Indexing Title: NALUDINO’s Medical Anecdotal Report [04-1]

MAR Title: “Treat Your Patients as You Would Your Relatives”

Date of Medical Observation: September 27, 2003

Narration:

A 54 year old female came into the ER complaining of RLQ pain. She was diagnosed to have acute appendicitis and was booked for appendectomy. I was the one assigned to operated on the patient. I operated on her and everything went smoothly. She had a perforated appendix with localized peritonitis.

When the patient was brought back to the surgery ward, I constantly followed up the patient, trying to build rapport. In one of these instances, I noted that the patients were speaking in my native tounge, in Ilocano. I immediately asked them if they hail from the same province as I. To make a long story short, It turned out that my patient was my mother's cousin. I operated on the patient without knowing that she was my aunt.

Insights (Discovery, Stimulus, REINFORCEMENT):

The old saying, "treat your patients as you would treat your relatives," holds true in this case. Spend time building a good "professional" relationship with your patient and you will not go wrong. It helps in avoiding medico legal suits and it certainly helps to upllift ones spirit, knowing that you helped a person, physically and emotionally.