To Hold On To or Let Go Of (Your Beliefs For the Greater Good)

Earlier this month, I attended a conference in Nagpur aimed to improve the skills of anaesthesiologists who may not have access to the latest gadgets and gizmos in their hospitals.

For the layperson, the device featured helps us identify nerves without cutting you open using a special needle-based device. A key part of this procedure is the needle location - it must be extremely close to the nerve as the drug is given. If it gets displaced by even a couple of millimeters, the procedure will fail.

Two eminent stalwarts of the field were there that weekend, demonstrating a dozen such blocks live. And they had diametrically opposite views when it came to that last key step of locating and giving the drug. One suggested we must hold on to the needle after locating the nerve till the entire drug was given lest the needle inadvertently get displaced and the drug go elsewhere. The other had done thousands of such procedures as well, letting go of the needle once he has located the nerve and allowing the tissue/muscle fibers to hold it in place as he gave the drug.
And as each block was given, both argued against the beliefs of the other.

'Hold on.' 'Let it go.' 
'Hold on.' 'Let it go.' 

Neither backed down from their preferred method as we, the 'students of all ages', sat and watched case after case being done in the operation theaters.

Here is the thing though. Contrary to what you may imagine, their differing concepts as they tried to convert us to their beliefs did not affect their high regard for each other or their longstanding friendship.
Most importantly, it did not affect their common goal - to ensure
A) the patient in front of them becomes free of pain and
B) we, the arm-chair critics, learned what mattered most - how to heal people in our own theaters in the future.

These are doctors who have paid for their own flight and accommodation and came all the way from Liverpool and Adelaide just to teach us here in India. Both have different methods - polarizing and totally binary; you choose either one or the other - and both have superb success rates via their differing methods. They share their their tricks of the trade with us because the end goal is not about JUST the patients in THEIR individual hospitals or THEIR beliefs. It's about pain relief for patients in EVERY hospital.

By default, I am all about analogies. I enjoy extrapolating lessons learned from anecdotes and applying it to larger concepts and themes. And this simple incident threw up a lot of them for me as I traveled back from Nagpur. Analogies that are extremely relevant in today's world.

• Can people of different ideologies work together? 
• Can they see the basic goal of humanity - improving the quality of ALL human life - or does 'winning for your belief' matter more?

 Anaesthesia was discovered 2400 years after surgery with numerous failed attempts in between. In the 170+ years since, it has changed in so many ways. But it has evolved for the better. And the people who created and improved upon it all meant for the benefits of pain relief to REACH EVERY SINGLE HUMAN BEING, not just people of their country, race or gender. Instead of hearing "Make America /India /Britain /Klingon Great Again", the idea should be to work for benefiting all mankind.

Yes, we are different. I pray with my palms clasped, you wear a burka, he does not pray at all, she votes for Congress, he for Republican and they are gay. Our ideologies, religious beliefs and attire can vary widely. Instead of focusing on this 'headline that invariably identifies/defines us', should it not be about the common end goal - happiness and freedom from suffering?

There is space in this world for you to hold on (to the beliefs that serve your people) but also let go (of the ego that can close your mind to the simple fact that a different approach can also lead to peace.)

At some point, you need to be ready to open your mind and say 'It's okay that you and I have differing views on this as long as we don't harm each other and both our people are free of suffering. There is a world where you can be great yourself and yet help the people of other countries and beliefs as well.'

As an anaesthesiologist, the combination of drugs and even the techniques I use will be different from that provided by a different anaesthesiologist in an operation theater elsewhere. My seniors will disapprove of my methods, calling it as too risky. Conversely, my juniors will find it too conservative. We will debate and we will disagree. But we DO NOT ASSAULT each other just because of that. Because we work for the common goal - RELIEF OF PAIN and SUFFERING for ALL.

Can't you take a page out of the anaesthesiologists' handbook and do the same in real life - accept your differences, accept that perhaps you will never really accept the others' point of view but still work for the common good OF ALL?

Or is winning an argument on social media destined to be the 'end goal' of our existence?

Want to know more about anaesthesia?

I have written articles on:

1. The magical origin story of Anaesthesia (also published in Huffington Post)

2. How you can now play games while surgeons operate on you

3. 10 Things Your Anaesthesiologist asks You at Your First Meeting

4. Poll: Tell me About Your Experience Under Anaesthesia

5 How Anaesthesia Defeated Religious Beliefs to Change the World for Women

6. What I learned watching anaesthesiologists with differing views treat patients

7. What we can learn from Dr Horace Wells' untimely failure

Authors note:

In the month since the conference, I have watched more than two dozen doctors who attended that conference share stories of how they have started doing difficult cases more successfully using these new techniques they learned. Patients of all ages - from a few months old to 90+ - are benefiting because of these anaesthesiologists who are paying from their pockets and flying across continents to teach us just so that your loved ones here in India - absolute strangers to them - get a better standard of health care and pain relief. 

And yes, before you ask... some doctors are holding on while others are letting go. But by using the correct technique with whichever method they chose, they are ALL successfully freeing patients of pain across India.

I am also linking to #FridayReflections. Their prompts this week include "What’s the one thing you wish others understood about you?" Well, this is something I wish others understood about why I choose not to support regionalism or any particular religion. Because everything that has moulded me into 'ME' teaches me that every person should matter, not just a few.