AED Chapter Meeting 4/16/02
Team Survivor Northwest introduced themselves. They provide activities and services for breast cancer survivors. Their email address is tsnw@u.washington.edu for those interested in volunteering.
Dr. Lao
Thailand background: attended medical school there and received neurosurgery training. He practiced in a small town for three years with basic resources.
In 1985 he tried to get into the UW residency program. He volunteered without an application or pay at Harborview Medical Center for six months. He became chief resident just after six months and a full resident after one year, for seven years. He has been practicing for ten years now in his own practice in Kirkland/Bellevue.
Being a doctor is not business: it’s a calling.
It requires dedication, time, and sacrifice.
It’s not for money—there isn’t much reimbursement nowadays.
You need to enjoy helping people.
There are two kinds of doctors: research and practitioner.
Practitioners love to be around people and bring them out of suffering.
Residency training: how to become successful.
It was tough for him because he didn’t know the language/culture.
Principles of success:
Success. Submit to the boss. Listen to the chief resident. If you go against an order, you are responsible for any mistakes made.
Enjoy what you’re doing so you can last to the end. Every patient you see is your teacher. In Thailand, there were no diagnostic machines. Diagnosis came from the mouth of the patient. Doctors often make mistakes because they look at machine results, not the patient. If you see the patient as a burden, you can’t survive. See how they walk, who they are. They are your teachers.
Get along with everyone: nurses, physical therapists, patients, their family, janitors, and bosses. Medicine is called a practice because it’s an art. Smart doctors can fail in practice because they see medicine as a science, not the art of getting along. Human relationships are one of the most important things in medicine.
In a real practice, bedside manner and relationships are sometimes more important than head knowledge. Patients can switch doctors because of poor bedside manner. Look at the patient as a family member. This takes practice.
Money shouldn’t control you. Don’t make a decision based on money or your own benefit. This will lead to a lawsuit. The medical doctor is not a scientist. If you think this way, you will treat the patient like an object. You need to care for their wellbeing.
Be a good observer. You never see the same case twice. Each patient is unique. You might miss something. Some practices have nurses that take the story down and then the doctor reads it later—this leaves out observation.
The patient has three parts: physical body, soul, and spirit.
In Thailand, he saw lots of spiritual things. Doctors must deal with the whole person, not just the physical illness. Be sensitive to feelings and backgrounds. For example, a patient may have flu symptoms, but they may be due to familial problems. There is prevention versus treatment.
Don’t go to medical school because you want money or you want to be a scientist. You go to help mankind. Sickness is mankind’s worst enemy.
Dr. Lao has seen bad practice in this society, where the patient, after the doctor has already been paid, comes back worse than before and the doctor doesn’t care because he’s already been paid.
Patients teach you about relating, like not scaring them away and how to make decisions. He has seen patients that were passed off by many doctors. The longer you practice, the better you get. You learn every day as a doctor.
Being a Christian doctor has helped Dr. Lao. His philosophy of putting himself in other shoes has helped him also. He doesn’t like suffering. But patients can abuse you, so have protection guidelines. Patients may want drugs or otherwise take advantage of you.
Communication is key. It makes patients feel like you care, even if you can’t help them all the time. If you can’t help a person, you must realize you’ve done your best. You can’t save everyone. As long as you have the right heart, you’ve done your best. Sometimes medical knowledge alone can’t help, but you can help as a person.
Dr. Lao doesn’t use email in his practice. It’s a document and can be used against you in a lawsuit. Patients also get angry if you’re too busy to reply. Learn to protect yourself legally. The patient isn’t your friend forever.
Dr. Lao can be reached at varun@hopeofgod.org
http://students.washington.edu/aed/archiveminutes/041602.html
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