What drives you?

M4 has started for a few months now. Currently in O&G which really makes me (or the guys for that matter) feel like a fish out of water. Somehow, I began to dislike this posting - the content, the interaction.... I don't know, it just feels like I'm dragging myself through each day hoping that the weekend would come soon enough. I totally could not find any passion in this area of Medicine. This posting was more of a necessity than actually a learning experience to me.

Incidentally, this HK drama started showing - a medical show "on call 36 hours". Yes, a drama will always be a drama. Scenarios are painted out with the aim of evoking emotions from the audience - some pretty far fetched. But on retrospect, these issues (though spiced up) are actually really real in our daily ward lives... Take for instance this doctor (in the show) who didn't take his work seriously. He just wanted to have fun and was always having problems with this particular patient. But the relationship improved overtime and he realised that he himself could make such a huge impact on the patient who promised to stop smoking if he stopped drinking soda. Unthinkable really but applied to our lives now.... patients have so much trust in doctors, they see them as people who will save their lives, change them for the better and ultimately, return them into the community in the healthy state they once were in... It is things like these which really bring out the rewards in being part of the healthcare profession.

One day over lunch, a casual question was brought up: has there been any patient now (O&G) that has inspired you? I can't remember my answer but I know for sure that yes, there were. In fact, more so here than in other postings. I've met so many patients, highly optimistic about life (maybe not so much their condition) regardless of how dismal it may have been. I can confidently say that the most inspiring patients I have met were over here in this posting.

Perhaps what makes this profession enjoyable and rewarding is really the people you meet, more so than what you can actually offer them - which can be very limited. In fact, what they offer you can sometimes be much more than you could imagine - their outlook of life, how they deal with challenges and the courage that they bring with them. It simply inspires us and gives us that nudge to keep us going.