3idkom Mbarak

Hello my darlings!

I send you very grouchy eid greetings! Cuz I'm at work. You can't imagine how angry and fed up I am that I had to wake up and come to work today. Please anyone spare me all the you are a doctor serving humanity blah blah. I don't want to hear it. A year ago when I made the choice of going into Family Medicine, remember this post? If i knew I would end up hating my job I really wouldnt have done this. Im pushing along despite the zero job satisfaction I have, because I'm no quitter and sooner or later I'll have a child and what kind of care will it have with both parents being busy doctors. So I'm stuck here. But hoping to God that when I finish my 4 years smoothly I will have a way out of this place, a plan, some other miracle speciality to escape the boredom that is Family Medicine.

You know what bugs me? That FM is a great speciality, its one of the best in most countries. Only in Kuwait it means "dictorat panadol". Studying for FM is a delight, you learn so much medically, psychologically and socially speaking. My program is one of the best if not the best in Kuwait. So your wondering why I hate it this much? Because the practice in Kuwait is agonising. Dealing with hard headed uneducated Kuwaitis who think they know best ALWAYS. On the other hand dealing with expatriates who always walk into the clinic with a false idea that they will be discriminated against because they are not Kuwaiti's and that we will give them the 'bad' medication and that i am hiding the 'good stuff' under my desk! And the only treatment that will work is an injection and if I refuse (because it is unnecessary of course) it means,
A. I am a bad doctor
B. Im hiding the injections for the Kuwaiti's
C. I want all expats to suffer
D. This is all a sick ploy from MOH so that they do not heal quickly and come again to pay 1kd.

You think im joking right?

I think the Kuwaiti patients got off lightly there, dont you? Well here goes, Kuwaiti's think:

A. Im a bad doctor. PERIOD. I don't need to open my mouth for them to think that. Its their preconceived notion before they walk into the main door of the clinic, before they go to the reception, before they are assigned to a doctor, before they see the name, before they see I'm young enough to be their daughter/gran daughter, before I greet them smiling or not......
So2al bs, if I'm so bad intaw laish yayen 3ayal?

B. I must be a bad doctor, wela shimga3dni bil mo9taw9ef? Lo zaina chan kamalt. I have explained FM aka 6eb 3a2ila is a specialty, I am doing my Masters/PhD. But now I have come to terms with the fact that it doesn't matter how many letters I add to my name, I am decrorat m9tw9ef and that's that.

C. Im young. Meaning, I am inexperienced, meaning I will make mistakes. Meaning they have to make sure that the medicine i prescribed suits them. By making sure, they must seek a second opinion, I would take no offense if they were asking another doctor, but no, they prefer asking, their cousin's daughters friend who knows someone in X pharmacy who has anything but a pharmacy degree.

D. I'm a bad doctor if a medication is out of stock. Lena ana khala9ta lena ga3da akhali 7g 'rab3na'

E. I'm a bad doctor because the patient is complaining from side effects that are clearly mentioned inside the drug leaflet. Side effects that I didnt mention because I was too afraid to tell the patients as any family practitioner is taught to do. Because if I tell the patient he might experience a slight cough or headache, the next day the he'll becoming with a splitting headache because of the bad medication i gave him, regardless of the fact if he does have a headache or not. If i explain the side effects, to our health-unaware uneducated population, I risk the patient refusing to take a necessary possibly life saving drug. Allahoma 6awelik ya roo7.

F. I must be a bad doctor if I refuse to order unnecessary blood tests, which the patient demanded a few months back & didnt even think of collecting the results. How dare I ask why they want them? Y3ni laish ba3ad, abi achayek 3ela nafsi. Shitchayek mathalan 3alashan a3aref shino a6leblik? Kilshay, saweli shaaaaaamel, abi kil ilta7aleel ili tsawonha ?!?!??@?@?!@?!@?

G. I must be a bad doctor because I don't automatically check the blood pressure of anyone who walks into my clinic. Checking BP is all i'm good for. And when it turns out to be high more tham once & I advice starting treatment, oh noooo they don't want to get used taking medications.

H. The next point applies to the younger working age group, mainly females.
If they wake up late, or with an itch in their throat, or coughed once, if their child sneezed last night, if she has no maid at home, if she went to a wedding and slept late, if her job is boring, if she feels like going to Avenues for breakfast etc etc
These all qualify that they call in sick, they call ilkhidma almadaniya and come to the clinic 3ela akher 15mins of the working to me to 'print out' their sick leave.
Yes, they want me to print it only.
They don't want me to to heaven forbid 'ASK QUESTIONS', examine them, to give treatment or advice.
So you can only imagine what their reactions are when I refuse. I'll leave to your imaginations.

I could go on you know. But I guess you get the point.

I can only hope and pray that somehow someway, I wake up loving my job again.

That's all I want, to wake up loving my job, the job I spent yeaaaars of my life to reach.