On those rare days during OPD when I am not just doing entries on computer, I always find it fascinating to hear a patient's and his relative's story while the consultant is trying to take out the relevant history of the case.
It becomes even more interesting when it is the OPD of Dr. Bhalendu Vaishnav sir, the head of our Medicine unit 3. I have to confess here that I am an unabashed fan of his communication skills and I wish to inculcate some of those one day. Sitting in his OPD is appealing to the kinesthetic learner in me. It is said, "You learn more by observing a great man than you will ever learn by reading a great book!" It is perhaps true after all.
Wednesday, 30th November 2016, was one such day when I got a chance to attend his OPD as a part of my internship rotation. 30th of November also is the death anniversary of Dr. H M Patel, the founder of Charutar Arogya Mandal, of which my college Pramukhswami Medical College is a part.
Every year in his memory, we hold a memorial lecture which is delivered by some of the most eminent people in the health care fraternity who have done outstanding work in their field. Over the years we have had speakers like Dr. Abhay Bang, Dr. John Oommen, Dr. Keshav Desiraju. This year we had Dr. M R Rajagopala, the father of palliative medicine in India as our speaker.
He talked at length about the importance of the basic human need to die painfree and stressed on the issues of solace for the suffering and how humanity is slowly but sadlt declining in our profession which is perhaps the very foundation of Medical field.
I was very impressed with the talk and after attending the talk came back to Dr. Vaishnav sir's OPD, a place where you can perfectly study the basics of humanity and doctor patient relationship.
Call it serendipity or call it coincidence but exactly a few minutes after I had returned, we received a patient, an 83 year old lady and her 60 year old son to the OPD.
And as if on cue, Dr. Vaishnav sir asked me to go outside with the patient and the caregiver and asked me to interview them on aspects related to elderly health care and the importance of care giver in maintaining health of the elderly.
What I discovered about the caregiver through the 45 minute long interview was pleasantly surprising.
I was dumbfounded by the meticulous care giver who, I think, can make MS Excel proud!
Yes, therefore I have titled this story-
"The Man Who Can Beat Excel!"
Here's a breif account of the patient-
Ansuyaben N Goswami is an 83 year old Hindu widow, residing in Borsad. She is a known case of Diabetes Mellitus type 2, Hypertension and Hypothyroidism since last 30 years on regular follow up and medication.
She has had 5 episodes of Angina in the last 20 years, the last of which occurred in April, 2016. Through all these years, she has been admitted to Medicine ward around 20 times.
She came to Medicine OPD on a wheelchair and requires assistance for her all her day to day activities including bladder and bowel.
Her son, 60 year old, Mr Mahindragiri Goswami, a voluntarily retired government servant, divorced for last 20 years has been taking exclusive care of her.
This may not sound so unusal but what I discovered left me spell bound.
1. Maintaining a health diary~
This man maintains a notebook where he notes down his mother's RBS(Random Blood Sugar), Blood Pressure and Oxygen Saturation levels. He does this religiously for 3 times a day and has been doing and maintaining records for last 20 years.
He also notes down the medicines taken by his mother.
2. "Working knowledge of basic health related instruments"
He has working knowledge of sphygmomanometer, stethoscope, glucose monitor and pulseoximeter.
3. "Giving Medicines On time"~
Most of the time, the sugar and blood pressure levels of elderly patients keep fluctuating since they are prone to forgetting their medicines on time due to age related senescence.
So, on days when he is not with his mother, Mr Mahindragiri keeps the day wise packets of medicine ready so that anyone from the family or neighborhood can give her the medicines on time.
4. "Easy Communication"~
In this fast placed world where of social networking it is often found that old people have difficulties in using high-tech equipments.
To tackle this, Mr. Mahindragiri has provided his mother a basic Nokia handset with his own number saved as speed dial mode so that she can contact him whenever in urgent need.
She also has an electric bell next to her bed at night which she can press anytime during night if she has to wake up for urination or due to bout of cough.
5. "Saving for health"~
Mr. Mahindragiri who worked as a Class 4 employee with government now survives on meagre salary but still saves rupees 20000 to 28000 per year which he keeps aside exclusively for emergency health related condition since neither he nor his mother have mediclaim policies.
*These are some of the most basic steps which can be easily inculcated by all those who have elderly people at home.
In Gujarat alone there are more than 2 lakh people above age 60 years living alone without any caregiver. The geriatric population is extremely vulnerable to many of the life threatening conditions which can be prevented by simple implementation of the above steps demonstrated by Mr. Mahindragiri Goswami.
All they need is some time, love, affection and a caring heart.
Is that too much?
Don't they deserve this much after having worked so tirelessly for our generation during their prime?
Sharing some of the photographs of the patient and the caregiver after having taken verbal consent.
~ Devashish Palkar
It becomes even more interesting when it is the OPD of Dr. Bhalendu Vaishnav sir, the head of our Medicine unit 3. I have to confess here that I am an unabashed fan of his communication skills and I wish to inculcate some of those one day. Sitting in his OPD is appealing to the kinesthetic learner in me. It is said, "You learn more by observing a great man than you will ever learn by reading a great book!" It is perhaps true after all.
Wednesday, 30th November 2016, was one such day when I got a chance to attend his OPD as a part of my internship rotation. 30th of November also is the death anniversary of Dr. H M Patel, the founder of Charutar Arogya Mandal, of which my college Pramukhswami Medical College is a part.
Every year in his memory, we hold a memorial lecture which is delivered by some of the most eminent people in the health care fraternity who have done outstanding work in their field. Over the years we have had speakers like Dr. Abhay Bang, Dr. John Oommen, Dr. Keshav Desiraju. This year we had Dr. M R Rajagopala, the father of palliative medicine in India as our speaker.
He talked at length about the importance of the basic human need to die painfree and stressed on the issues of solace for the suffering and how humanity is slowly but sadlt declining in our profession which is perhaps the very foundation of Medical field.
I was very impressed with the talk and after attending the talk came back to Dr. Vaishnav sir's OPD, a place where you can perfectly study the basics of humanity and doctor patient relationship.
Call it serendipity or call it coincidence but exactly a few minutes after I had returned, we received a patient, an 83 year old lady and her 60 year old son to the OPD.
And as if on cue, Dr. Vaishnav sir asked me to go outside with the patient and the caregiver and asked me to interview them on aspects related to elderly health care and the importance of care giver in maintaining health of the elderly.
What I discovered about the caregiver through the 45 minute long interview was pleasantly surprising.
I was dumbfounded by the meticulous care giver who, I think, can make MS Excel proud!
Yes, therefore I have titled this story-
"The Man Who Can Beat Excel!"
Here's a breif account of the patient-
Ansuyaben N Goswami is an 83 year old Hindu widow, residing in Borsad. She is a known case of Diabetes Mellitus type 2, Hypertension and Hypothyroidism since last 30 years on regular follow up and medication.
She has had 5 episodes of Angina in the last 20 years, the last of which occurred in April, 2016. Through all these years, she has been admitted to Medicine ward around 20 times.
She came to Medicine OPD on a wheelchair and requires assistance for her all her day to day activities including bladder and bowel.
Her son, 60 year old, Mr Mahindragiri Goswami, a voluntarily retired government servant, divorced for last 20 years has been taking exclusive care of her.
This may not sound so unusal but what I discovered left me spell bound.
1. Maintaining a health diary~
This man maintains a notebook where he notes down his mother's RBS(Random Blood Sugar), Blood Pressure and Oxygen Saturation levels. He does this religiously for 3 times a day and has been doing and maintaining records for last 20 years.
He also notes down the medicines taken by his mother.
2. "Working knowledge of basic health related instruments"
He has working knowledge of sphygmomanometer, stethoscope, glucose monitor and pulseoximeter.
3. "Giving Medicines On time"~
Most of the time, the sugar and blood pressure levels of elderly patients keep fluctuating since they are prone to forgetting their medicines on time due to age related senescence.
So, on days when he is not with his mother, Mr Mahindragiri keeps the day wise packets of medicine ready so that anyone from the family or neighborhood can give her the medicines on time.
4. "Easy Communication"~
In this fast placed world where of social networking it is often found that old people have difficulties in using high-tech equipments.
To tackle this, Mr. Mahindragiri has provided his mother a basic Nokia handset with his own number saved as speed dial mode so that she can contact him whenever in urgent need.
She also has an electric bell next to her bed at night which she can press anytime during night if she has to wake up for urination or due to bout of cough.
5. "Saving for health"~
Mr. Mahindragiri who worked as a Class 4 employee with government now survives on meagre salary but still saves rupees 20000 to 28000 per year which he keeps aside exclusively for emergency health related condition since neither he nor his mother have mediclaim policies.
*These are some of the most basic steps which can be easily inculcated by all those who have elderly people at home.
In Gujarat alone there are more than 2 lakh people above age 60 years living alone without any caregiver. The geriatric population is extremely vulnerable to many of the life threatening conditions which can be prevented by simple implementation of the above steps demonstrated by Mr. Mahindragiri Goswami.
All they need is some time, love, affection and a caring heart.
Is that too much?
Don't they deserve this much after having worked so tirelessly for our generation during their prime?
Sharing some of the photographs of the patient and the caregiver after having taken verbal consent.
~ Devashish Palkar
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