Physician-in-Training/
Medical Student Category
Winner
2014 Richard Spear, MD,
Memorial Essay Contest
A Learning Experience
R. Caleb Buege, MD
T
he word, doctor, comes from “to
teach.” We are, at our basest form,
teachers; and yet, I find myself more
often than not on the receiving end of education. I suspect this is true of many of us. Why
else would it be referred to as the practice of
medicine if the implication weren’t that we
are and should be always learning, striving,
improving, pressing and searching? In keeping
with that tradition, I join countless others in the fold as I quietly
amass a series of lessons and anecdotes, some bestowed knowingly,
some accidentally, some profound and reverent and some decidedly
irreverent. What have my patients taught me? Much. For the sake
of organization, I place these lessons in one of three categories:
Simple, Significant and Life-changing.
Simple:
1. Never eat more than four servings of hospital jello.
2. Always take one of the cards in the parking garage that reminds
you which floor you parked on.
3. Never stand in the line of fire when examining a newborn
without a diaper.
4. Never ask, “When are you due?” Really. Just Don’t.
5. Never assume someone is mother, brother, aunt, uncle, dad,
grandma, boyfriend, girlfriend, co-worker, mailman or otherwise. You’re bound to be wrong and no matter what the mistake
is they will be offended.
6. Never return a patient’s call from your personal phone (unless
you feel like getting to know that patient on a first name basis).
7. Never agree to look at a rash on an elevator. You’ll have to trust
me on this one - it can only end badly.
22
LOUISVILLE MEDICINE
8. Never shoot a raccoon with a pellet gun.
These lessons are acquired, filed and catalogued for future use. I
pass them along free of charge to any who may not have had the pleasure of their counsel. Still, other lessons have a bit more substance.
Significant:
1. Never say never, always or impossible. (Except now. But after
that, never say it again.)
2. Never ask if a patient has questions when your hand is on the
door handle.
3. Always sit at eye-level, and make eye contact.
4. Never enter a room with preconceived notions. Presumption
is the most arrogant form of folly.
5. Every grandmother knows more than you.
6. You’ll never work as hard as your mentors did, and your students
will never work as hard as you.
7. Drug reps prove there’s no such thing as a free lunch.
8. Never ask, “When are you due?” I’m serious about this one.
In the end, we are constantly learning because there is much to
be learned. The real test is placing these pearls into practice. The
result, like this next lesson, can be life-changing.
Life-changing:
1. Take time to ride your bike.
As a first year medical student, I had the good fortune to rotate
through the Hematology-Oncology unit at Kosair Children’s Hospital. Part of a summer externship, I mainly observed the ins and
outs of the team, and at times sifted through the sea of acronyms