Confidence is the Key to Success
Tuesday, March 05, 2019
Image by James Parnell on Irish Times
Confidence is something that varies among people. Some are born with it, some work hard to gain it and some believe it is something unobtainable. To me, confidence is something that can be acquired through continuous practice. Like the saying, "Fake it till you make it."
Is it important to have confidence as a medical student or doctor?
I would answer "yes" to this question and below are a few reasons why I believe so.
(Below content may contain some personal experiences and made up scenarios)
i) Only when you believe in yourself, your patients will believe in you
During
my 3rd year as a medical student, we started on clinical postings to
selected hospitals and we had to complete our logbooks by the end of
postings. One of the logbook requirement was to do venepuncture on a
real patient. That sounded challenging as we had only poke fake plastic
arms in the clinical skills lab since 1st year. The opportunity came to
me to draw blood from a real patient during my 2nd week into the
posting. With not much confidence, I prepared the equipment. I was
afraid that I might hurt the patient during the process but the HO
reassured me. I think that fear in me was felt by the patient. The
moment the needle touched the patient's arm (have not even punctured her
skin), she flinched tremendously. I was quite shocked by her reaction
(practice plastic arms doesn't flinch or smell our fears). She
immediately requested the HO to get her bloods instead. That incident
did traumatised me for a week. But the thought came to me that if I had
approached her confidently instead of with my shaking hands, maybe the
outcome would have been different. Well, I did tried out this theory of
mine in another patient during the subsequent week. I approached the
patient calmly although the previous incident kept replaying in my mind.
Voila! I managed to get some blood and patient actually praised me for
doing it confidently instead of doing it unsurely. I hope this
experience of mine can help those in early clinical years to start doing
procedures assuredly.
ii) Confidence can improve communication skills
I'm
giving this a scenario. During a practical exam, Student A walks in
shyly into the station. Student A needs to explain to a patient on
smoking cessation. Student A speaks with a soft voice and keeps looking
down on his notes while avoiding eye contact. On the other hand, Student
B walks into the same station confidently and greets the patient.
Student B speaks with a clear voice and maintains eye contact. Both
students managed to deliver all the key points to the patient.
As the examiner, which student will leave a better impression and as the patient, which doctor would you wish to get?
I
believe most of you have came across these scenarios. It could be
during a roleplay class session or a clinic day or even in the wards.
Just by a difference in aura, it can completely change a person's
perspective about us. Therefore, I used to always tell my peers to fake
it till they make it during practical exams. Because by telling your
brain to act confident, you will automatically look confident on the
outside.
A take home message for those who are soft spoken by nature: Start low, go slow. Confidence can't be build in a day. Start by answering a question or two during teaching in small groups and work your way up from there.
A take home message for those who are soft spoken by nature: Start low, go slow. Confidence can't be build in a day. Start by answering a question or two during teaching in small groups and work your way up from there.
Most important of all, strike a balance between low confidence and overconfidence. Be confident enough to bring you good and not too much until it causes hate. Moderation is the key.
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