Two Research Ideas
Dr MRS called me one evening to share two research ideas
The 8th World Ayurveda Congress call for papers has been a stimulus at SVYM for documenting/studying certain things already being practised here. In that setting, Dr MRS called me one evening to share a couple of ideas.
At the outset I must say, I am a very big critic of Ayurveda. I believe it is a “science” stuck in the past. If “the textbooks” have already been written centuries ago and cannot be changed, I would not call them textbooks. Also, if it does adapt according to the understandings of modern man, it would no longer be Ayurveda.
Nevertheless, VMH has seen success in bringing the best of Ayurveda and Allopathy together in delivering what is possible in the socio-economic situation at Saragur. It makes sense to document some of these in terms of papers and such.
1. Barriers and Facilitators to Integrated Care
There is resistance for practitioners of any system of medicine to “refer” people to alternate systems. Is this natural? Or is it due to barriers like knowledge gap, attitude difference, and/or practice difficulties? (KAP)
If it is possible for allopathic doctors in VMH to refer patients to Ayurveda and vice versa, what are the factors that facilitate it?
To answer these questions might take surveys of doctors, medical students, and other health care providers on their knowledge, attitude, and practices.
Once there is an idea of these factors, it can be further utililzed to bring in follow-up symposiums, networks, and tools to allow smoother integration.
2. PG Preference vs Eventuality among Interns
Every month many interns come to work and learn at VMH. When they come in they fill an application form with their contact details and a field which says what post-graduation they are keenly interested in. Analysing the patterns in the answers to this question would be interesting.
But what is more interesting would be to follow-up those interns one or two years later when they would have probably entered a post-graduation and to see if they are actually in that subject which they preferred during their internship, and how they feel in whichever subject they are.
I have personally seen many people who were all into medical field enter surgical fields and vice versa. I cannot fathom how this can happen at all. Maybe this study can give a clue.