A Clash of Two Cultures

After such a long time, I laughed out whole-heartedly while reading a book.

So I am reading this book by Anne Fadiman called 'The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors and the Collision of two Cultures." I am doing it as a requirement for my Medical Anthropology class. And now I am glad I am reading it. Winner of National Book Critics Circle Award for this book, Anne Fadiman examines the cultural, linguistic and medical struggles when a Hmong girl was diagnosed with epilepsy and taken to American doctors for treatment.

I have not yet finished the book but I am already loving it and calling it one of my favorites. The book talks about the communication barrier between the American doctors and the Hmong parents that was preventing timely recovery of the little girl, Lia Lee. The parents loved Lia. They treated her like a princess. They were just not able to comprehend the prescription by the doctors. They would hence, end up giving wrong medications or skipping it altogether. The situation worsened to the extent that the Doctor recommended the case to the Child Protective Services to take away Lia from her parents for a minimum period of six months.

Obviously, the parents did not understand why their child was taken away from them. So, they threatened, a couple of times, to commit suicide if their daughter was not returned to them. That is when Anne Fadiman wrote, "The Child Protective Services considered placing the entire family in a psychiatric hospital, but decided against it." I think this is one of the saddest and the funniest lines I have ever read. You will understand it if you ever read the book.

Am I married?

Mr. Weirdo to Mr. Hat, "Can you do me a favor. Can you find out if she is married or not?"

Me, "What the...?"

Mr. Hat, "Sure. I can ask a supervisor and I know he will tell me."

Mr. Weirdo, "She says she is married but she wears the ring on other hand so that people do not know it. But that way other guys will get the wrong impression. Either she is doing wrong to her husband or she is doing wrong to me."

Me *Laughing!!!*

Mr. Hat, "Well if she is on the lookout for other guys then the husband is definitely not getting the job done."

Doctor Grumpy in the House: Of Flies and Men

Doctor Grumpy in the House: Of Flies and Men: Okay, for those of you live under a rock, you missed THE BIGGEST SCIENCE STORY OF THE DECADE yesterday. Now, we humans are what biology typ...

Crisis Management

With deadline approaching, it is easy to be stressed. There is always rent and groceries to take care of. No matter how important MCAT is for you , you can not go on and screw up your college grades. Plus, work and research is time-consuming too.

So how do we manage this stress?
Well to begin with we should remember that everyone has some insecurities. What is important is to focus on your positive aspects and strengths and to take care of the task at hand rather than lamenting the past or fearing the future.

It is important to be confident, to understand the steps of success and be eager and focused to undertake those steps. Confidence means that you should be able to visualize success but remember, there is a fine line between confidence and overconfidence.
So how do we differentiate between the two?

Well to say that, "I can do it", is confidence but to think that, "Only I can do it" or "I will do it without much effort" is overconfidence.
No matter what scores you get, stay persistent and determined and keep working and you will eventually see the results.
The ability to take the first step and the unwillingness to give up is the key to success.

With too many things going around, one should begin prioritizing things. First of all, survival needs such as rent or groceries and bills should top the list. Then if there is an immediate requirement of a friend or family, that can be taken care of. In my case, I would say I am there to help a friend in need and to talk to my family everyday (even if all I do is call them, let them hear my voice and hang up). But after that should come the studying of the MCAT. And when you are studying for it, that should be the only thing on your mind. Friends wanting to hang out, boyfriends or girlfriends, homework which is not due the next day, and so on....everything can wait.

Remember that now is the time when things can be controlled and not two weeks before the exam. When I say to people that I am stressed for the MCAT they suggest to me that I have 2 weeks after semester ends to study for it completely and so I need not be stressed. I can not really count on the future and remain all calm right now. I want to be able to control the situation at hand and not dream of a situation in future which might or might not take place. Plus, I need to sleep and eat healthy for at least two weeks before the MCAT.

So my mantra for MCAT studying is to remain focussed and not to give up. There will be distractions. There will be hurdles. But remember, its only for few weeks that I need to give up everything else. Once I am done with this, I can enjoy life as much as I want.

A Heart for the Work

A Heart for the Work...Journeys through an African Medical School by Claire L. Wendland. I read this book for my Medical Anthropology class. I am not really a big fan of this subject. So I delayed reading the book a week before the review was due. I wish I hadn't because I liked the books. Although a little boring in the beginning, it picks up its momentum from the second chapter.

Claire Wendland asserts that despite the material and technological strain if you have A Heart for the Work then you can always find a silver lining and help your patients. Medicine is considered to be neutral and beyond any cultural influence. Wendland says, "If anything lends itself to globalization, medicine does (7)." The book is an argument on how cultural, political and economic factors affect the medical training and motivations of students.

The book fascinated and depressed me at the same time. The things I learnt were very unsettling. For instance, the medical books used in Malawi are the same as used in North America and Europe but many of the medical techniques showed in the books remain only theoretical concepts for the medical doctors in Malawi. Even if they prescribe a drug or a test, they lack the resources to provide the patients with the help they need.

With students transitioning into clinical years, they experience anger and resentment against their government. They are demoralized by the workload and the lack of resources in the hospital and forced to compromise with their own ethics. Facts like doctors earn a lot and patient privacy is of highest concern are not true in Malawi. Also, a lack of protective equipments such as gloves and masks puts the doctors at risk of infection from blood and other body fluids. The students are frustrated because they are "charged to heal yet unable to do so (133)". The word resource is just a verb for them.

I think Wendland did a commendable job describing the situations that affect the personal values of medical students in Malawi. Her manner of ending each chapter with a subject story kept me intrigued throughout the book. At last, I agree with Wendland that biomedicine is influenced by culture and the studies done in the North does not represent the situations worldwide.