There are two types of work. The first type is an isolated effort, which works that one time. The other is a creation that will work time and again. I prefer the second type, because it keeps doing good until there is time for a modification or upgrading. We made communication skills videos for Resident Doctors with the second type in mind. Communication skills is an area of medical curriculum that has been introduced in only the last few years, probably because everyone was concerned in teaching known aspects of medicine, developing new aspects, and in general making progress. Still the concept of faith healing has also been known from ancient times. Patients of some doctors get better faster than of some other doctors, even if they prescribe the same medicines. This is related to better communication with patients. Doctors who inspire hope and confidence in their patients achieve better results because they communicate with their patients better. Doctors who speak well with their patients have more prosperous practice as compared to equally or even more knowledgeable doctors, only because they talk to their patients better. The modern times have a change in one scenario as compared to old times. The doctor is no more in God position. The patients and their relatives do not trust the doctors blindly. They have suspicion that the medical practice of modern times is commercial rather than of dedication to healing others. They often question the actions of doctors, when the result of therapy is not as expected. The modern doctor, who does not the time and patience to communicate with the patients well has distanced himself from the patients. But his curt statement, sometimes rude behavior, and an attitude that he is always right and no one can touch him is resented by dissatisfied patients. This is the root cause of assaults on doctors, and police complaints, malpractice suits, complaints in medical councils and human rights commissions against doctors. A doctor often does not remember that the patient has gone to him because he is ailing and needs relief. He forgets that the patient needs as much emotional support as medical treatment. He forgets that the patient is a human being with emotions, feelings, self respect, and pride. He forgets that that he has to communicate with the patient the same way or even better than he communicates with those near and dear to him. When the patient realizes that he is helpless against the superior position of the doctor by virtue of his medical knowledge and expertise, he finds ways that are available to him, like physical violence, peer pressure, political pressure, administrative pressure and legal recourse. A vast majority of these events are totally avoidable by just communicating well with the patient.
In a busy public hospital, the resident doctors are overworked because there are too many patients, of whom many require critical care. The doctors get little time to eat, drink and sleep. There are pressures from patients for satisfactory results, from seniors for meticulous working, from personal point of view to complete studies with good grades. The happiness of working sometimes gets lost somewhere down the line, and the doctors become irritable, curt, rude, and distant. Their communication with even colleagues from other departments often leaves much to be desired when an event occurs that implies more work for the tired doctors. Such things happen when patients are transferred to their institutes from other hospitals. They also occur when the patient suffers from an illness that they feel should be treated by doctors from other specialties. They do not realize that their poor communication is hurtful to the patient whom they are striving to heal. They do not realize that they are hurting themselves, not only by what the patients can do to them when dissatisfied, but by their own altered emotionality. They do not realize that they are anyway required to accept the patients they would rather not treat, and it is done far better by avoiding angry outbursts and resentments. The work would get over faster if they did not spend time on arguments. It would be a much more pleasant experience for everyone if they were nice, polite and respectful.
This set of videos was made after years of experience of poor communications between doctors and others, after seeing a lot of unhappy patients, dissatisfied colleagues, and furious politicians and administrators. They were made after a few doctors were assaulted by relatives of dissatisfied patients. I had been toying with this idea for a long time. When I voiced it to a couple of resident doctors, they loved it. They called like minded other resident doctors and some faculty. Their enthusiasm was catching. The planning of the videos was not difficult - we saw miscommunication every day. But they were innovative. They designed costumes out of locally available things, like a lawyer's collar and a nurse's cap out of paper and micropore tape. They achieved traditional appearance of clothes out of a few turns of a dupatta over the head and around the shoulders. They acted no less superbly than some of the professionals on the silver screen. They dubbed the movies not in a studio, but a regular office, the only precautions taken being closing the windows, switching the phones off, and disconnecting the intercom. We directed one another. We praised one another and criticized healthily. I manned the camera for two reasons - the first was that it was mine and the other was that I had had a lot more experience shooting operative videos. Making movies was challenging, which made it all the more enjoyable. I remember the struggle in synchronization of audio with lip movements. I remember the struggle at enhancing the audio volume. The experiments done to achieve the end result taught us so much that we would not have learned by doing a course in some academy. The spirit of working together on the project made us forget the difference in our ages as faculty and resident doctors. It made us equal which we would never have thought possible. These videos gave us happiness because we had created something that we believed was good and would be useful for training of generations of new doctors who joined our premier institute.
We had a premier, attended by faculty and resident doctors. It was enjoyed by all. We held our first session for the new batch of resident doctors this week. It was liked by every one. I hope they communicate well with every one, at least for the duration of their tenure in our department. I hope they communicate well with every one all their lives, for their own sake.
In a busy public hospital, the resident doctors are overworked because there are too many patients, of whom many require critical care. The doctors get little time to eat, drink and sleep. There are pressures from patients for satisfactory results, from seniors for meticulous working, from personal point of view to complete studies with good grades. The happiness of working sometimes gets lost somewhere down the line, and the doctors become irritable, curt, rude, and distant. Their communication with even colleagues from other departments often leaves much to be desired when an event occurs that implies more work for the tired doctors. Such things happen when patients are transferred to their institutes from other hospitals. They also occur when the patient suffers from an illness that they feel should be treated by doctors from other specialties. They do not realize that their poor communication is hurtful to the patient whom they are striving to heal. They do not realize that they are hurting themselves, not only by what the patients can do to them when dissatisfied, but by their own altered emotionality. They do not realize that they are anyway required to accept the patients they would rather not treat, and it is done far better by avoiding angry outbursts and resentments. The work would get over faster if they did not spend time on arguments. It would be a much more pleasant experience for everyone if they were nice, polite and respectful.
This set of videos was made after years of experience of poor communications between doctors and others, after seeing a lot of unhappy patients, dissatisfied colleagues, and furious politicians and administrators. They were made after a few doctors were assaulted by relatives of dissatisfied patients. I had been toying with this idea for a long time. When I voiced it to a couple of resident doctors, they loved it. They called like minded other resident doctors and some faculty. Their enthusiasm was catching. The planning of the videos was not difficult - we saw miscommunication every day. But they were innovative. They designed costumes out of locally available things, like a lawyer's collar and a nurse's cap out of paper and micropore tape. They achieved traditional appearance of clothes out of a few turns of a dupatta over the head and around the shoulders. They acted no less superbly than some of the professionals on the silver screen. They dubbed the movies not in a studio, but a regular office, the only precautions taken being closing the windows, switching the phones off, and disconnecting the intercom. We directed one another. We praised one another and criticized healthily. I manned the camera for two reasons - the first was that it was mine and the other was that I had had a lot more experience shooting operative videos. Making movies was challenging, which made it all the more enjoyable. I remember the struggle in synchronization of audio with lip movements. I remember the struggle at enhancing the audio volume. The experiments done to achieve the end result taught us so much that we would not have learned by doing a course in some academy. The spirit of working together on the project made us forget the difference in our ages as faculty and resident doctors. It made us equal which we would never have thought possible. These videos gave us happiness because we had created something that we believed was good and would be useful for training of generations of new doctors who joined our premier institute.
We had a premier, attended by faculty and resident doctors. It was enjoyed by all. We held our first session for the new batch of resident doctors this week. It was liked by every one. I hope they communicate well with every one, at least for the duration of their tenure in our department. I hope they communicate well with every one all their lives, for their own sake.
