elevators were less in number and the waiting crowd was large, the general public used to give way to doctors and medical students (wearing white coats and carrying stethoscope around their neck) and allow them to board the elevators even out of turn. 

During his senior residency he noted the numbers of functioning elevators have increased, the waiting period has decreased, but the general public has started resenting if a doctor breaks the queue and try to board a lift out of turn. They expect the doctor to stand in queue as everyone else and wait his turn.

Now, few months ago, he went as patient’s attendant and observed the crowd around the elevators. A young doctor, wearing his badge of identification of white coat and steth, came and stood in queue near the elevator and patiently waited for his turn, along with the general public, to get in the elevator (lift).

When the elevator came, the crowd pushed the doctor to one side, rushed inside the elevator, leaving the doctor standing near the gate to wait for the next elevator.

This ‘Elevator Sign’ shows the loss of feeling of awe towards the doctors over the time by the general public. 

A similar phenomenon is that earlier, people used to automatically give way to doctors walking in the hospital corridors and maintain a respectful distance. Now, the public resents if a hurrying doctors excuses and try to pass them in the corridors. They are also more likely to push the doctor to side if he is walking or standing in their way.

What can be the reason for this?

One of the reason people say that doctors are greedy and charge too much. But the ‘Elevator Sign’ is happening in AIIMS, New Delhi, which has negligible charges and doctors are not indulging in private practice.

Another reason people say that doctors are not competent and well read. Again, the doctors in AIIMS are most competent and knowledgeable doctors comparable to any international standard.

Another reason people say that are doctors are negligent and do not take proper care of their patients. But again, the AIIMS doctors are very conscientious in their duties, with excellent preoperative and postoperative care. There is availability of junior and senior residents round the clock in wards, with on-call senior faculty.

So the loss of respect and awe towards the medical community is just not due to perceived greed, incompetence or lackadaisical attitude of the doctors but is due to something else.

What is that something else is question for deep contemplation for each of us, whether doctor or layman.

(Based on true incident)
— NKD


© Author. All rights reserved. 

DISCLAIMER: This article is intended only for fun purpose. The author does not promote or recommend any behavior illustrated here or claim it to be useful. Use of the information herein is at you 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. 

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