Dolce Vita.

It concerns me a great deal when I come across someone who claims to have lost all hopes. In this crazy world of blind race to materialism and ephemeral gains, it means much if you manage to uphold your sanity. Most of us don’t take a lost battle nicely; we tend to take it a bit too personally. And the irony is that most of the times we don’t fight with an opponent; we fight with ourselves. So no matter who wins, you are destined to feel the pangs of defeat in such a stance. It’s high time when we must not glorify the life to be a battle; life is meant to grow, to learn and to enjoy your own existence.

Every other day we comes across various cases of adolescent depression, childhood obesity, refractory panic attacks, suicidal tendencies, road rages, overinflated self esteems and unexplained anxieties. It saddens me without limits.

What has happened to the concept of a dolce vita? Why do we torture our inner selves beyond their thresholds?

Why do you give yourself the screaming abdabs every now and then? Why don’t we decrease the unnecessary burdens that we are carrying just for the heck of it?

Why don’t we see life from a perspective that gives us a view to die for? Why do we fear failures? What is our definition of a failure? Does the definition of failure that you harbor needs to be retouched?

Why do you exhaust yourself with attacks aimed at yourself? It’s a thorn coated life, but that shouldn’t stop you from appreciating the juices inside.

Top 5 Qualities of a Patients' Counselor.

Patient counselor is the ‘Abrecadarian Bridge’ between an ailing soul and its journey to health. A patient counselor can make much difference in the overall outcome of a patient’s odyssey in the hospital. People have different levels of subjectivity, different levels of patience and different levels of knowledge. Obviously, it is difficult to trace out 2 individuals with akin attitude. So a counselor’s task becomes as diverse as it can be; and its all a mental game, where winning is defined by the outlook and a loss can be cataclysmic.

1. Counselor must always appear as compassionate as possible. A ruckus-filled mind is more likely to respond favorably to a seraphic soul than to anyone else. So try to peep in the tunnels of patient's psyche; look out for the factors that are troubling him the most and then make him realize that you really understand him, and care for him.
2. Knowing the tit-a-bit of complex medical jargons also helps a great deal. The patient must not be rendered a piece of advice that is in contradiction to the prevailing medical concepts. It happens many a time that the patient turns to the counselor to have greater knowledge of disease and its treatment method. It happens mainly because either the patient is shy enough to ask direct questions to the treatment provider or the doctor leaves a lot of information between sentences and the patient’s queries suffer a boomerang’s trajectory.
3. To maintain the patient-doctor axis in equilibrium is one of the foremost responsibilities of an adept patient counselor. Once this axis is in symmetry, the work happens with the best pace. Learn to efficiently wipe out the fluff that would be of no use to the patient and the ultimate treatment process.
4. Counselor must be very patient. Troubled patients tend to loose their cool, and also tend to develop aberrational thought-process. In such a spree, the counselor can be at the receiving end of heat words. Such situations are not very uncommon and must be handled with the maturity of a sage and the wisdom of a geek. Remember, the kind acts never fizzle out; the repercussions would be there for you to feel and revel in the glory of inner solace.
5. It helps to keep your self in the patient’s state of mind at times. You can not just think out quickly of the best mode of response, but you can also identify the most potential stumbles that are troubling the patient. Learning has to be constant to keep evolving the ways that help the patients multi-dimensionally.

When you counsel a patient, put your world in the process. You are entrusted to calm down aplenty agitated nerves and you must practice the most valuable principles, the principles of hope, help and trust. Your role is important. You can put your best foot forward to help your bit in preserving the sacrosanct nature of medical profession by filtering out the granules of uncertainty and doubt from the patients’ minds. You can abridge the negativity right there by early identification and disseminate seeds of hope, knowledge and compassion to ensure that the miracle-working force of faith starts setting in. It is every doctor’s dream to get a patient counselor with angelic demeanor and sanguine outlook.

COLLLABORATIVE APPROACH FOR OBESE PATIENTS

Managing a patient with bariatric issues requires high level of dedication and team-spirit approach. A person who has tried for achieving optimum body weight and has not been successful requires motivation, disease education and an inclusive approach by the team of attending clinicians. Every case has its own merit, while sometimes it may be possible to achieve the results quite fast the same may not be true for everyone. An in-depth analysis regarding dietary schedules, physical regimen, family history is important as many vital links can be obtained regarding future approach. Though Psychoanalysis remains a separate specialized stream of medical sciences, the chief attending clinician should be able to make out the emotional and psychological factors associated with the disease. Patient’s can provide unmatched compliance if the rapport is established well with the attending team. Obesity in patients poses a challenge to clinicians, especially if the person is unreceptive, but sometimes it is unexpectedly easy to break through hostility and gain patient trust. If I recall, most of the rapport establishing sessions have been a blend of bitter-sweet experience, then. But there was consolation in knowing I had learnt something useful and brought a little light into my patient’s life. I couldn’t ask for more than that as the road to health begins when mutual faith is born between doctor and patient.

The disease burden was known to be high in developed countries, however in past few years; it has silhouetted even developing nations in a big way. Escalating prevalence of obesity in children will lead to higher obesity rates in the adult population, resulting in a greater health burden caused by obesity-related metabolic and cardiovascular complications. In fact, obese children may already exhibit early signs of disorders such as hypertension, elevated cholesterol levels, and insulin resistance. A patient should always be made comfortable, giving attention to his / her small needs, and after establishing the rapport, treatment options should be narrated along with their merits and limitations. It is highly recommended if the patient could be shown animated videos of the bariatric surgery (if the person is required to undergo surgical intervention) with highlighting step by step approach in a nice way. It helps the patient to be mentally prepared and to be equipped with a lot of questions which in turn will help the outcomes, as the expectations turn to be more real. Clinician should always tend to involve the patient’s family support in the applicable capacities as post surgery the outcomes can radically differ if the optimum mental and physician care has been imparted and patient’s emotional solace is a very important factor.

Importance of keeping up sessions with obesity support group has been highlighted every now and then and I believe this is one of the best methods for the patient to understand the best postoperative measures which can help in achieving adequate weight loss. Acquiring bariatric surgery support is essential to letting the patient effectively navigating his / her own struggles after weight loss surgery. In order to get a decent jump start on exactly what to expect after weight loss treatment, the patient should join a support group meeting prior to having the procedure. Mentors, found usually in obesity support groups, can be a concrete rock in moments when the patient doesn’t seem to really want to move further on his / her quest to weight loss. There’s a wealth of answers that individuals will provide in a group environment and ground realities can be explored which mostly encourage the patient to undergo the procedure and follow the schedules thereafter.