My visit to the polyclinic

Before I entered the Institute I had to get a certificate of health. Now let me tell you about my visit to the district polyclinic.

When I came to the polyclinic I went to the registry first. A registering clerk on duty asked my name and address, and found my patients card. Several specialists had to examine me, so the medical examination took me about two hours. The doctors including a therapeutist, a neurologist and others had to listen to my heart and lungs; they had to check my kidneys, liver stomach, eye-sight, and hearing. Besides they had to make my blood analysis, take my blood pressure, and X-ray me, too.

Our district doctor is an experienced therapeutist. She usually makes a correct diagnosis and prescribes a proper treatment. The doctor sees her patients in Consulting Room 8. Her consulting hours are from 8 till 12 a.m.. I had an appointment with our district doctor for 10 o’clock. When I entered the room the doctor asked me to take a seat. She wanted to know what my troubles were. I didn’t complain of anything. Yet the doctor asked me to strip to the waist and listened to my heart and lungs. She also felt my pulse and took my blood pressure. They were normal. Then the doctor asked me to lie down on the coach and palpated my abdomen. After that the nurse asked me to take my temperature. She gave me a thermometer, which I had to keep in my armpit for about ten minutes. At that time the doctor began to fill in my patient’s card and asked me what diseases I had suffered in my childhood. I answered that I had suffered scarlet fever, measles and chicken-pox in my childhood.

But I must say that I am rather a healthy person as I always take care of myself. I go in for sports and I am out in the open air as much as possible. But when I do catch a bad cold and feel rotten, I stay in bed for at least some days. If I cough, sneeze or am running a high temperature I always follow the treatment to recover as soon as possible.

When the doctor finished his thorough examination I went to an X-ray room where my chest was X-rayed. The results were normal and didn’t reveal any heart or lung troubles. In the laboratory where I came next, the nurse took some blood from my finger for analysis. When my blood analysis was ready it revealed normal findings. The next day I received my health certificate. It stated that I was healthy and could enter the Institute.

The working day of a district doctor

Our district doctor’s working day begins at 9 o’clock in the morning at the polyclinic. He sees about 10 and sometimes even 15 out-patients during his consulting hours. In the afternoon he usually makes his daily round of visits to the district. He examines all those patients, who are seriously ill and can’t come to the polyclinic. These patients must follow a strict bed regime.

That day the first patient was a young man. He was in a poor condition: his hands and face were damp with sweat, his pulse was accelerated and faint. He was running a high temperature. Making the physical examination the doctor applied a stethoscope to his chest and listened to his lungs and heart. The patient’s respiration was accelerated. Some moist râles could be heard. The doctor made the diagnosis of lobar pneumonia and said that the patient had to be admitted to the hospital. It was necessary to arrest the process in the lungs to avoid any possible complications.

A woman of about 45 entered the consulting room next. She complained of a sore throat and a bad pain in her back. When the doctor examined her thoroughly it turned out that the woman suffered from quinsy. He prescribed to her an antiseptic mouth-wash to gargle her throat. As her condition was rather bad the doctor put her on a sick-leave for several days. The doctor also advised her to apply mustered plasters to the back.

The next patient complained of a sharp pain in his stomach. The doctor made the initial diagnosis of the stomach ulcer and directed the patient to be X-rayed. He prescribed to the patient a light diet and tablets before meals to relieve pain.

After the consulting hours at the polyclinic the district doctor made several calls to his patients. One of his patients suffered from angina pectoris. Before examining the patient the doctor washed his hands, put on his white gown and only then entered the patient’s room. He asked the patient: “How are you feeling today? Do you feel any pain in your chest?” The patient couldn’t say that the medicine gave him any relief. The pain in the substernal area was particularly sharp on physical exertion. The doctor asked the patient to strip to the waist, listened to his heart and lungs, took his blood pressure, felt his pulse and palpated his abdomen. After five days of home treatment the patient didn’t feel any relief and the doctor decided to hospitalize him.

The district doctor usually deals very carefully and attentively with every case and tries to calm those who are excited. In some cases his words seem to act better than any medicine.

It’s no wonder that all his patients love and respect the district doctor.