Currently posted in ECT...that is for the past 2 weeks and two more weeks I shall be providing short General Anaesthesia (Short GA) or TIVA (Total Intravenous Anaesthesia) to patients undergoing ECT or Electro convulsive therapy, the so called "shock therapy"
No, shock therapy is NOT as scary, greusome as shown in films and soaps on TV.
1) The patient is well sedated, rather anaesthetised and doesn't remember that he underwent shock therapy
2) He/She is relaxed and does not convulse like "oh-my-god-he's-going-to-die"
3) After the procedure, in 5 minutes flat, te patient walks out of the ECT room to his bed, on his own
Ward 1 is our Psychiatry ward. Secluded from the rest of the hospital, this ward has a mix of patients. The ward (thankfully) has staff who is EXCELLENT.....all in caps. Patient with their patients, efficient, with a decent amout of sense of humour...all that you need to survive in a ward of so called "mad" people (Its a CRIME to call them that)
There's a girl who's violent, one who is so quiet that it hurts, one who sings aloud and dances all over the ward, when she is not crying for her "mummy", two schizophrenic brothers......They all make me wish I had taken up psychiatry as my field of specialisation. Though I'm not too sure I would have been able to digest their sorrow, heal their pain, face the fact that I may never be able to treat them and live peacefully inspite of and amidst all that.......
Whatever.....
Came across a nice blog of an Anaesthesiologist from Boston.... Notes of an Anesthesioboist.
Inspired by her old post I too would love to make a list of what I would have loved to be if I wasn't an Anaesthesiologist (read studying to be an anaesthesiologist)
1. Psychiatrist
2. Ophthalmologist
3. Pastry Chef
4. Own a Coffee shop
5. Classical Music Performer
10. Stage Actor
20. Preprimay teacher
50. General Surgeon
100. Dentist
5,000. General Practitioner
1,00,000. Spiritual Guru (Heh heh, suggest me a good name)
3,99,999. Ob Gy
4,00,000. House wife
so they are lying in the movies eh?
ReplyDeletedon't worry...even if you practice normal medicine you will come across a lot of psychos :D
You perhaps might find this video interesting. Lovely blog!
ReplyDeleteNice to have you back on the blogs.
ReplyDeleteWhy does the patients undergoes ECT ?
I recommend having a look at the book 'Artist's Way' by Julia Cameron on beings we would like to have been if ..... And there is lot more to it. Can be very helpful to nurture an artist in ourselves.
ReplyDeletegood to see that you felt sorry for the crazies.
ReplyDeletewhat i really find disturbing is the pharmacological approach to mental illness thats become the mainstay now.
if you visit a shrink, chances are he is gonna try to fit you into one of the known pathologic entities, and start you on meds pronto.
i prefer the more romanticised approach to psychiatry where th doc really cares about the patient. i agree that behavioural therapy is incredibly demanding and frequently unrewarding
but to convert all the mad people into docile models of controlled human behaviour is simply insane.
but then, it'd take a very tough mind to take on psychiatry. i cant help but laugh when i observe the social behaviour of lotsa shrinks. its like they are constantly chasing the set criteria for normalcy. and how they consciously violate a few norms cuz even that is absolut normal.
so heres the puzzle that puzzles me?whats better? a sane doc who goes insane cuz of his patients.. or a mathematician who adds n subtracts neurotransmitter imbalance, n doles out drugs with the impassivity of an undertaker?
(couldnt resist the melodrama:D)