INDEXING TITLE: RSMUJER’S Medical Anecdotal Report (05- 07)

MAR Title: “Things you do not want to hear during surgery”

Date of Medical Observation: July 2005 

Narration

•         He pulled me aside with a serious look on his face. “kanina sa operating room bakit ka nag-Ooops?” My uncle was admitted due to perianal abscess and was subsequently operated on.

•         While lying on his bed after an operation, he asked me hysterically why I said “Ooops” during surgery. And it made me laugh, thank god I whispered, he could not move much, nor sit up on the bed or else I could surely have a big black spot on my eye.  

•         I slapped lightly on his back and said in a yielding voice “ Wala yun tito, kapal kasi ng nana sa puwet mo kaya napa ooops ako”. I just realized that I always utter that word whenever I get excited or carried away.

 INSIGHTS: (physical/psychosocial/ethical/stimulusreinforcement/discovery)

•         I have just discovered that the first thing patients do not want to hear during surgery is the word “Ooops.” Of course, patients always entrusted themselves to physicians’ care which they expect a definite and weighty responsibilities to the doctors.

•         Hence, we should be very careful in using words or expressions which will make them worry. Because we have a particularly astringent duty to assure our decisions, actions and words that are consistent with providing compassionate care and welfare to our patients.

•         It is our duty to give hope and serenity to the patient and not to make them panic by those unnecessary words which will greatly affect their relations to us. Because, doctors are judged not only by their exceptional skills but by how they act and speak.