Tips for new doctors
The PRC board exam is over, and you’ve passed! You’ve finally got your license to practice as a doctor. Congratulations!
The next thing to do is to either go into residency for further training OR to practice as a general practitioner. Whichever of the two paths you decide to take, the one thing you have to learn, is how to deal with your patient (hopefully, you already have some patients at this point).
The doctor is, of course, expected to find out what his patient is suffering from, and, from there, try to correct their health problem to end their suffering. Every doctor should know how to ask the right questions so that the patients may be able to come up with enough pertinent information in order to guide the doctor in trying to find out the problem. History taking is not only a question and answer, there is actually an art to it. Unfortunately, the only way to improve your skill in this art is to actually do it. With enough practice, you can actually get patients to reveal more information which may be helpful in diagnosis.
Another important thing that upcoming doctors have to know is the right way to examine patients. Learn how to examine patients in such a way that preserves the patient’s dignity. For example, when doing a pelvic examination, be sure that curtains are drawn, the patient is covered with a blanket, and if you’re a male doctor, get a female nurse to stay with you inside the examining room. Be as gentle as possible, and try to be as kind and understanding as possible. Some patients may be irritating, but remember that they don’t feel well and this may have affected the way they act.
We all need to brush up on our bedside manners. I realize that sometimes in the busiest of government hospitals, if that’s where you’ve chosen to work or train, we may be too much in a hurry in order to give a little bit more TLC to the patients, but I do believe an additional kind word, softly and gently spoken, works wonders. I’ve had patients who responded better and are more compliant to treatment when I treat them with respect.
Good luck on your new career!