𝙁𝙎𝙎 𝙀𝙑𝙀𝙉𝙏: 𝙎𝙐𝙍𝙂𝙄𝘾𝘼𝙇 𝙎𝙋𝙀𝘾𝙄𝘼𝙇𝙄𝙏𝙄𝙀𝙎 (𝙨𝙬𝙚𝙚𝙩𝙨 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙨𝙪𝙧𝙜𝙚𝙤𝙣𝙨)

 

FSS event 2: Sweets with surgeons

 

“As a surgeon you have to have a controlled arrogance. If it's uncontrolled, you kill people, but you have to be pretty arrogant to see through a person's chest, take out their heart and believe you can fix it. Then, when you succeed and the patient survives, you pray, because it's only by the grace of God that you get there.”
-Mehmet Oz

 

The seminar held by FSS last Friday on vascular surgery, under the chief speaker Dr.Uzair (Vascular surgeon) (Assist. Professor surgery, FMC) led me to believe in this quote regarding surgeons.
The seminar was held to enlighten us regarding the sub field of vascular surgery. Yet from an ordinary medical student’s perspective, I’d say there was far more in the seminar that I got enlightened from for my future as a medical practitioner.

Firstly, I got apprised of the fact that where Pakistan stands in the field of surgery.
 Vascular surgery pertains as a sub specialty of general surgery but holds an immense importance in terms of diseases of stroke, embolism, thrombosis and majorly any coronary artery disease, and many such diseases which if not treated can ultimately lead to limb amputation, or lifelong support on drugs. Out of the four eras of evolution in vascular surgery, the people of Pakistan are still pertaining in era III, with only 7 army vascular surgeons in the whole of Pakistan, those too in the main provincial capitals only. With a lack of vascular labs and vascular surgery centers, we have a rather disorganized and expensive system of operating as compared to the west. This leads to the people of the country suffering from far more complicated diseases than we used to have. And hence the risks of vascular disease in majority of people increase. 

This made me realize how short we fall when it comes to medical students being aware regarding the field of surgery in Pakistan. Through the fiasco of MDCAT thousands of students strive to get an admission in medicine every year, but still our country faces the shortage of practitioners in many cardinal specialties. It made me realize how we as doctors need to remain more up to dated regarding our future while in medical college, which we can by joining  such seminars, webinars or the least even through medical magazines.

Furthermore, Dr. Uzair educated us upon the list of things that a vascular surgeon must uptake pre and post operation and basics of any procedure that takes place in vascular surgery. He illuminated upon us the importance of each pre opt step that leads us to a fine surgery and how those pre opt procedures are enabled so immaculately to reduce error.
All this knowledge upon the procedures in vascular surgery and the discussion regarding any queries pertaining this really helped out my seniors of 4^th and final year of medicine. As a second year student I might be just a stranger now to all the procedures he explained, but I could still extract answers to many of my questions from his explanations. From a junior foundation year student, who is really curious of how her clinical years are going to be like and who wonders if she will ever be sufficiently prepared to suffer the ire of the senior doctors in the upcoming years, I finally got an answer so as to how am I supposed to study in my foundation years which can lead me to a fearless clinical year experience.

I got a strong realization of how our clinical practice has its foundation based upon the starting two most important years, in which we study the basics. Instead of crammed grades, we need to have an efficient study methodology in those years. For instance, it’s often believed how studying anatomy well beforehand helps to understand the physiological process better, but a revelation this time was how we miss the last step of re-going through both and combining both to make one set key for each system of the body in which the physiology and anatomy correlate and can help solve the pertaining pathology of the disease. This “way of studying” and “way we must EVOLVE our personality” I learnt from the session was priceless. I never thought how under the all superficial knowledge of seminar would underlie the answers to these questions too!

Last but certainly not the least , I was in awe to know how sir came after a night shift of hernia surgery and a morning surgery on rectus repair. Not only did he come completely prepared for the seminar, but he was also extremely calm, engaging and had an energy and zest, which made us all lazy and sleepy heads who couldn’t wait to slumber at home for two days now, move in passion, as he grasped our attention through his interacting session and also showed us some awfully cool surgery videos from the Methodist (a hospital whose videos he suggested to be the best for cardiovascular surgery procedures).

That moved me the most at the end. The whole session made me ponder on many aspects of how am I dealing my MBBS studies and how should I actually, how am I handling my physical health and stamina and what is the ideal one that I’d require in the future, made me have a look at my life and realize that is this the path that I’m hoping to follow, to become a great doctor or a surgeon one day?

For all this enlightenment, I don’t think any appreciations would be enough if given to the FSS for up taking this initiative to awaken an eye in the students of FMC towards their own lives, and guide the students of FMC to become great professionals one day. I would like to encourage everyone who might read this blog, to reduce the useless activities and take time out for such sessions, if you actually want to excel in your profession one day!

Written by:  Aiza Anwar (publishing director)
edited by:  Imad naeem (publishing head)