Beyond Conventional Internship lessons

To all those highly learned persons who are reading this article, let me allow to briefly introduce you to the convention that a MBBS graduate has to follow after passing the deadly final year in our country and that is none other than one year of compulsory rotatory internship . Internship is basically focused on enhancing and improving the clinical skills of a medical graduate . Here I am not interested to discuss what clinical skills I have learnt throughout the internship (That would be too boring) but rather elated to discuss some more skills of utmost importance and some life long non clinical lessons what I have learnt throughout the internship.

So during my first night duty in the medicine department amidst the peak of 2nd wave in may 2021, all of sudden around 2 am oxygen saturation of a patient began to fall rapidly .

At that time, medicine PGs were giving duties in the COVID wards so their duties were replaced by residents from derma department. Residents of derma department usually aren’t well averse with the management of critically ill patients (And surely of course it is not their expertise. They are supposed to look and manage skin ailments something which isn’t easy to diagnose) but I saw an exception that day. Initially me and nurse were trying our best to improve oxygen saturation of that patient .We gave high flow O2 through face mask, started nebulizing the patient but all went in vain. By the time, my senior of derma department reached in the ward .He served in the field for 11-12 years and was block medical officer for a significant duration of time before joining in dermatology department as a post graduate student. Quite calmly, he asked patient to sit and started rubbing the back of patient rigorously. Within 10 minutes, Patient oxygen saturation jumped to 86% from 24% . At that moment, he told me that in the field posting they used to manage a large number of patient with respiratory distress . So he didn’t panic throughout the whole situation .That day, I learnt a very important lesson. Lesson that Education can’t substitute experience. Though I know all the recent protocols , yet I was lacking experience to handle that situation.

In our pediatrics posting, a teacher of mine told me that I have to volunteer in NMC workshop in our college. When enquired about my role, I was told that I have to give a short viva to resource person in front of some students who are going to sit there as spectators. I was expecting my college juniors as students and thus wasn't at all worried but when I reached there, to my utter surprise ,I have to give viva to resource person in front of my teachers(HODs, Professors) who were sitting there as students. None the less, I calmed down myself. None the less, the viva went well . Some teachers highly impressed by my performance even asked if I was an intern or a pg. student. The lesson on that day what I learned was that when unexpected things happen, It is the calmness, courage and confidence that matters the most.

Obstetrics and gynae posting was my best posting in the internship.

I was allotted unit 3 and that truly was the best unit of the entire college but what I saw in labor room was a bit distressing and a matter of worry for the entire society. Whenever a girl child was born, I mostly observed a sad face of mother whereas whenever a boy child was born, I observe some unusual type of satisfaction on theirs face. Gender discrimination is literally a big issue and it starts in our society from the birth itself. Never the less Most of the toppers in my college are girl students and after my labor room postings, I began to respect theirs and their family efforts. I wish all of them to excel higher in their life, to reach zenith in field of medical education. Their success would definitely be a tight slap on our patriarchal society.

2 months of Surgery posting was my toughest posting both physically and mentally . I remember an incident when I helped a very poor illiterate female patient with ca rectum in making her Ayushman Bharat Card. It took around 2 hours and It was not my duty at all to make the card but the mental satisfaction I got that day was enough to endure this hectic posting for next one month. May be her blessings had done the trick.

On the very last day of our internship, we have planned a group photograph of our entire batch. We couldn’t find a professional photographer on that day so I asked one of my junior of 2K18 batch with SLR camera to make necessary arrangements and to click our photograph. I asked her to come at around 4:45 pm , but she reached at 4:30 pm well before time. Respecting time as I always believe is the first step in the direction of success. Our entire batch came around 5:30 pm. One of my batchmate Dr. Jaskirt Singh also helped in making necessary arrangements for having a perfect photograph of our batch. It was a huge responsibility to click a perfect last photograph of the senior batch and she didn’t fumble at all. Maybe even I would have fumble considering that excited atmosphere. It was a tremendous photograph. Her work was definitely appreciable. On that day, I learned two very important lessons that is when you respect time, time will respect you and in order to obtain good results ,we must give our hundred percent when given an important responsibility