Letters to a Young Doctor: Axe

Sharpening Your Axes

Ecclesiastes 10:10 (NIV)

¹⁰ If the ax is dull and its edge unsharpened, more strength is needed, but skill will bring success.

Our calling to be doctors requires us to be life-long learners. Most of what we have learned in our time in medical schools will be out of date by the time we graduate. We are living in a time of digital and genetic revolution. Emerging technology and genomic manipulations will make many changes in our practice of medicine that unless we keep up to date with the changes, we will be left behind.

Aside from learning new things, we must keep sharpening our medical skills as we go along. The lesson from Ecclesiastes is that an axe may start out well when it is new and sharp. Continuous use will blunt the edge. So will our clinical skills. Unless we are care, continuously reviewing and retraining, our skills will deteriorate. Experience may mean the fruit of repetition. It may also means repeating the same mistakes repeatedly. So take opportunity of every learning situation you encounter. Also always strive to be better than you already are. Success in medicine is knowing what to do, when to do it, and doing it well.

An axe may be sharp. It is then only a sharp axe. It is nothing without the skill of the woodsman or woodswomen who yields it. Learning is a whole body experience. It is not just head knowledge. It involves patience, muscle memories, and our transformation. As Christians and as medical professionals, our learning must involve a great appreciation of the Creator of this universe and lead us into deeper worship.

Further reading: 2 Timothy 2:15

Prayer: Lord, help us to keep our skills and mind sharp so that we may serve patients you have given us well. Amen

Letters to a Young Doctor: Fears and Anxieties

Fears and Anxieties

Psalm 46:1–3 (NIV)

¹ God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. ² Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,³ though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.

Mental health issues are very high among the medical fraternity. This is often not noted and highlighted until someone suffers a metal breakdown or commit suicide. Every year, a large number of mental practitioners resigns to seek other employments. This silent pandemic is often well known but not highlighted. Doctors, by their training, are problem solvers. Doctors who share their mental problems are often stigmatized as being weak or not fit to be a doctor. These issues are real issues. Practicing medicine is a high stress profession. Not only a doctor has to deal with helping a patient, the doctor also has to interact with the patients’ families, the senior doctors, and the working environment. A doctor may not have the extra time he/she needs to destress and unwind.

Hence it is vital that a doctor develops a close relationship with the Lord who is our refuge and our strength. No matter how busy we are, we can carve out segments of time to pray and be still before the Lord. It is a means of destressing as we pour out our anger and anxiety to him. The Lord understands out situation very well. The Lord is also our refuge as we seek to rest in him. And he will give us the strength to go back into the wards or clinics.

Having this outlet allows us to deal with our fear and anxieties. It is essential that we remember that we practice medicine but it is the Lord who heals. There are many things that are not in our control. We need to identify those things that are under our control and take care of them. Those which are not under our control, we have to learn to let go and let the Lord takes care of them. We have to deal with our fears and anxieties or they will destroy us.

Further reading: Psalm 46:10

Prayer: Lord, please take our fears and anxieties. Be our refuge and strength. Amen.

Letters to a Young Doctor: Portrait

Portrait

Jeremiah 18:3–4 (NIV)

3 So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. 4 But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.

Eugene Peterson, a pastor, shared a story about getting his portrait painted by a German artist during his student days. Instead of a handsome, wise, caring face, the artist painted a gaunt face with sunken and sunken eyes! This, the artist who had lived through the Second World years when the church supported the German state, said Eugene look like if continued on his course to be a pastor. In the coming years as a pastor, the work will squeeze the morality and compassion out of Eugene until he will look like the person the artist painted. Eugene kept the portrait, occasionally looking at it to remind himself not to become like that.

Being a doctor is a privilege. It is hard and stressful work with long hours. The price is often very high: broken marriages, estranged relationships with children, little friends, and even less leisure time. The work of doctor is similar to the work of a pastor. If we are not careful, it can squeeze the morality and compassion out of us.

A successful doctor will be crowned with prestige, fame, and wealth. All these are very tempting and there is never enough. We may be tempted to take moral shortcuts at get more.  The more successful, the more it demands of us in terms of time and stress. We will have less time to pray, read the Bible, and be involved in a church community. Stress and tiredness make us less compassionate. We became irritable and impatient. Let us resolve early in our career on how much success do we want and to decide how we want to balance our career, family, and church.

Further reading: Mark 8:36

Prayer: Lord, mold us into vessels for your use, and protect us from too much success. Amen.

Letters to a Young Doctor: Apple

Apple that falls far from the Tree

2 Kings 22:2 (NIV)

² He [Josiah] did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and followed completely the ways of his father David, not turning aside to the right or to the left.

Josiah was one of the good and faithful king of Judah. His grandfather, King Manasseh, was one of the worst king of Judah. He allowed Baal and Asherah worship in the Temple, which he also converted into a sex shrine, and made human sacrifices (he even sacrificed one of his own son!). King Manasseh ruled Judah for 55 years. Josiah’s father, King Amon, was no better and ruled for 2 years. Yet, out of this culture of evil and idolatry, Josiah grew up faithful to Yahweh. One of the mysteries of life that no matter how bad the environment, sometimes, something good may emerge. The axiom that “an apple never falls far from the tree” is not always correct.

One of the challenges of working in a medical environment is that the department in which a young doctor works may be filled with selfish, lazy, and totally unmotivated colleagues. Some may be senior and just marking time waiting for their pensions. Others, not only are they disinterested in caring for patients, but also lacking in any medical skills. William Osler noted, “By far the most dangerous foe we have to fight is apathy – indifference from whatever cause, not from a lack of knowledge, but from carelessness, from absorption in other pursuits, from a contempt bred of self-satisfaction”. Working in such environment may be depressing and dispiriting.

During the dark reign of King Manasseh and King Amon, Josiah and Jeremiah were born. These two, one destined to be a religious reformer king and another a prophet of God, grew up in the dark times. Yet, their souls and spirits remain uncorrupted.

A doctor’s working environment may not be always ideal. Whatever environment you find yourself in, do not allow it to corrupt your spirit and your soul. Do not allow it to lower your standard of medical care. Pray for protection and thrive.

Further reading: 2 Kings 23:1-3

Prayer: Lord, help us to adapt to our working environment but no to be corrupted by it. Amen.

Letters to a Young Doctor: Chosen Ones

Chosen Ones

Jeremiah 1:5 (NIV)

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”

When I started medical practice after my graduation, it was a great thrill to be addressed as Doctor! Now after fifty years of practice, it has become my name. It feels strange (to me) to be addressed by name without the doctor in front. I am the doctor. Did I choose to be a doctor? Yes! Will I do it again? Yes! Jeremiah gave a new perspective on this. Did he become a prophet? Yes, he did. Did he want to be a prophet? Yes, he did, abate reluctantly at first. Initially, it seems like our choice that made us who we are. On closer examination of what Jeremiah wrote, it seems that it was God who created us, chose us, and send us to be what we are now. So becoming a prophet should not be a surprise to Jeremiah. God created Jeremiah to be a prophet; he equipped and sent him forth to an unwary Israel. What about us. Did God chose us to be who we are now, equipped us and sent us forth? I believe he did. We are not here by accident but by divine planning even before creation. There must be times when we look around our working environment and wonder if we are in the right place, or even in the right profession! Jeremiah must have felt the same way! What we can learn from Jeremiah s that he stuck to his calling with honesty and integrity in a hostile environment, just doing what has created him to do. What about us? Can we do less?

Further reading: Jeremiah 25:3-5

Prayer: God, help us to be who you have created us to be and do what you have chosen us to do.

Some Concerns about COVID-19 Vaccines

Addressing some concerns about COVID-19 Vaccines

•Safety •Efficacy and Effectiveness •Side effects •Use of human cell lines •Long term immunity •SARS-CoV-2 mutation variants •Human mutation – grow extra arm? •Mark of the Beast

About COVID-19 Vaccines

Some information about the different types of COVID-19 Vaccines

COVID-19 Vaccines: Facts, Myths, and Misinformation

Some Christian considerations on the COVID-19 vaccine. Talk delivered 07 February 2021 to Petaling Jaya Evangelical Free Church (PJEFC), Malaysia

Reimagining Christian Spiritualities in the time of COVID-19 Pandemic

 

 

You are invited to join me for this Zoom session. Even though it is for Medical and Dental professionals and students, you are welcome to join us even if you are not a healthcare worker. It is open to all who are interested in Christian spiritualities in this pandemic period.

Register here

bit.ly/mdcfmaugust

MCO#3 Tell the Truth

MCO Day 3 Telling the Truth

Luke 8:17 –  For all that is secret will eventually be brought into the open, and everything that is concealed will be brought to light and made known to all.

My respect and heart go to the frontline troopers in this war against the COVID-19 pandemic. These are the nurses, doctors, radiographers, nursing assistants, clerks, cleaners, and all others who stand in the frontline, defending us from the infection. It is a tense and stressful calling. We never know if or when we may become infected in spite of the numerous layers of protective layers we wear. The N95 masks are really uncomfortable. The face shield cumbersome. And the constant fear- whether we become infected or worse, we infect our loved ones. I can still remember the days of SARS where the moment I reached home, I would make a beeline for the bathroom to change out of the hospital scrubs, scrub and wash myself, and wear clean clothes before I hug and kiss my wife and children. The fear combined with the long hours were exhausting and spirit draining. Now 18 years later, I am called upon to fight another virus, SARS-CoV-2. I am in solidarity with the younger doctors who are in the direct line of fire.

It is one thing to treat an infection, it is worse when your patients lie to you. Any important fact we need to know is whether the patient was involved in a religious or political gathering where there are infected persons, or in close contact with an infected person. Knowing this information will help the medical team protect themselves and their management of the condition.

But some patients always lie. It is standard for us to ask these risk questions but they will lie. The doctors then proceed with the treatment and somewhere along the way the truth will come out. Either from the spouse or relatives. This places the whole medical team at risk. The team will have to be screened and quarantined. Some team members will become infected and may die from the virus. I always wondered how some people be so selfish. There are limited numbers of doctors and medical teams.

I wish sincerely that patients will tell the truth. When we treat patients, there is a unique bond formed. Discovering the lies later, I feel so betrayed. So please, if you have a history of overseas travel to infected countries, taking part in a religious conference or service, and suspect you have been exposed to the virus, tell us. TELL THE TRUTH, Do not hide the facts until it is too late. Don’t be responsible for the death of a young promising doctor because if your lies.