Chapter 14. How to keep updated in busy medical practice?

Dr. Yeshwanth K. Amdekar, DCH, MD (Pediatrics), FIAP

To improve is to change, to be perfect is to change often –

                                                            Winston Churchill

If change is constant then learning has to be continual –

                                                            Meir LirazIntroduction

Is there a need to keep updated?

Medical science is dynamic and only constant is the change. Diseases caused by hitherto unknown organisms have cometo light while well controlled older infections surface again. Large number of drugs are available and it is difficult to keep track of them. Vaccines were administered only to children but now they are also recommended for adults. Newer modalities of investigations are now in vogue and severalnew techniques of management are being practiced that include interventional procedures and organ transplants. Add to all these advances, we are now witnessing a surge in life style diseases with increasing incidence of obesity, diabetes, hypertension, coronary artery disease and strokes. So, the profile of disease pattern is changing fast and every doctor is going to meet these challenges, hence the need to keep updated.

How to keep undated?

It is impossible to learn everything that is new and it is also not necessary. One may have to be selective. We must makea note of problems that are more prevalent in our day-to-day practice and focus on updating in those areas. We must know recent advances in those areas so that we can offer the best to our patients. There are several sources of updating. Printor digital source of information is easily available. One maychoose articles that are likely to be useful in your ownpractice and ignore other articles. This can be done at convenient time and it is possible if one plans it well. It is said that most busy persons have enough time as they plan their time well. Another source is attending CMEs. It is mandatory for every doctor to earn credit points by attending CMEs. One can again choose where to go and what to listen. It is not mere physical presence at such CMEs and you don’t attend just to get credit points. During CMEs, it is important to make notes of information that you sensed useful in your practice. However best way to keep updated is to discuss a problem faced by you with someone who knows – such a doctor could be a specialist or your own senior colleague. It is ideal to form a voluntary group that meets periodically to discuss problems and try to solve them together.

When practice is flourishing, is there a need to be updated?

Patients will keep on coming to us not because we know best but because they have faith in us. They presume we would be doing our best and it is not possible to do best without being updated. It would amount to cheating if we don’t do our best because of lack of latest knowledge. This is bitterly felt when one is called upon to treat our own relation. Ofcourse, one can always get the best help from someone else for our own relation. But I am sure every patient of ours deserves the same from us and we are morally responsible for it. It is important to know what we know and also what we don’t know but many times we don’t know what we don’t know. It is said that ignorance is a bliss but it is not true in medical profession as we deal with life

Do you need motivation to keep updated?

It has to be an internal motivation that resides in your own self and you need to kindle it. You would get a thrill when you diagnose an uncommon condition and cure the patient. Such instances make routine practice satisfying and enjoyable. Once you are motivated, it becomes a habit that is sustained throughout life. It brings happiness in your life. So, start today if not done before. It is never too late. Read every day about the problem that you faced and I am sure there are problems every day. It may take just half an hour to know more about it. If you update in one problem a day, you would be the most updated doctor. If you don’t keep updated, please check your pulse, you may be academically dead.

Personal notes

During my residency in Pediatrics, I witnessed how Dr P.M. Udani would keep himself abreast with latest knowledge. He used to be a voracious reader and had large collection of books, vacant space on each page of his books was filled with his own notes. He could do it in spite of spending 8 hours a day at J.J. Hospital and 3-4 hours a day at his clinic.Teaching is the best way to learn and I was lucky to be appointed as honorary teacher in Grant Medical College. I used to spend four hours a week in college library and make relevant notes to be filed systematically for easy retrieval. Those days, we did not have computers or note pads. Over years it became easy to store notes electronically. Each time, I saw a difficult problem, I would search the answer in my notes or on other digital sites and then store newly acquired information on separate file. Updating is not only the need and it has also become easy now at the finger-click.

Take home message

Try to be selectively updated in areas that concern your practice the most. Invest just 2% of your daily life (half an hour a day) to keep updated. Be internally motivated to do your best, it brings happiness.

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