Learning Good Lessons from the Bad News

It's the 3rd week of being a 4th Year medical student. And I am currently at the mid point of my Respiratory Medicine block before moving on to the next block.

One of the activities that I did in this block was to attend my consultant's clinic sessions. I had attended two of those sessions so far. These sessions were however different from the other clinic sessions which I had gone for over the past 3 years. They were unique as i have never seen so many patients crying after attending the clinic. They cried as they had got bad news from my consultant who runs the Lung Cancer Clinic on Mondays. They were, unfortunately, diagnosed as suffering from lung cancer. Most of them were at the end-stage of their cancer as lung cancer tends to be detected clinically only at the late stage. In other words, most of those patients suffered from a disease which could not be cured.

I had participated in several seminars on breaking bad news to the patients in Year 3 but I have not encountered any real cases in the clinical setting. This placement gave me the opportunities to observe how the doctor informed the patients about the diagnosis of their cancers which could be a very challenging task even to an experienced doctor. Normally, my consultant would get a nurse to come in while he told the patient about the bad news. Most of the patients, and even their partner, would cry immediately after knowing the result. Some of them would be calm after a while but some of them would be in denial state and even refused to receive any treatments. I would not be surprised as it's normal for anyone to break down when they know they have got an end-stage cancer.

There were some instance which I really had some tears in my eyes. It is such a difficult task to tell your patients that they only have months to live while remain calm. However, i think this is an essential skill to learn as a medical student so I can handle such situation after I am qualified.

Hopefully I will not have to break too many bad news to my patients next time but when I really need to do so, I hope I can manage it well.

A quote from a medical student

I came across with an article written by an american medical student who reflected on his decision to study medicine and whether it was a right choice for him. It was a good article and i would like to quote a small yet meaningful part from it:

"... I think I have found a source of inspiration and motivation. It's not about the prestige; I don't think all the training is worth what prestige is left in the profession. It's not about the money; there are easier and shorter paths to earning a decent living. It’s not about being your own boss; the current medical system has made that terribly difficult. It's all about the patients."

My Year 3 SSC project

I am now doing my SSC (student-selected component) project which will last until the last day of my Year 3 calender. The main topic of my project is " Urological problems in patients with spinal cord injuries", or in a simpler term, urinary system problems in patients who injured their spinal cord. I will be working under the supervision of a consultant urologist at my university teaching hospital for 9 weeks.

It's now the 2nd week of the project. I had attended some operations in the day surgery unit as well as clinic sessions. Majority of patients with urological problems due to spinal cord injuries are incontinent (passing urine unintentionally) and more prone to urinary tract infection. Therefore, the main care provided by the urologist for the patients with spinal cord injuries is to preserve the function of the urinary system and to improve patient's quality of life.

My supervisor has yet to decide a specific topic for me to research on but so far the clinical experience that I gained from the operations and clinic sessions are very useful. The doctors whom I spent my time with were very keen to teach me about the basic knowledge and clinical skills in urology. I am indeed very lucky to be allocated to this project because not only the topic (a combination of urology and neurology) is interesting but the teaching staffs are very willing to deliver quality teaching.

Hopefully i can perform my best in this project in the remaining weeks and to gain deeper insight into the specialty of neuro-urology.

Why I chose to read medicine?

First, I have an interest in reading medicine. And I still love it now.

Second, I wanna help the patients in terms of disease prevention, medical condition monitoring and symptomatic relief.

Third, I want to be a good doctor due to the 1st and 2nd reasons.

The introduction

Hi! My name is Wei Kang. I am currently a third year medical student in Cardiff University, UK. While I am at the mid point of my 5-year undergrad training, I feel that it might be a good idea to blog about my life and experience as a medical student. This blog will serve as my diary, and hopefully, as a platform which I can interact with the visitors to this blog to exchange views and share opinions on medical and non-medical issues.

I started blogging since a couple of years ago so this is not the first time I call myself a blogger. I am, however, still trying to improve my writing skills so hopefully i will be able to produce some good articles through blogging about my life.

Enjoy reading! =)