The rural stint

Sridevi Rajeeve, medical intern, Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church Medical College, Kolenchery, Ernakulam

Internship is a one year mandatory training period in which we rotate in all specialty departments gaining work experience in that field. And two months of Community Health is mandatory in the curriculum, where we will gain practical experience in a rural hospital service away from our teaching hospital.

As interns, we are the first line of caregivers to every patient coming to the emergency department. We do minor surgical procedures, assist in all major surgical procedures, conduct normal deliveries, manage ICUs, man peripheral health centres of our hospital and even perform lifesaving maneuvers in the ER.

I was posted at St. Augustine’s Hospital at Kumily, Thekkady for that one month stint, an experience that transformed my perspectives completely. It was shocking to note that the diagnostic and therapeutic facilities we were accustomed to at our hospital were conspicuous by their absence here.

The very first lesson learnt during rural posting was to rely less on labs and devices and utilize our senses in arriving at a diagnosis. Lesson number two was how to exercise resourcefulness as supply of medicines and surgical items were limited in the rural area. Dealing with the dilemma of whether to keep a patient in a deteriorating condition or refer him/her to a higher centre many miles away, was a predicament for a rookie doctor like me then – a hard lesson number three! A vital lesson number four was never to take anyone for granted, for even the peon, nurses and other staff had many a pearl of medical wisdom which they willingly shared with us interns.

The local people always received us warmly into their homes. I experienced the reverence and admiration a doctor receives in the countryside for the first time after I helped in an uncomplicated delivery of a woman.

At the end of the grueling hands on rural experience, I realised how vital the rural posting was in reshaping my belief systems and imbibing new ideologies of my noble profession that had never been encountered before. It was a whole new experience to work on your own, gaining practical proficiency and make life-changing decisions in split second. I would urge my peer group to never let go of this transformative experience.