As a beginning to the New Year, I made a visit to St John’s Medical College Hospital. This season, every year, the hospital has the tradition of placing a giant crib in front of the main in-patient block.
It brought back to me pleasant memories of my time working there for more than a decade. Working in a university teaching hospital is a unique experience. The daily interaction with students, faculty, academicians, and researchers – and a close sense of community. My family stayed in the residential campus of the hospital, with like-minded colleagues as neighbours, and life revolved around the campus and the hospital, which were walking distance apart.
Very importantly, the numbers, variety and complexity of surgical patients that we encountered were unparalleled. I believe that this exposure helped me as a young surgeon to hone my skills and gain the experience and confidence to handle a range of challenging surgeries.
As the pioneer physician Sr William Osler once said “He who studies medicine without books sails an uncharted sea, but he who studies medicine without patients does not go to sea at all”
Wishing everyone a happy and prosperous new year!
Rosemary Isaac says:
Good article, positive and inspiring. Happy New year Dr Manjunath.