INDEXING TITLE: RSMUJER Medical Anecdotal Report [05-04]]

MAR Title: Every Effort Counts!

 Date of Medical Observation: March 2005

 Narration:

 Exhausting hours have been part of residents’ training for years, and many fellow  physicians, and consultants believe such trial by fire in the training program teach doctors to make hard decisions when they are under fatigue and under pressure.

 It was another punishing day of duty for me. I was awake all night until morning and had been standing in front of the operating table assisting my senior on a trauma patient who sustained a penetrating stab wound on the chest. When I got home from the hospital, I caught my wife reading her book when I got in to her room. Upon seeing me, she hurriedly went near me and hugged me to say hello. Suddenly she told me, “Hon, me ipapakita ko sayo...” then she made me read a settled case rulings in the Labor Code. The dispositive portion of which states that:

 “the customary practice of requiring resident physicians to work for (24) hours a day violates the limitations prescribed by Article 83 NORMAL HOURS OF WORKS and would not be permissible even if the resident physicians were paid additional compensation. xxx However, the 40 hours work week will not apply if there is a training agreement between resident and the hospital, duly accredited or approved by authorized agency. xxx In such case there is no employee-employer relation xxx.xxx.”

Come to think of it, the department training program, despite the implicit violation of human rights and without consideration for the health and interest of hospital workers prevail.

 INSIGHTS:(PHYSICAL/psychosocial/ETHICAL/REINFORCEMENT/ STIMULUS/discovery)

           It cannot be helped that a lot of doctors under a training program complain about sleepless nights and too much work, looking at it as inhuman, with too much drudgery. It is apparent from the law itself protecting the health of human workers that normal hours of work for an ordinary man should not exceed (8) hours a day. But this is overriden by the purpose of the department to produce well-trained surgeons that will be successful not only in academics, but in clinical practice as well. Despite these complexities, we have nothing to do  but to embrace it as part of our chosen field.  

           This kind of scheme was tried and tested over generations. Henceforth, regardless of all peculiar exposures, including being over worked and underpaid, it is easier to believe that the best is yet to come.   It is a fervent hope that what we are experiencing right now is rewarding and offer us an educational experience that would equipped us with the skills required to practice our craft. And instead of seeing this as a necessary evil in our lives, it is more comforting to embrace it as a privilege. Don’t forget, every effort counts!!!