When I was in medical school, my professors used to have medical rounds in the mornings and evenings. I was very happy to do rounds with them, and wished to do the same in the future. Despite the best efforts by our professors, however, the patients and patient parties were not fully satisfied with the service they received. I used to hear the patients and their caretakers complain that there was not enough time given to discuss their illnesses. These were things I used to hear while working as an intern during medical school. I came to the conclusion that their dissatisfaction was in part due to a communication gap between the doctor and the patients.
I learned my lesson from that very moment and now, as a medical officer here at Bayalpata Hospital, I want to do something new to bring smiles to my patients. Today I began a new practice: making rounds with the patient parties. This morning, I called all the patient parties to the chautari (gathering space) near the hospital, and asked them to talk about the patients’ illnesses, their improvement or deterioration, and any difficulties they and their relatives are facing. It made all of them happy to have such organized meetings with the doctors, in such a way that the mutual relationship between the doctor and patient was maintained and there was no miscommunication between them. In return, I explained to each of them about the illnesses of the patients, their prognoses, and the need for referrals. This was a relatively new approach that I wanted to try, based on the lessons I had learned from my medical school. It made me very happy to see that the patients’ relatives found it very helpful to know about the recent developments of the patients’ illnesses.
Nyaya Health is teaching me new lessons every day and this was one that I learned today: making morning and evening rounds, plus rounds with the patients’ parties, establishes even stronger bonds between the doctor and patient. Following this morning’s meeting, I was happy to know that patients are very much satisfied with the services Nyaya Health provides for them.
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Dr. Roshan Bista graduated from the Institute of Medicine, Kathmandu with an MBBS. He is currently the Medical Officer at Nyaya Health.
