Medical Education for Public

While waiting for a patient today, I talked with an old lady which came to the Orthopedic clinic for her appointment due to her bilateral knee osteoarthritis. She had suffered those condition since 2007 and her 2013's version of X-Ray has shown some of the osteoarthritic changes for both of her knees. Later she was asked to do another X-Ray since it has been 5 years since the last time she did an X-Ray. She told me that few years back, she was recommended by her doctor to undergo some form of surgery (in which she didn't understand the purpose of it) to improve her symptom such as pain but she refused to do so as she was scared of the outcome of the surgery. She has been enduring chronic pain all this while but she still was able to do house chores every single day, went to market every single morning and came for an appointment without defaulting any of it. I was a bit impressed by her positive attitude but after talking to her, its occur to me that she does not have enough information about her condition and the surgery to make an informed consent for the recommendation imposed on her few years back.

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I didn't implied that her doctor was not doing a good job, it is difficult for us to explain the nature of certain diseases without using a medical term to a patient. Sometimes, they understood but most of the time, they just nod without understanding any of it. This is why a form of education for the general public is important. People need to know the fact about some of the common diseases in Malaysia such as Diabetes, Hypertension, Osteoarthritis etc. so that they will understand the risk and what to expect which will affect their motivation in getting a treatment. This is still a difficult area in Malaysia as it is still unknown whether or not the general public does not have enough information about certain diseases or they just don't care about the outcome. Most of the advertisement which advertised on the television focused more on the symptoms without highlighting the importance of getting treatment for certain diseases.

It was difficult, but I think, I did my best, explaining to her in the simplest term possible to let her understand the disease that she was having since 2007 and why should we consider surgery. She smiled and said she will consider it. As she went home, I was staring her from afar, wondering if someday, I could make a considerable impact to the society that will revolutionize and improve the healthcare, in the future. I pray that day will come and I will do my best to contribute. It will always be my pleasure.