Indexing Title:

MDGALVEZ’s Medical Anecdotal Report [05-03]

 MAR title: Help

 Date of medical Observation: April 2005

 Narration:

 A patient was referred to me by a friend and on consult, I noted that he had and Inguinal hernia. The patient narrated that he has had this condition for quite some time now and that it would often interfere with his work. He added that often times, he was incontinent. On examination, it was evident that he has a hernia but was not present at that time. With all the information that was given, I explained that he may be suffering from an inguinal hernia with a sliding component – probably the bladder. I also informed him that I may need to ask a consultant of mine to scrub in with me since I have never operated on a patient with a sliding hernia.

After all the paper work and pre operative preparation, he was operated on and true enough, he had a sliding hernia. The consultant who was with me showed me a fatty structure with a fleshy segment. It was the bladder, he explained. To me it appeared to be something not related to any structure in the area and may be resected. It’s a good thing  I asked a consultant for help thus avoiding injury to my patient.

 INSIGHT (physical, PSYCHOSOCIAL, ethical) (discovery, stimulus, REINFORCEMENT)

Often enough surgeons who have just completed their training carry with them the confidence that they are capable of handling any given situation. Good as this may seem, some fall prey to over confidence which leads to grave consequences.

I have learned to accept that there are still limitations to what I can do. And for me, I still learn a lot from every situation.

Knowing your limitations and knowing when to ask help does not make one a lesser surgeon, he becomes a safe and mature surgeon.