Day 124: Doctor

From the Latin word docere which means to teach.

One of the greatest joys as a physician, for me, comes from being able to impart medical knowledge to others. Whether it's in the setting of a lecture hall, rounds, on a radio station, or in the patient exam room, I have always made a point to seize every opportunity to mentor and teach others. Maybe it comes from years of seeing too many physicians and not enough physician-teachers. Today, providers, such as myself, work in an environment that does not afford us the time, or resources, to mentor and teach up-and-coming health care professionals. We often find ourselves wishing that our fledgling young interns or medical assistants would just "get it" in hopes that the work simply gets done faster, and when things don't go as planned we chalk it up to "inefficiency" when the true problem lies in our own inability to simply take the time to teach, or to be a doctor.

A bear hug for the teacher, I would have preferred an apple

I guess that's why I have really enjoyed my time out here. In exchange for long white coats, clinic days, and call nights, I get to devote my time to mentoring and teaching. No charts, no paperwork, no lab results, no telephone messages...just the opportunity to teach medicine to a group of people who are willing to learn. I get to be, in every sense of the word, a doctor!

Most of my teaching opportunities for the past month have come from daily patient rounds and other various brief teaching moments. Today, we had our first lecture in our new training classroom. This is a big deal because for the longest time, the Afghan medics have been very disinterested in any kind of training.

My team of medics going over a trauma scenario with me

Since I was able to observe the medics in a real-life trauma scenario several weeks ago, I decided to review the basic concepts of triage, and how to manage a multi-trauma situation since I did notice some things that needed to be worked on. I'm no trauma surgeon, but out here in Afghanistan...I'm all they've got:)

Medic Ayub doing a great job training his fellow medics

The class went very well and they were very engaged. Also, one of my medics even took it upon himself to take part in the teaching which is part of my master plan. Hopefully, they will begin to see the value of teaching each other...then the mission will be complete.

"Give instruction to a wise man and he will be still wiser, teach a righteous man and he will increase his learning."
Proverbs 9:9 NASB