my first patient

Since I was a child I wanted to be a doctor. I often used to imagine the scene that I will check my first patient that day, in particular, that moment will be very special for me. It will be that instance for which I have yearned all my life. I wanted it to be perfect just like I will be wearing a white doctor’s coat and sitting gracefully in a beautiful chair. My patient will come to me. I will greet him warmly with a smile and ask him about his problem. He will tell me the symptoms of him. I will listen to you patiently and with full concentration, then carefully make my diagnoses and prescribe treatment. The patient will leave totally satisfied and impressed.

After so many years of canvas and hard work that day finally came but in the way I least expected things to happen. It was the first day of my second year of medical education, we had heard that the second year is completely related to clinical practice, but I thought that the teachers will not let us deal with patients on the first day, there will only be an orientation ceremony, and then we will be free. So I dressed appropriately and left for the hospital when I was at the front door. I realized that I had left my overalls (white coat) in a hurry at home. I thought it wasn’t a big deal. I won’t need it today. I got to my classroom, our teacher came and gave his speech, which was more like a warning that any kind of irresponsible behavior will not be tolerated and we will have to suffer the consequences. The welcome our teacher gave us was good enough to make the blood in my glasses freeze, but it seems my teacher wasn’t satisfied with just that, so to my great surprise, he announced that all students have been assigned homework. in different rooms and have to report. on their prizes in half an hour. So, to my great disappointment, I was going to see my first patient without my coveralls, my perfect moment already blown before it even started. But I encouraged myself that I will finally examine a patient, in itself it will be a pleasure for me after all this is something I always wanted to do. My duty was in the Ophthalmology department in the refraction room in the automatic refraction machine.

My elders were present to guide me but the problem was that the room was already full of patients waiting their turn every second that passed they became restless and impatient some women spoke loudly arguing with the staff that there is a rush so they should be checked ​first since they cannot wait their turn. I was very confused and bewildered at the same time. I had to check the treatment of patients with the restless ladies and crying children. He had to guess what the patient was saying in all this noise. There was no pretty chair, no calm and quiet environment. Not a white coat. instead there was an old stool, I the autorefraction machine and a group of restless people. At the end of the day I was so tired that after coming home I immediately went to sleep when I woke up after a couple of hours, it seemed to me that I was spending the day in a fish market and not in a hospital. I tried very hard, but I couldn’t remember who my first patient was, a man or a woman, a child or an old person. I had seen so many patients in a tense and busy environment that I had completely forgotten about it. Many faces came to mind, but I wasn’t sure which one I checked first.

So my perfect moment came in a very imperfect way and it happened. Well I guess that’s life, things happen in unexpected ways and we have to live with all of that, but I think all of this makes our lives worth living.