Dr Qaisar Rashid<\/p>\n
Nobility of medical profession and excellence in medial skills were both personified in one person: Professor Dr Muhammad Naseem ullah (15 August 1943 \u2013 12 January 2015), who was a Professor of Medicine, Medical Unit 1, Holy Family Hospital, Rawalpindi Medical College
\nDr Naseem ullah left a deep impact on his students and junior professors. His life can be encapsulated in five principles.
\nFirst, a doctor (whether a post-graduate or consultant) should read an authentic book of Medicine daily. On ward rounds, he used to proclaim: \u201cI am still a student of Medicine, why can\u2019t you be so?\u201d Further, \u201cI read Medicine daily and each time I stumble upon a new point.\u201d \u201cLearning is en route to discovery, if you keep your eyes open and ear cleaned.\u201d During ward rounds, he used to ask his subordinate professors: \u201cWhen did the last time you open any book of Medicine?\u201d Embarrassment in front of patients remained frightening for even consultants working under his supervision. Ward rounds were lengthy, spanning hours. He was sometimes blunt to ask subordinate professors to leave the ward if they were not prepared for taking questions and engaging themselves in discussions. \u201cDo not come to the ward rounds unprepared.\u201d He wanted his supervised doctors to be updated on the latest. For medical students, he encouraged the Rule of Five: Narrate five main causes, five main signs and symptoms, five major differential diagnosis, etc.
\nThis quality is missing today in most professors, who are keen to shorten ward rounds and tolerant of knowledge deficit rampant in post-graduate trainees. Easy-study guides and published notes are in use. A reason is the falling quality of the English language in medical graduates, who cannot comprehend the language of an accredited book.
\nSecond, develop the medical sense of diagnosis, instead of relying on the laboratory reports. Dr Naseem ullah used to say: \u201cA doctor devoid of the power of observation is no doctor.\u201d Moreover, \u201cA doctor should be capable of making a provisional diagnosis, instead of waiting for the laboratory report.\u201d \u201cA doctor should be ahead of laboratory reports, which should only confirm the findings of the doctor.\u201d
\nCompared to this preference, today\u2019s doctors mostly seem incapable of having best medical judgement. They tend to advise a number of laboratory tests which overburden pockets of patients. Laboratory reports dictate doctors. Consequently, establishing laboratories has become a lucrative business. More than the doctors\u2019 fee or the cost of medicine to treat a patient, unnecessary and overreliance on laboratories has made treatment costly in Pakistan.
\nThird, Medical Ethics were meant for practice and not for garnishing the books of Medicine. Dr Naseem ullah remained a lead proponent of ethics. He used to ask medical students and post-graduate trainees: \u201cDo you look like a doctor? When did you last time see yourself in the mirror?\u201d He emphasised that in their appearance, there should stark differences between a goon and a doctor, whether in or out of hospital. \u201cWhere is your white coat?\u201d \u201cA doctor without a white coat is not a doctor.\u201d \u201cWearing a clean and neat white coat is the first ethic.\u201d \u201cDon\u2019t swing the stethoscope as if you were to hang a patient.\u201d \u201cThe stethoscope demands skillful conduct. Learn to use it dexterously.\u201d \u201cEarn dignity for your profession by using the language of respect for patients.\u201d
\nCompared to this level of demand, visit a hospital now, especially the one run by the government, and get disappointed. Medical ethics struggle to find relevance. Junior doctors are disrespectful to seniors and even to patients. <\/p>\n
Courtesy<\/p>\n
One can find today\u2019s doctors (most post-graduate trainees and consultants alike) wrestle with sticking to medical ethics. Surprisingly, most doctors have liberated themselves from these constraints of white coat and even stethoscopes.
\nFourth, respect patients. Dr Naseem ullah used to say: \u201cYou are here (as doctors) for patients. Why do you shirk your responsibility for serving them?\u201d \u201cDo not mistreat patients. It is not only because they are human beings but also because they are a source of your learning.\u201d \u201cPatients will teach you what books cannot.\u201d
\nThis virtue is still missing in today\u2019s doctors, who are less careful of patients\u2019 comfort and welfare. The practice of history taking in detail is now getting redundant.
\nFifth, a doctor without the healing touch is not a doctor. \u201cDon\u2019t be an earning machine. Instead, be a doctor who could donate cure to patients.\u201d Dr Naseem ullah exemplified this principle by limiting his private practice and by seeing poor patients without charging fee.
\nUnfortunately, insufficient bed-side clinical and diagnostic skills, deficient medical ethics, disrespect to patients and inadequate history taking abilities are major hurdles in the path of Pakistani doctors to pass the examination for the Membership of Royal College of Physicians, United Kingdom.
\nSir, Professor Dr Muhammad Naseem ullah, rest in peace! You will be remembered. You will always be alive in the hearts of your students. We learnt a lot from you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dr Qaisar Rashid Nobility of medical profession and excellence in medial skills were both personified in one person: Professor Dr Muhammad Naseem ullah (15 August 1943 \u2013 12 January 2015), who was a Professor of Medicine, Medical Unit 1, Holy Family Hospital, Rawalpindi Medical College Dr Naseem ullah left a deep impact on his students […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[1683],"class_list":{"0":"post-373009","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-article","7":"tag-dr-qaisar-rashid"},"yoast_head":"\n