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[ This is a review from a medical school student who attended the Korea Achondroplasia People Association (ALPK) Summer Camp in August 2014.]
A hot Liberation Day Friday. I had gotten into the habit of sleeping in during vacation, so I only slept for about 3 hours, but I grabbed the steering wheel and headed to Taean Peninsula. The road to the camp for achondroplasia patients was hot and congested. I was sleepy because I hadn't slept much, but since there were two other students in the back, I focused and drove. After a whopping 4 hours and 30 minutes, I arrived in Seosan, had lunch, picked up another student, and headed to Eben-Ezer Pension, where the 14th Korea Achondroplasia People Association (ALPK) Summer Camp was held.
When I arrived, everyone was out experiencing the mud flats. After greeting them, the professor introduced me to the key elders of LPK while returning from the mud flats, and I heard about the history of LPK from a senior who graduated from the Department of Philosophy. Hearing that Professor Song Hae-ryong proposed and continued to lead the meeting of patients with Achondroplasia, I realized how much the professor values the relationship between patient and doctor.
I also started asking myself, 'What would I do if I become a doctor in the future?' I thought it was really desirable that people who have difficulty with social life due to the nature of the disease gain confidence in their social life through the LPK meeting, and that they can also discuss marriage and college entrance issues together. It's not a frequently held meeting, but I felt that this meeting was truly for the patients.
Soon after, the patients had time to directly ask the professors questions they had been curious about but couldn't ask during outpatient visits, and to hear the answers. The professors explained in detail everything from the basic causes of Achondroplasia to the symptoms that can appear in people with the disease, and the session proceeded with a Q&A session after the explanation.
While listening to the seminar, I remembered reading a column written by a professor while studying to get into medical school. The topic of the column was that 'rapport', the relationship between patient and doctor, is weakening in Korea. I have read in many articles that the relationship between patient and doctor is likely to become a simple guest-host relationship due to the medical system. However, I thought that medical seminars would be a device to strengthen the rapport between patients and doctors.
After the seminar, we had dinner and had a talent show. I thought that even if the patients lack confidence in society, they could gain confidence and live a social life through opportunities such as talent shows. After the talent show, I had a lot of conversations with the elders at a drinking party until late. They told me a lot of stories from the 50s and 60s, but the most memorable of them was a few virtues for becoming a good doctor from the patient's perspective. Studying at medical school and graduating to become a doctor can lead to biased thinking only from the doctor's perspective, but it was a good opportunity to listen to the patients' perspectives by talking directly with them.
I really wanted to volunteer in a place where many patients were gathered, but I was a little disappointed because the volunteers were already assigned. If I have the opportunity, I would like to participate as a volunteer at the next meeting. Finally, I was really happy to be able to get some answers to the unfinished question, 'What kind of doctor will I be in the future?' through this camp.
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