I love to practice my golf game. There’s no pressure, you don't get all choked up and send one screaming off into the woods. Its practice, even if you do shank one right this your time to work out the kinks. But when a doctor has to practice, it’s a whole different story. In Atul Gawandes article “The Learning Curve” he writes about his early days as a surgeon, and the procedures he learned by “practicing” on humans. It brings up a valid question in the modern medical field. How can we let our young surgeons get the practice they need without it being a risk to the public?
When I think of practice, I think about grabbing my weapons (golf clubs) and going out to the driving range and launching some eggs down a fairway. Golf is the modern day witchcraft; it can be such an evil game. Practice is a necessity unless your golf game revolves around you snapping clubs in frustration over your knees. In my case of practice, the only person that I can hurt is maybe the acne infested range cart driver. When a young M.D. practices, he is not just swatting at some cheap golf cart. They’re practicing on testy, scared people, who have no idea what’s going on with them. Is this a good thing? Should we come up with new ways of letting them “work out their kinks”? Dental students use robotic mannequins (pictured above, without the skin) with replica teeth and nerve an ending that dramatizes the "practice". These robots will even jerk themselves occasionally to simulate a human in a chair.
With all that is at stake in the medical field and the finances invested in new medical technology, I think money would be well spent inventing new ways that could help our future doctors unnerving first day experiences. With malpractice suits at an all time high, and our health care insurance cost rising by the second. Instead of knocking out the prenatal care unit, maybe these hospital directors can fire some of those high priced lawyers representing the hospital best interest. As a member of an HMO (I know, being a member just means I will die quicker) frequently new doctors treat my common medical needs. While I've never been cautious about the treatment I've received. I would feel even more confident about their practices knowing that they've received some type of personal-mechanical training. I know they’re never going to get all the help they need to quell their first day jitters, but after reading Gawandes article on his first day blunders: I feel something must be done. I don’t want to be the recipient of someone else’s first day jitters.