Looks like university memories never leave u. cz those were one of the best times u went through in the short 25 years lived so far. was looking through some old photos, brought a huge smile plastered onto my face.
on and off I'm being reminded that trust takes the lead in any decision ppl make. in the past 2 months of work in sibu, i've seen several, not just one, cases where patients decide to default treatment or refuse surgery bcz they opted for traditional medical treatment. Not the traditional medicine degree holder, but bomohs, massage men, kung fu master of sorts who practise in most often, the outskirts or rural areas. they live in vicinity of the folks, know them, interacted with them and have a strong relationship with them, prolly since the old great grandmother days where the practice was passed down through generations. (apologies if my sentences are incoherent/filled with grammatical error. rushing for time but kiasu wana post this up).and these cases aren't petty muscle aches that relief with analgesia / traditional meds that are pumped filled with steroids that give instantaneous and temporary relief, thus being dubbed 'magical' and making these medicine masters infamous for healing. these are cases of bone fractures with complete displacement / un-united fractures that need osteoclasis (breaking the bone, realignment to straighten it, and holding it together again in the correct alignment with plate n screws). there's a risk of bone deformity, limb shortening, malunion of bone. the patients are young (teens) who cannot make proper judgement (okla maybe they can). but they're influenced by ppl who're close to them. aunties n uncles n neighbours who have had 'similar' experiences with the medicine man in the kampung whose bone have healed nicely. obviously those were close fractures with minimal displacement that can unite on their own without much intervention other than splints.
the first few times I felt really frustrated. i was going on n on counselling the family, relatives, the patient. not to refuse surgery.
long story short, efforts were in vain. they requested to leave the hospital.
oh the frustration.
it was later on I realised it's a common practice. for folks to seek traditional healing rather than 'western' medicine. it's the element of trust we still cannot beat bcz i don't know, we lack the common touch, don't speak their lingo, don't fully understand their culture, have different skin colour (we cannot deny that there is an inherent unspoken bond that unite ppl of the same race together) etc.
all i could do was tell the patient that in the event the traditional medicine doesnt work, do not hesitate to come back.
Patient's autonomy after all. Sigh. hvg said that i don't deny that physical treatment doesn't constitute 100% of a healing process. there's still the human mental emotional factor.
2 comments:
We can only do so much for the patients, Vin. What we do is for the patient's best interest, and we can advise them, but if they don't want to listen then it's their own doing. Besides, look at the silver lining, less work for you :P
true that licia. but no, not really less work. heeh. lots of pprwork here. when patients decide to forgo therapy n leave the hospital at their own risk, we hav2 lodge an incident report. hospital protocol. i miss u n kuching!
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