iRADiX

The editorial titled “The 'why' of Radiology and related issues" in the August 2008 issue of The Indian Journal of Radiology and Imaging by Dr. Bhavin Jankharia makes an interesting reading. I couldn't agree more with Dr. Bhavin. This should be the ideal. But the ideals are hardly ever met. At the start of my practice I have received cigarette pack paper on the back of which "Chandrawati, X-Ray chest PA" is written by the referring doctor, the age and sex is 'allotted' by our technician. Immediately after the X-Ray exposure the patient goes back to the referring clinician to wait there and an attendant or some distant relative, who is usually unaware of the type of patient's illness, comes to collect the report. We usually have good rapport with just a couple of clinicians out of a hundred and of those rarely one or two are readily available to give information about the referred patient. More over he may not remember about which patient we are talking about. If the clinician himself accompanies the patient for investigation then our goal will be met but if he is an important one then other patient's displeasure is audible. We have to write the report without having any information about the patients illness like teleradiologists.

Little they realise that a trainee paratrooper is often to be pushed from the air craft and rest of the journey to the ground is effortless. Perhaps in US if you dont write articles in medical journals you wont get promotions. We, here, have discovered lots of excuses. When we read some known person's good article we say oh! he is in a medical college with all facilities; there are residents to write for him etc. Yes ,the residents are those paratroopers who in some / most of the cases do most of the work of collecting, investigating the cases, and the literature search but they are all the time guided (pushed) by the boss, who often gives 'the first sentence'?

During the literature search you will come across many well written articles and you will be tempted to copy their sentences in your writings. Appreciating a good writing is a good beginning, collect those good sentences, good words in a diary read them ones in a while to inculcate the habit of good writing. But for God's sake do not use those sentences or paragraphs verbatim, in your article without quoting the original author other wise you may be held guilty of plagiarism.