My experience at Young Doctors Camp 2019, by Sakshi Mahurkar

My experience as a young doctor

Sakshi Mahurkar
Delhi Public School Hyderabad

As it is rightly said, experiences are the only source of knowledge. They teach you what books and teachers cannot. This Young Doctors’ Camp at Yashoda Hospitals undoubtedly holds true to this. Experiences are what define us and Yashoda Hospitals gave us the opportunity to explore the world of medicine and understand its beauty and nobility. Being at this camp has not only helped me in reassuring my decision of becoming a doctor, but has also taught me about the environment of a hospital and how it works as a whole unit.

On day one, when we began our camp with a talk on MBBS, I immediately realised the intensity and demanding nature of the course. The talk gave me a great insight into the course, its contents and the challenges one might face in the future. The experiences in the hospital were like never before. We began the tour with visiting the Cath Lab and the ICCU. Dr. Pramod Kumar briefed us about angioplasty and how stunts are placed. He explained the causes for heart blockage and cardiac arrests and willingly answered each of our doubts and queries. This made me realise that being calm and patient is absolutely necessary. Furthermore, as the hospital tour proceeded, we were taken to the Neuro-Care unit and the Acute-Care units. Visiting the blood banks, diagnostics lab, Operation theatre and Oncology department were some of my most memorable experiences. But the best has to be witnessing a surgery. We got the incredibly opportunity of watching a gall bladder removal surgery. The physiotherapy clinic was where we learnt that not all diseases need to be treated with drugs and medicines. Just some basic exercises and physical activity can provide a lot of relief to the patient. The mammography, MRI and CT-Scan centers were a lot of fun to learn about. Personally, neuroscience lab was what I found the most amusing. Knowing about how the lie-detector test works was something I always dreamt of. Overall, the 3 days at the camp were no less than a wish coming true.

 Being a young doctor has taught me a lot. Apart from the unique experiences we had, I understood about the mental aspect of becoming a doctor. On the last day of the camp, we got the chance to listen to various doctors talk about their journey in this noble profession. Sacrifice, patience, compassion, confidence and humility are a few of them. When the anesthetist was narrating a few anecdotes from his childhood, he said one thing that stuck with me for long. He said, “Many years go by in getting a doctors degree, but the satisfaction you get when a patient smiles at you and says thank you is inexplicable.” Truly, medical profession isn’t easy, but it is the only profession that lets you serve humanity.