Maria Lagutina is a neurologist, lives in Balashikha, goes to work in neighboring Moscow. On the eve of the International Day of the neurologist, she agreed to answer the questions of young journalists Balashikha. - Maria Nikolaevna, how is your working day going? - My working day starts with checking patients. Every morning the nurses report how they are feeling, and based on this, I draw up a schedule. It is necessary to check everyone for the presence of psychological diseases, deterioration of health or mood, then, if necessary, amend the treatment. I can advise one of them to rest, and to the other I can schedule a consultation and ask them to make double efforts. Then I advise in other departments, I can help colleagues. At the very end of the day, I make a round and check the patients' well-being. If in neurology it is necessary to see the psychological plan of the patient, then in cardiology I clearly need to learn about the health and the treatment plan. Here is a different way for surgeons. A surgeon can spend more than a few days with one patient during the operation and further observation, but they cannot sit down, come and talk like neurologists, only a health check and general well-being. - Did you work in the so-called red zone during the coronavirus pandemic? - No, our hospital is not equipped with special rooms and devices, it belongs to rehabilitation. But our medical institution also faced this disease. - Has the pandemic affected your attitude to work? - Our family got sick, there was an infection from a patient. I spent a month at home in isolation, then returned to my duties. - As a person who has had a coronavirus, what can you say about the second wave of the pandemic? - I see the contrast. With the first wave, people got scared, and rightly so, because we did not know what it was. Now I see caution on television and in the media. It is necessary to be afraid in moderation, and observe preventive measures, and respect others. Coronavirus is the same virus as everyone else, and now it has been sufficiently studied. - In your opinion, has the increased workload on doctors due to the coronavirus led to problems in other areas of medical care? - I had such fears. But in our hospital, as we worked with patients, we continue to work this way. The priority, of course, is patients with coronavirus, but this makes doctors no less careful about the rest. - Tell us about your path to medicine, how did you decide to become a doctor? - It all comes from childhood. I was in the hospital several times, and I realized how attentive the doctors are and how hard this work is. Then the desire to help people came to me. And even lying in the hospital at the age of 13, I helped - who to carry the ship, who to help to capsize. From the age of 15 I just wanted to be a doctor, I was good at chemistry and biology. I realized that medicine is my vocation. When I entered the institute and tried to find myself in specific areas, a teacher helped in choosing a direction, who advised me to take a closer look at neurology. In the fourth year, I went to a neurology class and then studied closer to my future profession. Awareness and confidence in the correctness of the chosen direction did not come, of course, immediately, and then I was looking for ways to become a neurologist. - How long have you been going to your current professional status? - I started from the eighth grade, when I went to the open day at the First Moscow State Medical University named after I. M. Sechenov. Then I got a job on my first preparatory courses. Once a week I went to the university and listened to lectures. Then I realized that I was not ready for the requirements of the institute and I needed to look for something. The next year I entered a two-year course at the Institute named after I. M. Sechenov. In the very first lesson, I got 2 at the initial level, which was a good impetus. It took a long time. It was psychologically difficult in the 11th grade and during the exams, and now I advise everyone not to give up and prepare to the last. Then student life began, interesting and rather complicated. But the first three years are hard, then you choose your area and strive for it. Many in our fourth and fifth year have already earned money. In my third year I tried myself in the administration in the admissions committee, then I was a nurse. Then I realized that I only want to be a doctor. I had a time when I wanted to follow the scientific path, but it didn't work out. Then I showed myself well and immediately after my residency came to the military hospital. I have been working there since the age of 26 to this day. - What are the pros and cons do you find in the work of a doctor? - I like that I chose my calling correctly, but it's hard in my family life. It is difficult for a doctor to switch to family after work. The most difficult thing is to find a middle ground and enjoy your work without forgetting about your loved ones. It is also difficult to treat your relatives, because you must always keep your distance and be in a sober mind. - Do you often learn something new in your profession? - Constantly. Medicine is now moving to the Internet format, and more often than not lectures are held, but various webinars. The last webinar I attended was about modern protocols in neurology. It is always interesting for me to listen to leading experts in their fields. I do not know of a single doctor who would not be interested in such dynamics. Neurology is associated with many other areas - cardiology, surgery, urology. Therefore, I must know the main symptoms and treatment regimens. - With what complaints do patients come to you? - I met everything on my way. We have a spinal ward at the hospital, where patients with spinal cord injury and a spinal fracture are treated. Quite difficult patients who need careful care, attention and help. It happens that patients cannot go to the toilet, because of this, urinary infections develop. - How often are difficult cases? - I can say for sure - each case is difficult. The main thing is to be careful, because you can always make a mistake. You always want to help a person, even in desperate cases. - Does the principle “the sooner the better” work in medicine? - The most important thing is prevention. We must not cure, but prevent disease. The disease can last for many years, but you have to try, hold on, and everything will work out! This is the main thing. - What does an individual approach to a patient mean to you? - Any treatment should be designed for specific purposes, and for each it is different. A pill may work for one patient but not for another. Or an attitude, one just needs to pat on the head, and everything will go away, while the other needs to knock on the top of the head in order to convey something. - Are you very tired at work? - Unless psychologically, when you come home and think: “I didn’t help somewhere, I didn’t finish something, I didn’t do that”. After such thoughts, hands give up, the mood falls. - What new diseases have appeared in our time, what have remained in the past? - Back problems began to appear more due to the frequent use of gadgets. Young people are getting sick more and more often. Scoliosis, problems with eyes, vision, teeth, immune system. Mental illness is more common. There is nothing to say about the past, except that such diseases as plague and smallpox remained in the past. I hope that in the near future we will also defeat Covid-19. - How do you feel about traditional medicine? - The roots of traditional medicine stretch far, this is the proven wisdom of our ancestors over the years. Many tips, recipes - all this is traditional medicine. It often happens that one person can benefit from folk recipes, while only modern medicine will help another. Everything helps and works. - Are right-handers different from left-handers? - Left-handed and right-handed people have distinct differences in stroke. The neurologist will immediately determine by the symptoms who is in front of him, left-handed or right-handed. -What is the most important quality for a healthcare professional? - Compassion. This is the basis of everything, there is no way without it. Also the ability to experience, remember, abstract, kindness and logic. Interviewed by Daria Lagutina, Ilya Korzun, Doina Chebotar from the Young Poets, Writers, Journalists circle at the Yuzhny Library Center, Balashikha Photo courtesy of the author
