This has been inside my head for so long that I need to get it all out. Like, now.
A text conversation with a college buddy last week finally pulled the trigger. Like me, she is a doctor now. We were merely catching up on each other's lives when we reached the topic of 'raket.' In case you are not from this side of the planet, raket is a Tagalog slang for anything that you earn from. It could be your present job, it could be a big- or a small-scale business. In our case, doctors, it could mean where one is going on duty, or the hospital/company where one is currently affiliated with or working in.
My college buddy was asking if I could give her some additional raket while she waits for her stint in Palawan next month. I jokingly told her what she needs the additional raket for when she's got more than enough. To which she replied, "Mura bya ta'g artista - 'No show, No business'" ('Cause you know, we doctors are like celebrities - No show, no business.)
Then I thought, exactly.
Apparently, we share a few more things with celebrities. The comparison may put you in awe, but please do take note, that while celebrities are busy with the performing arts, we physicians are dealing with life here.
1. No show, no business. Doctors don't have bread if referrals or patients stop pouring in, or if we don't go on duty and try to skip clinics hours. Pretty much like celebrities who won't earn a buck or two, if they don't have any project.
2. We are judged by appearance. In the third world, doctors occupy a high socio-economic stratum and therefore most people would expect doctors to dress in clothing that is top-of-the line, wear extravagant jewelry, and drive a car . In a way, doctors have to look very good, the way celebrities strive to look good. Like them, we are selling ourselves. Long before the doctor opens his mouth and explains the patient's case, the patient or the patient's family most of the time already has a first impression of the doctor in their midst. This is a reality because patients look up to their doctors. Even if a doctor is the most bright in his specialty but he/she dresses like a pauper, he/she is deemed to be less credible by patients and the community as a whole, and may even be snobbed and encounter raised eyebrows if he/she declares that he/she is a doctor.
3. We are not spared from chismis. Chismis is the Tagalog slang for rumors. Every celebrity has a dark secret just as every doctor hides a skeleton in his closet. No matter how busy things are in the hospital, it amazes me that people inside it still have the time to spread rumors about doctors. The rumormongers painstakingly dig deeper into our white coats to be able to conclude that those who wear it are not as white as all. Interestingly, feasting on chismis helps us doctors stay awake specially when we perform surgical procedures in the wee hours of the night. Actually only two topics keep surgeons from drooping while doing an operation - sex and chismis.
4. We work long hours. Yes, we do. If celebrities spend nights to shoot a movie or tape a show, finishing only in the morning, we doctors can go on 24-hour duty for ten or fifteen days. During the evenings of our duty days, we alternately slip into wakefulness and sleep since patients come in such an unpredictable manner. Others come in early while some would choose to come in after midnight, or at dawn - sometimes for health complaints which bothered them for months. As we wake up and go back to sleep, we also alternately turn our brains on and off as we wring it to come up with the correct diagnosis for a patient who, let's say, came in for consult at 3 a.m. in the morning. Sometimes, even sleep is not completely ours to enjoy when we are on duty. Doctors are probably the lightest sleepers in the world for instantly waking up once the phone rings.
5. We are thriving in a dog-eat-dog world. Well, I guess I need not say more about this.
6. We gain sponsorships. An inherent reality in a dog-eat-dog world is to scratch each other's backs. If celebrities endorse a product which they trust, doctors do that in a way when we prescribe medications. I think there is nothing wrong with this as long as the doctor believes in the product that he or she is endorsing - that it is the appropriate drug that could cure and control the patient's condition - and is not merely doing it for the perks that come with it.
7. Everyone at work has to know our whereabouts almost all the time. This is for the sake of our patients, and for celebrities, for the sake of their fans.
8. We have to schedule our vacations way ahead of time. Doctors are just too busy that we will be compromising our patients' welfare if we decide to make a spur-of-the-moment decision of flying to Timbuktu the following day.
9. We strive to sharpen our skills. We keep on moving forward. Celebrities attend workshops to hone their acting skills. Doctors attend conferences to update ourselves with the latest development in the medical world. Medicine is an art and a science, but what most people don't know, is that it is a science that continues to evolve.
10. We are not perfect. We are still humans, remember. Just like celebrities, we doctors trip and stumble along the way, but we always strive to get up from where we fell and give our best to digest the lesson that life wants us to learn out of a certain experience.
Then I thought, exactly.
My college buddy was asking if I could give her some additional raket while she waits for her stint in Palawan next month. I jokingly told her what she needs the additional raket for when she's got more than enough. To which she replied, "Mura bya ta'g artista - 'No show, No business'" ('Cause you know, we doctors are like celebrities - No show, no business.)
Then I thought, exactly.
Apparently, we share a few more things with celebrities. The comparison may put you in awe, but please do take note, that while celebrities are busy with the performing arts, we physicians are dealing with life here.
1. No show, no business. Doctors don't have bread if referrals or patients stop pouring in, or if we don't go on duty and try to skip clinics hours. Pretty much like celebrities who won't earn a buck or two, if they don't have any project.
2. We are judged by appearance. In the third world, doctors occupy a high socio-economic stratum and therefore most people would expect doctors to dress in clothing that is top-of-the line, wear extravagant jewelry, and drive a car . In a way, doctors have to look very good, the way celebrities strive to look good. Like them, we are selling ourselves. Long before the doctor opens his mouth and explains the patient's case, the patient or the patient's family most of the time already has a first impression of the doctor in their midst. This is a reality because patients look up to their doctors. Even if a doctor is the most bright in his specialty but he/she dresses like a pauper, he/she is deemed to be less credible by patients and the community as a whole, and may even be snobbed and encounter raised eyebrows if he/she declares that he/she is a doctor.
3. We are not spared from chismis. Chismis is the Tagalog slang for rumors. Every celebrity has a dark secret just as every doctor hides a skeleton in his closet. No matter how busy things are in the hospital, it amazes me that people inside it still have the time to spread rumors about doctors. The rumormongers painstakingly dig deeper into our white coats to be able to conclude that those who wear it are not as white as all. Interestingly, feasting on chismis helps us doctors stay awake specially when we perform surgical procedures in the wee hours of the night. Actually only two topics keep surgeons from drooping while doing an operation - sex and chismis.
4. We work long hours. Yes, we do. If celebrities spend nights to shoot a movie or tape a show, finishing only in the morning, we doctors can go on 24-hour duty for ten or fifteen days. During the evenings of our duty days, we alternately slip into wakefulness and sleep since patients come in such an unpredictable manner. Others come in early while some would choose to come in after midnight, or at dawn - sometimes for health complaints which bothered them for months. As we wake up and go back to sleep, we also alternately turn our brains on and off as we wring it to come up with the correct diagnosis for a patient who, let's say, came in for consult at 3 a.m. in the morning. Sometimes, even sleep is not completely ours to enjoy when we are on duty. Doctors are probably the lightest sleepers in the world for instantly waking up once the phone rings.
5. We are thriving in a dog-eat-dog world. Well, I guess I need not say more about this.
6. We gain sponsorships. An inherent reality in a dog-eat-dog world is to scratch each other's backs. If celebrities endorse a product which they trust, doctors do that in a way when we prescribe medications. I think there is nothing wrong with this as long as the doctor believes in the product that he or she is endorsing - that it is the appropriate drug that could cure and control the patient's condition - and is not merely doing it for the perks that come with it.
7. Everyone at work has to know our whereabouts almost all the time. This is for the sake of our patients, and for celebrities, for the sake of their fans.
8. We have to schedule our vacations way ahead of time. Doctors are just too busy that we will be compromising our patients' welfare if we decide to make a spur-of-the-moment decision of flying to Timbuktu the following day.
9. We strive to sharpen our skills. We keep on moving forward. Celebrities attend workshops to hone their acting skills. Doctors attend conferences to update ourselves with the latest development in the medical world. Medicine is an art and a science, but what most people don't know, is that it is a science that continues to evolve.
10. We are not perfect. We are still humans, remember. Just like celebrities, we doctors trip and stumble along the way, but we always strive to get up from where we fell and give our best to digest the lesson that life wants us to learn out of a certain experience.
Then I thought, exactly.
Korek! Especially about the sex and chismis part during a surgery. LOL
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