Practice
Medical practice
I knew I was choosing a teaching hospital. It was one of the reasons I considered it when choosing an OB after finding out we were pregnant. For the past five years I’ve shared our story with the medical students at FSU and have loved having the opportunity to hopefully impact them in their careers and thought this might afford me the same opportunity. I was surprised though at the limited number of times students, residents or fellows attended my appointments. This week I found out it’s because they’re all getting their time in on the maternity wing of the hospital rather than the doctor’s visits leading up the point of delivery.
It gave new meaning to the term medical practice as I sat there getting my epidural. A team of people had come through pre-op introducing themselves and letting me know they would be doing my anesthesiology. I wasn’t really sure why it took 5 doctors to numb me and watch my levels, but I soon learned. Only one of them truly had much experience as an anesthesiologist. He walked one of the others on the team through the procedure and the entire time the only thing I could think of was what was I thinking! This is my spine we’re talking about- I want to be able to walk when this is all said and done. I know you have to learn somewhere and on somebody- but does it have to be me?!?
I again questioned my decision as I watched the attending surgeon leave the OR and overheard the conversation of the two left to stitch me up. They discussed what year they were in the program (one is in their first year, the other in their third) and words no patient ever wants to hear while laying their helpless on the operating table, “Oh no, Dr. So&So is going to kill me!” Apparently they’d broken a suture while stitching me up. It’s best to choose your words carefully, particularly when the patient is awake through the entire process (though I have read of a couple of impending lawsuits over conversations had while the patient has been under lately too.)
So far though it seems as though my questions have been unfounded. I’m still experiencing pain from the surgery and it’s a different type of pain than I remember with the other girls, but it’s decreasing daily and there have been no obvious signs of infection, so I’m going to keep telling myself that a broken suture was the only complication that occurred.
Just as the new doctors had to practice various aspects of their chosen professions in order to master them (and old doctors must practice in order to stay up to date on new advances), as Christians we are called to practice our faith.
As we first learn to share the good news, there may be times that we bumble through it and yet even more important than my spine- this is someone’s eternal destiny we’re talking about. Are we treating the Gospel message with the same care that I hope she was taking with my back? Do we turn away from even attempting to share with others because we are scared we may cause injury? I think many of us are scared to pick up a scapula and perform life saving surgery- we might offend, we might say the wrong thing, we might damage the relationship… and all these things might be true- but if we never practice our faith we may be leaving them to die on the operating table. We are forgetting something critical if we stop there though. We have the Great Physician who has empowered us with his Holy Spirit to lead and guide us. It is under His guidance that we must practice our faith.
While learning from the Great Physician is the most important, we are also told to learn from each other. Do we surround ourselves with a team that we can learn from to guide us as we mature in our faith, but who also trust us to walk away and live out our faith on our own? There are so many amazing people in my life who have guided me and given me wise council. I look up to them and admire their steadfast faith and wisdom they have shared. There are times they have walked beside me, but in the end, they cannot walk through my life for me. At some point I have to learn. I have to practice my own faith.
Will you have the courage to practice your faith? Will you accept guidance from the Holy Spirit and other Christians in order to prep someone for the surgery the Great Physician will preform on their soul?
I knew I was choosing a teaching hospital. It was one of the reasons I considered it when choosing an OB after finding out we were pregnant. For the past five years I’ve shared our story with the medical students at FSU and have loved having the opportunity to hopefully impact them in their careers and thought this might afford me the same opportunity. I was surprised though at the limited number of times students, residents or fellows attended my appointments. This week I found out it’s because they’re all getting their time in on the maternity wing of the hospital rather than the doctor’s visits leading up the point of delivery.
It gave new meaning to the term medical practice as I sat there getting my epidural. A team of people had come through pre-op introducing themselves and letting me know they would be doing my anesthesiology. I wasn’t really sure why it took 5 doctors to numb me and watch my levels, but I soon learned. Only one of them truly had much experience as an anesthesiologist. He walked one of the others on the team through the procedure and the entire time the only thing I could think of was what was I thinking! This is my spine we’re talking about- I want to be able to walk when this is all said and done. I know you have to learn somewhere and on somebody- but does it have to be me?!?
I again questioned my decision as I watched the attending surgeon leave the OR and overheard the conversation of the two left to stitch me up. They discussed what year they were in the program (one is in their first year, the other in their third) and words no patient ever wants to hear while laying their helpless on the operating table, “Oh no, Dr. So&So is going to kill me!” Apparently they’d broken a suture while stitching me up. It’s best to choose your words carefully, particularly when the patient is awake through the entire process (though I have read of a couple of impending lawsuits over conversations had while the patient has been under lately too.)
So far though it seems as though my questions have been unfounded. I’m still experiencing pain from the surgery and it’s a different type of pain than I remember with the other girls, but it’s decreasing daily and there have been no obvious signs of infection, so I’m going to keep telling myself that a broken suture was the only complication that occurred.
Just as the new doctors had to practice various aspects of their chosen professions in order to master them (and old doctors must practice in order to stay up to date on new advances), as Christians we are called to practice our faith.
As we first learn to share the good news, there may be times that we bumble through it and yet even more important than my spine- this is someone’s eternal destiny we’re talking about. Are we treating the Gospel message with the same care that I hope she was taking with my back? Do we turn away from even attempting to share with others because we are scared we may cause injury? I think many of us are scared to pick up a scapula and perform life saving surgery- we might offend, we might say the wrong thing, we might damage the relationship… and all these things might be true- but if we never practice our faith we may be leaving them to die on the operating table. We are forgetting something critical if we stop there though. We have the Great Physician who has empowered us with his Holy Spirit to lead and guide us. It is under His guidance that we must practice our faith.
While learning from the Great Physician is the most important, we are also told to learn from each other. Do we surround ourselves with a team that we can learn from to guide us as we mature in our faith, but who also trust us to walk away and live out our faith on our own? There are so many amazing people in my life who have guided me and given me wise council. I look up to them and admire their steadfast faith and wisdom they have shared. There are times they have walked beside me, but in the end, they cannot walk through my life for me. At some point I have to learn. I have to practice my own faith.
Will you have the courage to practice your faith? Will you accept guidance from the Holy Spirit and other Christians in order to prep someone for the surgery the Great Physician will preform on their soul?
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