It has been 2 years and 8 months since I lost blogged. Recently many things have been running through my head and I think its time for this blog to once again be a place for me to note down my thoughts.
I've been in medicine posting for almost 4 months now, (6 weeks in sem6 + 1wk exams + 1week holiday + 7 weeks in sem7), postings has been great. Something I wanna talk about is that 'other side' of medicine, the social aspect of it that is often neglected. Dr. George Taye, Geriatrician in MGH once said that the social aspect of medicine is as important as the curative aspect, because it is the part that truly reflects how much we as doctors, or medical students, care for a patient as a whole.
I've regretted not blogging much earlier, there were so much I've experienced that I would have loved to note down.
Just today, I was clerking a patient that presented 3 days ago with history of shortness of breath (SOB) for more than a year. In the last 3 months he claims the SOB progressively worsen until he could not take it anymore, hence the admission.
Cut the long story short, patient is a known case of diabetes mellitus (DM) and hypertension (HTN) for 15 years. He is non-compliant to treatment. He stops taking the meds when he feels ok. Little did he know that it was the daily usage of meds that is keeping him well. He was also non-compliant to a diabetic diet and healthy lifestyle.
Despite trying to finish off the clerking in 1hour, I decided to spend some time convincing him to be compliant to his treatment. I explained to him about the purpose of taking the medications daily, the importance of a diabetic diet and healthy lifestyle, but apparently he knows them all, perhaps even better than myself. Despite all the effort, he insisted to be his own doctor, his son beside said that he is stubborn, many doctors and family members tried to advise him but none succeeded.
My question now is, what would you do? To give up is definitely not an option, but we as medical student, our convincing ability is not as great as a consultant. Persuasion and advising failed by even his close family members.
Thought of the day: What is the point of knowing so much theory about DM and HTN, and newly diagnosed congestive cardiac failure (CCF), but yet not able to treat the patient? Is it our fault for failing to convince him? or do we blame him for not being compliant?
