Building a sense of belonging

One of the pleasant experiences of living and working in a rural hospital is its community life. 

Anna and I visited a few mission hospitals in the last five years. The hospitals we visited more than once, were the hospitals where our children were working to fulfill their sponsorship obligations. During such times, we got a feel of the quality of friendships, relationships and fellowship times the staff and families shared during normal times and festive occasions.

In one hospital it started with a chapel service, which was special as it was well attended and participatory.  There was joy shared and celebrated.

After this the doctors on duty the previous night, met with the senior doctors outside the chapel to discuss the patients welcomed, during the night and the state of their well being. We found this to be friendly and a valuable debriefing time. It was obvious that the senior doctors were concerned about how the junior doctors coped and managed different situations. 

Often the junior doctors have meals together in a common area, which gives them  opportunities to share news, views, and their learning experiences. We found such occasions relaxing and encouraging.

We liked the way they shared work, helped each other and stepped in to take responsibilities when needed even without being asked to do so. It was natural to volunteer to help whenever there was a need.

We enjoyed watching them relax in the evenings having indoor games or outdoor games. The pressure of the day and stress of work was least palpable, because they had learned to end each day with exercises and detachment.

It is most common that the seniors find or invent some reason or other to have get togethers at their homes for junior doctors. It is a good way of promoting bonding and communication. We too were invited for such gatherings and were pleased to watch the senior doctors reaching out to care and affirm.

In one hospital, the Medical Superintendent took the junior doctors to a restaurant for breakfast after the rounds on Sunday. This was the social highlight of the week.

It was the senior surgeon who sat through the night to pack the household items for a junior doctor couple who were expecting the truck to arrive for transporting the goods next morning. We have heard many such moving stories of the hospitals reaching our to the junior doctors.

Not that these hospitals did not have tensions or disputes at work place, but they were contained and attended to during such occasions when sense of belonging and collective vision were recaptured. 

There is a lot that junior doctors learn clinically, socially, culturally and beahviourally, when they go to work cross-culturally in hospitals located in rural areas. Some junior doctors have left lasting impressions and legacies during their times in rural hospitals. 

And yet, many young doctors have denied themselves this opportunity because of the lure of post-  graduate entrance test coaching, for which they enrol themselves during the internship. This to me is a pre-occupation of the young doctors than a need, as most junior doctors would have a chance to do post-graduate training sooner than later. 

It is when we are younger, we can learn some lessons or skills which we cannot learn, when we are older. A young doctor returned after two years from a hospital located near mountain range, as an outstanding mountaineer.   

The insights Anna and I gathered during our four years in rural areas continue to inspire and guide our choices.

M.C.Mathew (text and photo)