By: Montsy De Castro and Ashanti Sha
Twenty-four-hour-back-breaking-long duties. Dismal tallies of missed birthdays and Christmases at home. And what feels close to a lifetime of studying.
To be sure, sensational medical dramas like Grey’s Anatomy have made many of us, at least at one point or another, feel like pseudo-medical-aficionados—perhaps even aspiring healthcare professionals? Yet despite our loyal viewership, many of us remain only dimly aware of half the realities our Filipino healthcare workers confront in and beyond the hospital wards and emergency rooms.
Rosehill alumnae and board-certified doctors Camila Camacho and Amanda Esquivel allow us a glimpse into their lives as they tend to their patients out on the frontlines.
Mandy on the Beauty of Dermatology & Learning to Embrace COVID Wards
Integrated Liberal Arts and Medicine (INTARMED) graduate Amanda Esquivel, otherwise known as Mandy, is a second-year resident under the Department of Dermatology at the University of the Philippines–Philippine General Hospital (UP-PGH).
Each month, Mandy generally has a different assigned post or rotation, causing her routines to change quite often. What remains the same regardless of her rotation, however, is that she and her co-residents often check up on patients—whether in person or via telemedicine.
As a board-certified dermatologist in training, her niche lies in diagnosing and treating conditions concerned with the skin, hair, and nails, such as eczemas, psoriasis, and skin cancers. Her work heavily involves the practice of dermatopathology, which entails executing and reading plenty of biopsies.
“That’s when doctors take a sample of your skin and look at it under the microscope,” she clarifies for those of us unacquainted with the jargon.
In addition, nor would it be rare to stumble across Mandy expertly assisting in dermatologic surgeries like skin cancer surgery, mole and cyst excisions, and laser treatments.
“Dermatology is the perfect mix of challenging medical cases and minor surgical procedures,” she enthuses, explaining the rationale behind her choice of specialty. “It is beautiful in its complexity and wide in its scope.”
What might appear trifling to many like diagnosing a rash has fired an invigorating sense of challenge and satisfaction in her as a physician, seeing first-hand how diagnoses like these have transformed the most abashed and self-conscious patients into “relieved, hopeful, and grateful” individuals.
“The skin matters so much to so many people precisely because skin disorders are so prevalent and so visual.” She adds that these “affect people’s confidence and perception of themselves.”
Admittedly, however, tending to both ward and emergency room referrals from the COVID and non-COVID zones of PGH initially left Mandy feeling afraid and understandably so.
“Every time I’d enter a COVID ward, I’d be anxious—about getting sick, about bringing it home to my family,” she recounts.
“I’ve gotten used to it, especially since I work in a COVID referral center, and we see COVID patients all the time.” Mandy adds, “I do admittedly still get anxious sometimes, but I know that COVID patients, just like any of our other patients, need and deserve our help, and that keeps me going.”
This, along with proven safety precautions such as vaccinations, personal protective equipment, and social distancing, Mandy says, is what has enabled her to work with the necessary grace and composure.
Entering the World of Wards and ERs with Camila
A more recent Physician Licensure Examination (PLE) passer is University of Santo Tomas Faculty of Medicine and Surgery (USTFMS) graduate Camila Camacho, who officially passed the PLE last November 2021. Although she has not yet declared a specialty, she has recently begun splitting her time as a resident on duty (ROD) with a reliever position in two hospitals, one of which she is stationed at the emergency room and the latter at the wards.
“Even though I’ve only been doing this for about a month, I realized that the cases that made me happiest or brought the most spark in me were really pediatric cases,” she says.
Laughing heartily in the interview, she says plainly, “I really love kids.”
As a newly-admitted ROD, Camila describes the recent shifts in her daily routine, which has set off into irregularity due to the on-call nature of her position.
Before working, typical mornings would have allowed her an elaborate regimen of exercising, eating breakfast, taking a shower, planning her day, journaling, and even burying herself nose-deep into the pages of a fine book.
Since reentering the hospital, however, mornings have been specially reserved for resting in preparation for her grueling twenty-four-hour-long shifts at the hospital.
“Coming from such an online experience, I would have to say the first few duties have been tough on me mentally—even up to now, I don’t feel so confident in myself and my capabilities to handle the patients, sadly,” she opens up.
The outset of the COVID-19 pandemic had placed Camila’s USTFMS batch in a particularly challenging position, withholding them from the usual face-to-face internship experience where they could master hands-on, general practitioner procedures such as drawing blood or inserting a catheter.
“I think that was the big issue. It’s just that I feel like a lot of us may seem half-baked in those areas,” Camila explains.
After consulting with her family and friends, she has realized that part of her recent anxiety stems from her proclivity to be a perfectionist with exacting expectations of herself.
“If I shift my mindset from wanting to be good right away to instead wanting to be the best for my patients, I feel like it’ll make a difference in my practice,” she shares.
Holding Space for Oneself
“If I wasn’t a doctor, I would probably be an actress,” Camila tells us eagerly.
For as long as she could remember, she has always been on the more creative side. “Sometimes, I really don’t know how I ended up being a doctor,” she admits humorously, saying that she would have happily taken up graphic design in college if not psychology.
One only has to glance at her Instagram accounts—@_cami.cama with its colorful feast for the eyes and whimsical, original illustrations; @camdles.ig with its aesthetically-pleasing feed and in-depth candle reviews; and @_camfilm with its carefree film photography—to realize the artistic sensibilities she possesses and delights in when she’s not in the hospital.
Candle reviewing, specifically, is a prized pastime she discovered during the pandemic, which has sparked small joys in her day-to-day life. Lighting clean-smelling, powdery candles like April Showers by Ilum Studios or green tea-scented Seoul by Somewhere Candle Co., for instance, have helped her with stress relief and headache alleviation. Through her Instagram account, she has also met new friends in the candle community where she says “everyone is so nice; everyone is so supportive.”
On the other hand, Mandy finds pleasure in having laidback dinners and movie nights with her family after a long day, unwinding through reading a wealth of books, learning to play tennis on the weekends, and above all, praying, which keeps her grounded.
“Take care of yourself; know your limits—rest is just as important as the work,” she advises.
To Be or Not to Be—A Doctor, That is the Question
“As cliche as it sounds, med school will be really hard, and even eventually being a doctor doesn’t make it easier,” confesses Camila.
“But if you’re in medicine to help people, and when you finally see your patients getting better, it’ll make everything worth it,” she continues.
To be a doctor then is no easy endeavor; it often comes with the disincentives of risking one’s health, signing away hours upon hours to the hospital, and feeling the occasional pangs of self-doubt that come with high-pressure environments. Still, both Camila and Mandy express their hopes that aspiring physicians who wish to pick up the stethoscope harden their ambition.
“If you want to be [a] doctor…be a doctor,” Mandy encourages. “There will always be people who need our help.”
“Our healthcare system is grossly fragmented, with a disparate and totally inequitable access to health services. A lot of our poor countrymen suffer because of this. I’ve personally seen this, and it’s devastating. Our nation and our people deserve better than this,” Mandy says.
“I understand the fear and the anxiety, but the hospital and medical school systems have adjusted and adapted to changing times—and so will you,” she confidently assures.
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