She gained her knowledge and professional experience under the wings of outstanding doctors and scientists. From them, she also learned to listen carefully and appreciate her patients, because only then is the treatment effective.

In one of the interviewsprof.dr hab. n. med. Małgorzata Kozłowska-Wojciechowska , the gastroenterologist said: "a man who has knowledge is happy."

- I still think so - says prof. Kozłowska - Wojciechowska - The most wonderful thing in the life of a scientist is the constant search for answers to questions that we ask ourselves and that others ask us. Nobody knows everything, and whoever thinks so stops being interested in life, and then it loses its value. As a human species, we should be distinguished by the desire to communicate. Each of us has our own views and reasons, and the wider our knowledge is, the easier it is for us to understand the interlocutor. The more knowledge we have, the better decisions we make. And if we make good decisions, we are happy.

Not everything is for sale

- Of course, I can no longer imagine my life, especially professional life, without the Internet, SMSs, e-mails or a mobile phone - says the professor - but the overabundance of what we can use to obtain information has led to that we have forgotten about other forms of communication.

For 40 years of professional work, prof. Małgorzata Kozłowska-Wojciechowska carefully watched and analyzed the changing world and people choking on technical innovations.

- There is nothing wrong with that - he concludes. - But functioning under the dictation of electronics makes many of us forget about the true sense of our existence. Man is created to be with another man, other people who are the guarantors of our meaning in life. Therefore, in order not to succumb to such temptations, I turn off my cell phones every day at 8:00 PM. I do this because I believe that I deserve a normal life, by which I mean the opportunity to read a book, listen to music, talk or meet friends. But also the possibility of doing nothing and not waiting for someone to call you. Unfortunately, many people today do not talk, but only communicate, they live on social networks, where everything is often for sale.

- I have no prudishness in me - emphasizes the professor. - But noI am interested in the personal life of nobody but my own. And I don't understand why, if I'm not interested in it, other people want me to be interested in it? Years ago, an old man, a well-known figure, told me: "Remember this for the rest of your life: it is always better to have a little covered than everything uncovered. Only then can you be interesting for another human being. " I want to be faithful to this message and that's why I'm not on any internet forums and I won't. If you enter such a community, you want to become like the rest, which I believe is a form of slavery. I was already a slave, because during the years of communism we were all slaves, and I don't want it to happen again. My present freedom cannot be translated into Twitter, Facebook.

The patient needs to be listened to

- When I started my professional career, the doctor was an oracle for the patient - he recalls. - It was pleasant, but it also imposed a huge responsibility on the doctor. The patient did not discuss with me because he had little or no knowledge of his ailments. Now, in my office, I meet a man who was educated by Dr. Google. These discussions are sometimes excruciatingly difficult. But this does not mean that I would like to return to the beginning of my professional career. No, because I believe that we should talk honestly with the patient. Years ago it was believed that he shouldn't be told that he had this or that disease.

Each of us has our own views and arguments, and the wider our knowledge is, the easier it is for us to understand the interlocutor. One more thing: the more knowledge we have, the better decisions we make.

Many facts were not revealed because these were the rules. It was believed that the patient, under the pressure of threat to his own he alth, could break down and he would get worse. It turns out, however, that sick people need the truth, because the truth motivates them to fight the disease. Talking to seriously ill people is always difficult. The late prof. Edward Rużyłło kept telling his younger colleagues: " A good doctor is the one who listens to the patient, because it is the patient who makes the diagnosis, and the doctor only names the ailment and does everything to make the patient feel better ".

- Modern medicine is mechanized - says the professor. - There are many repairers, excellent "plumbers" and "mechanics". I have great respect for their abilities and knowledge, but sometimes I miss the human face of medicine. In my opinion, the basis of our work must be a conversation with the patient, because the patient must know what is at stake.

Latin queen

When it turned out that bureaucracy was more important than patients, prof. Małgorzata Kozłowska-Wojciechowska, after nearly 30 years of work inclinic, left the hospital.

- During my studies and many specializations, I was taught Latin, which, in my opinion, medicine should still do - says the professor. - Until recently, we wrote diagnoses in Latin so that the diagnosis would be understandable to every doctor in the world. It may be interesting that we wrote Latin until our country was isolated from the world. And now, when the borders are open, we write in Polish. Once I was called because one of my friends, who was outside Poland, was hospitalized with a ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm. My wife begged me to come to Germany and talk to the doctors because she couldn't get along. I flew. I don't know German, I only know English and French. Well, when the surgeon who operated on my friend knew neither English nor French. But we got along. Just in Latin. That's why I think that we change too many things for the sake of change, not to make it better.

Global education

In 2015, prof. Małgorzata Kozłowska-Wojciechowska became the laureate of the Science Popularizer Competition in the Individual Popularizers - Scientists category. This is a prestigious distinction, because the professor has been teaching us all for over 25 years how to eat properly, what to pay attention to in everyday life, how to choose he althy food and how our self-care affects our physical and mental condition. - I hope that my efforts have benefited the society a lot - says the professor. - There are canons of nutritional management that are worth knowing.

Not everyone is like Burek

- To be he althy, you have to be prudent, thoughtfully, and devote your time and attention to this task. Take a dream as an example. An elderly person is satisfied with 5-6 hours of sleep and this does not affect his he alth. But if a toddler can only sleep 5 hours while he needs 12, he can expect serious he alth problems. Each of us has our own physiology. You can't measure them all with one measure. When we talk about proper nutrition, let's take into account that not everyone is like Burek and not everyone is comfortable with gnat.

Science has long discovered that one plate is not for everyone - emphasizes the professor - What we put on it must be adjusted individually. There are no miracle diets that are perfect for everyone. I found out about it over 20 years ago, when I was on an internship in the United States. Prof. Kessler showed me a library where over 35,000 items were stored. various diets, mainly for weight loss. They were developed by professionals and non-professionals, but all had to have an opinionFDA (US Food and Drug Administration).

Fashion for various diets worries me a lot. Moreover, celebrities have become the authorities in this field. Their advice is pure "drunkenness", marketing and … cheating. Many people unjustifiably seek gluten-free diets, lactose-free, etc. It is dangerous because it leads to serious disorders. And relying on research is often an abuse. Research on the effects of food on he alth that I have conducted myself is extremely difficult. Fashion is a fashion for us to succumb to it, but no one talks about the consequences of these fashionable diets anymore. Eating disorders are now a huge and growing problem, and treating them is very difficult. That is why it is necessary to constantly talk about it and remind it. This is what I tried to do in my work as an educator.

Małgorzata Kozłowska-Wojciechowska about herself

As a child, I wanted to be… … a doctor. I am the only family member who is a doctor.

I first thought about medicine as a professional career…I was several years old. My aunt gave me a kit of a little doctor. I walked around with a stethoscope and listened to everyone, I had a syringe and tweezers. If my siblings wanted to punish me, they would hide these toys for me. It was the biggest punishment.

My three favorite books are …The first is "The Children of Bullerbyn", which I read on my own when I was 5 years old. The second is Fyodor Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment, and the third is Churchill's diaries. I also like reading about the history of medicine because it is fascinating and very informative. I love journals, diaries, detective stories and spy books. Anyway, there is no life without books.

My mentors, guides during my studies and during the first years of my professional work were…Professor Edward Rużyłło and Professor Stanisław Filipecki. They were both remarkable doctors. Professor Filipecki quoted Sienkiewicz and spoke to us in his language. Then I thought that medicine does not limit, on the contrary, it opens the mind.

The most important thing for the doctor is …To be honest with the patient.

A good doctor should …Have knowledge, want to update this knowledge, and most of all have empathy towards another person.

After work, I like to…Book, theater and travel with my husband. We have traveled all over the world by car. The car gives independence, which we both like.

In my life I try to be …Understand other people, understand other people, don't bother anyone, be cheerful and I believe that what happened to us that's life.

At work, I do not tolerate …Fraud, failuretruthfulness, incompetence. You may not know something and I am here to teach you. But if somebody wants to deceive me, then… It's okay to be late, but give the real reason. I will believe if someone says he overslept. However, I do not accept the explanation that the snail was crossing the road.

If I hadn't become a doctor, I would have been…I think a lawyer, because it's also a fight for a human being.

I am happy when …I am with my husband in the old town square in any country in the world and when there are smiling and friendly people around.

Category:

Geriatrics