I must admit that I am partial to books written by physicians (reading an exceptional one at the moment). I also remember coming across advice from a surgeon-writer Atul Gawande suggesting that all doctors should try to write.
Many of us hear stories for a living
While providing a service, we listen to misgivings
Misfortunes, predicaments of many kinds
Sometimes stories of redemption we find..
Listening to stories is an integral part
Of being a physician, stories sometimes fill my heart
Creating a maelstrom of emotions profound
Emotions that need to be processed in a manner sound
Patients trust me to bookend their stories perfectly
And I have to grapple with the tension of that responsibility..
*
What better way to process feelings could there be
Than to put them in words, for someone like me?
*
Maybe that is why many physicians feel compelled
To write, they accumulate an assortment of stories to tell
While writing scientific articles satisfies an intellectual urge
In writing for the lay person, the heart and the mind converge
The rainbow of human experience that physicians get to see
Provides for a writer a rich tapestry..
*
As I read another book by a physician penned
I feel inspired, one day I intend
To write a book derived from my experiences cumulative
As a physician, I hope that’s how my legacy would live
One of the worst things about using electronic medical record for patients is the pop-up notifications that you get constantly get. Based on a patient’s BMI, one may get an alert that the pt is obese/ morbidly obese, because all health care providers must document this diagnosis in their notes. I feel it is completely unnecessary, and discriminatory towards people who happen to be obese. I am trying to be more mindful of how I talk about weight loss and obesity, but I am forced by the medical record and the powers above looking at metrics to include obesity in my list of diagnoses at all times and counsel patients, knowing fully well that asking them to exercise for 30 minutes and eat more vegetables is not a solution.
I know as soon as you open my chart you see
The inescapable alert that is the nemesis of me
The dreaded body mass index (BMI) that tells you
That I am obese, sometimes morbidly obese too
Of course you have noticed my expansive size
But the computer program has also made you realize
That I have a major co-morbidity that must make
It to the list of diagnoses, I know it would take
You a minute to note that I have been counseled indeed
On weight loss strategies, that is my foremost need
It does not matter that I am in your office to be seen
For a sinus infection, my true afflictions have often been
Ignored completely or somehow tied to my weight
And I must be the only one responsible for my state
*
I am used to being judged in a negative light
But even in a healthcare setting I feel I must fight
To be seen beyond the optics of my size
It is hurtful- but few people realize
How medicine is geared to discriminate
Against obese people on the basis of weight
The BMI seems to turn blinders on for everyone
And someone like me feels defeated before I’ve begun
There are diseases associated with obesity, I’m aware
But of illnesses unrelated to weight, there is a fair share
*
Invariably I am going to hear someone say
That I just need to lose weight anyway
For my medical issues to be resolved..
If only it were that simple, my problem would be solved!
Often women and marginalized sections of the society do face significant barriers at work because of who they are, but sometimes its their own beliefs (due to societal conditioning) that may limit them..
The times are changing rapidly, therefore
We must break away from what limited us before
We are products of the society in which we have grown
Sometimes we are held back by ourselves alone
Because of the stereotypes we have internalized
Because our own potential we have not realized
We believe a glass ceiling exists because we have heard
It does-so instead of continuing to look upward
We often give up after climbing a bit high
Convinced that our limit is lower than the sky
Often there are roadblocks, but sometimes none exist
We just assume there would be barriers, we insist
That life is difficult because of “barriers” poorly defined
We should be cognizant that they may just exist in our minds..
*
Why not march ahead without any assumption preemptive
Maybe then we would be able to give
More of ourselves to the work that we do
Soar much higher without glass ceilings to break through
Passion...unbridled 