Helping medical students become better doctors

At QMed we marvel at so many things that are unique about us. One aspect is that very often the people who experience the benefits of our work, give us a donation to support our work. 

One such person is Dr Jawahar  – an Orthopedic Surgeon. Some years ago he had attended our workshop. But there is that much a practising surgeon can retain from a workshop and actually apply. The best learning they get is – they know what they can and cannot expect and they know how to communicate their needs, to information specialists like us.

 Recently Dr Jawahar called and requested:

"I have to talk on diagnosing infections in hip Arthroplasty. The target audience is Maharashtra Orthopaedic Association surgeons. Do you think you could help me with some references specially targeting newer infection markers (blood) and protocols for diagnosis?"

 If you read this carefully – he told us all that we needed. The topic. The purpose for his search. The target audience. The topic’s nuances. He further mentioned that there were others talking on other aspects, and he specifically needed only the above.

 Very often people who have not gone through our programs, do not give us such specifics, let alone the reason for their wanting a search done. Every bit matters when one does a literature search. We can learn lots of techniques (QMed indeed teaches plenty of them) – but one needs to know how to apply them for different purposes and contexts.

 It took me very little time to work on this and we sent him around 50 results. In two days he responded – “The references are great” and sent us a donation for the same!

We really appreciate Dr Jawahar – not just for his donation (though we are indeed grateful for it). We think it is great that that he made the effort to ask for professional help, and that he read up a number of very relevant articles in order to cover the best of the latest, in his talk. And of course – we are really happy to have contributed to this. 

Such doctors also give a crucial message to medical students - that it is important to find the best literature to do any professional work in medicine and it is good to get help from information specialists. 

Do listen to this short video clip by the doctor - We have his approval for sharing this video.  

Links:

• A documentary about our Foundation
• Our e-learning courses
• QMed Knowledge Foundation

I would love to share a story of the human experiences when I travel by train, as I spread QMed's mission. Do write back if you enjoyed this. I would love to hear from you: 

When I conduct workshops in cities, most often I fly. We read a lot about flying woes these days – delayed flights and more. With train journeys, for me they are a wee bit more challenging as I get on in years. But my love for delivering lectures and conducting workshops all over India, makes me decide to accept most of these challenges!

I am sharing the “good aspects” that I recently encountered, in the midst of challenges.

In 2023, I had done a workshop in Anand (Gujarat), and later a lecture in Dhule (Maharashtra). After the workshop at Anand, during my return journey, there was a confusion about where my train coach would appear. I kept getting different inputs from the railway website and from people on the platform.

Finally, I approached a room with policemen and asked them. One cop came out and said – “Please wait for a bit and I will revert”. In a short while he came out and escorted me to almost the other end of the platform. Not just that, he carried my laptop bag and my small suitcase, seeing that I had some difficulty in walking. He ensured that I had a comfortable seat on the platform and also told me where exactly my coach would come. He had to leave. He gave me his mobile number and said “If you have any problem, please call me”!

Most often we only read about complaints regarding officials and cops. This was a wonderful human story that I felt I must share.

Similarly, on my return trip from Dhule, my train was delayed by a full three hours. Which meant that instead of a (late enough) 10.30 PM, I had to wait till 1.30 AM to board the train – in a small town station. I reached the platform at 11.30 AM (knowing that the train would be late). The Professor who invited me, sent his driver to drop me at the station. This driver came with me to the platform, spoke with some railway personnel, found my coach position and settled me there. And the railway personnel also told me that he would be around (on night duty) and would assist me if I needed.

He kept his word and checked twice more with the control room and made sure that my coach would be at the point where I was waiting.

I’d like to stress that in these stations, the train stops for barely two minutes and for people like me it is important that I do not have to run a distance to reach my coach. Officials like these make it so good for senior citizens.

And, they help us carry out QMed’s mission. I offer a silent thank you to them!

QMed has miles to go before our teaching reaches all health sciences institutions – by inclusion in the curriculum. All of us at QMed have pledged that we will not rest till we achieve this mission. All of us constantly move out of our comfort zones. I did my share recently by accepting the challenges of unearthly travel times and some unpredictable instances. I love what I do.

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Links:

• A documentary about our Foundation
• Our e-learning courses
• QMed Knowledge Foundation