Indexing Title: JPINGUL's Medical Anecdotal Report  [04-3]

 MAR Title: Quest for Character 

 Date of Medical Observation: May 29, 2004

 Narration:

            It was 5 o’clock in the morning, I came down to the emergency room after finishing a long operation.  I sat down on the bench to catch my breath when the phone rang, I answered it and the voice on the other end said that the patient in the intensive care unit had a blood pressure of palpatory 40.  The patient was endorsed the day before and was in a guarded state of sepsis. I figured that she was in septic shock and answered to attend to the patient, I also asked the nurse to prepare the emergency medicines.

            I entered the intensive care unit, and saw that the patient was removed from the ventilator and was converted to an ambubag.  I listened for the heart and breath sounds, but there was none.  I signaled to the medical clerks to start cardiopulmonary resuscitation, after which I gave the emergency medicines.

            After 40 minutes of cardiopulmonary resuscitation, I pronounced the death of the patient.  I sat down behind the nurse’s station wrote down the entries in the chart, then I noticed a sign on the table with a prayer.

            It read:  “Dear Lord, please give me strength to face the day ahead, please bring me courage as I approach each hurting bed, please give me wisdom in every word I speak, please give me patience as I comfort the sick and weak, please give me assurance as the day slips into night that I have done the best I can and that I have done what is right.”

            As I wrote “post mortem care please,” the question ran through my mind, “Did we do the right thing for this patient? If yes, why did she die?”

Insights (Discovery, STIMULUS, Reinforcement)

            The person who wrote the prayer was asking for the following characteristics, like courage, patience, peace of mind, and strength (it may be physical, emotional, mental, psychological).  He is asking for help to transform these characteristics into actions.  Or is it these characteristics will reflect his actions on how he interacts with others.

            Building character is not being taught in medical school, nor can it be learned from medical books, but each physician is expected by society to have courage, peace, patience, and strength.  Each of us went through different experiences, which molded us into the person we are now.  But because we have different experiences the depth and level of character varies from person to person.

And we continue to experience, continue to search for and journey into developing our character.  We learn from our patients, from our mistakes, from the mistakes of others, and from our mentors.  Every trying moment, a difficult time, a hardship, or a toxic duty is a journey into developing character.