“Listen to your patient, he is telling you the diagnosis,” said William Osler, considered the Father of Modern Medicine. History taking, as any medical practitioner will say, is an essential skill in medicine.
Kalpana Sampath, Assistant Nursing Superintendent at Jipmer, observed how doctors at the hospital, were struggling to communicate with their patients. Jipmer’s employees (more than 3,000) comprising doctors, nurses, administrators, support and ancillary staff, and medical faculty and students are from across India, and often face a language barrier here, with a large number coming from non-Tamil speaking places. While Jipmer caters for patients from across the country, many patients are from South India, particularly Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. A working knowledge of Tamil is thus necessary for effective communication between the medical staff and patients.
“This idea struck me when I observed a doctor-patient interaction in Jipmer. The doctor had not been able to understand the patient, which is when I thought of bringing out a text with transliterated terms,” said Ms. Sampath.
The idea took further shape as a 10-day Tamil language learning programme organised by the Department of Medical Education. It was introduced in 2013 during the institute’s golden jubilee celebrations, as part of a series of programmes under the SMART (Strengthen Motivate Augument Re-train and Team building) Jipmer initiative.
The first programme was well-received, with the department getting a good number of requests to continue it. This year, the second such programme was held in February and March. Around 80 attended the classes which included faculty, residents, students and staff. It was co-ordinated by Gitanjali Batmanabane, Head of the Department of Medical Education, and Zayapragassarazan, associate professor of medical education.
The programme is taught by Ms. Sampath and S. Subblakshmi, nursing sister, and follows a text prepared by Ms. Sampath, ‘Tamil for medicos.’ The booklet has separate chapters for each specialty, general medicine and general terms with transliteration. The booklet has also been made available online for downloading.
“The students are taught some basic grammar and medical terms. They are now able to answer in Tamil when asked questions,” said Ms. Sampath, who knows seven languages through her earlier stint as an Army nurse. “I tell the students to write Tamil words in their own language. This helps them learn better.”
With the previous director’s focus on patient safety, communication is an important part of it, said Dr. Zayapragassarazan. “Unless you understand, you cannot listen effectively,” he said.
For the future, the organisers are planning on framing a structured course for students, based on the feedback they have collected. Ms. Sampath also wants to update the booklet.
Sneha, a third year MBBS student said, “Konjam konjam theriyum. I have learnt all days of the week and some numbers in Tamil. The classes have been helpful.” Vaibhav from the Department of Neurology, added, “The whole script is different in Tamil. We need guidance with our pronunciation too. These classes have been a good start. I try to speak to the patients in Tamil now.”
