Satisfaction

I proudly carry a hospital pager - known colloquially as a bleep - with me seven days a week. I view my pager the way soldiers view their honour badges - they're insignia not to be taken away. That sounds good for a workaholic like me.

The only mistake I made was not realizing the importance of pauses.

I learned about the beauty of the pauses and silences when I watched Circle Mirror Transformation by the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Annie Baker last night. There were quite a number of pauses between drama scenes, and every one of them was as important as the dialogue. This is, of course, correct. We need pauses.

I daresay this is important after taking a break today. It's not that I don't want to go back to hospital and see patients - believe me, I do. Luckily, I did something as meaningful as going to work. I learned the richest of lessons from a medical ethicist (such as the moral dilemma of doctor's deceiving patients) after attending a daylong workshop. Then I finished my reading Your Medical Mind by Jerome Groopman who discussed how to navigate a medical decision, all the way from doctor's rubber-stamping to dictating patient's decision. If you ask me, this book is a must-read for the medical students and doctors.

But perhaps the most satisfying way to finish my day is that I have a chance to teach a group of elite medical students this evening, and for that, I am grateful.