What Community Medicine Taught Me

Back to Basics It is often said that the best diagnostic tool that a physician may have is doing correct history and physical examination. This is very much true in the urban community setting for one is only armed with a sharp eye and perceptive touch. The art of inspection, percussion, palpation and auscultation were notably practiced to reach a correct diagnosis. Through independent patient interaction, we develop our clinical eye. Prioritizing Diagnostics Resources in the urban community is very much limited. Having this in mind, we learned to prioritize the ancillary procedures we request. The reckless ordering of unnecessary procedures is not recommended. We realized to ask what is really needed and truly essential. Science vs. Myth One of the hardest task to do with regard to dealing with patients is to uneducated them with their numerous myths and fallacies. They believe in things as usog, pasma and natuyuan ng pawis as the cause of their disease. We recognized the lack of education of the patient and the need to uneducated them regarding their false beliefs in their sickness. Speaking the Native Tongue As most patients speak and understand the native language, we made an extra effort in explaining the disease process, its prevention and treatment in Filipino. As such, we become a holistic physician. Team We realized that if all of us – the doctors, nurses, midwives and dentists – work as one, we could accomplish our work efficiently. Given an average number of seventy to eighty patients per day, we need to work hand-in-hand to finish on time.