– Dr. Wasin Jirisant –
A crisis is a period no one wishes to face, but if the natural course of events cannot be prevented, Dr. Wasin Jirisant, an Internist and critical care physician (ICU doctor) at BNH Hospital, is there to ensure that both patients and their loved ones navigate that state as smoothly and with as much dignity as possible. Beyond his understanding and empathy for the human cycle of life, the doctor also has a background as a public knowledge sharer for the medical community.
From a Child Who Never Wanted to Be a Doctor to an ICU Physician
“I chose to serve in the southernmost border province of Songkhla to treat patients and to understand the social context and public health system of Thailand.”
On 3rd April 2005, terrorists detonated a bomb at Hat Yai Airport in Songkhla Province.
It was at that very moment that Dr. Wasin, a newly graduated doctor, was on a bus heading to begin his rural service at a community hospital in Songkhla. He had chosen this destination himself, driven by the idea of going to an unfamiliar area to understand more about another side of Thailand. The first truth he discovered was that violence continued to occur there. And even though the hospital he was assigned to was in a different part of the province from the conflict zone, he could still feel an atmosphere of fear during the initial period of his service. Fortunately, his year in Songkhla saw no patient cases stemming from local violence, yet the number of patients was significantly higher than during his time at medical school.
Before his rural service, medical student Wasin didn’t know much about his future specialty. Similarly, before medical school, he didn’t know what he wanted to be. Then one day, in high school, a friend invited him to shadow at Siriraj Hospital. It was his first encounter with the positive energy of this profession, and it marked the beginning of his decision to pursue a career in medicine.
“Patients who come to the emergency room often present with breathlessness, a chronic condition we frequently encounter. So, I thought if I had knowledge in this area, I could help resolve patients’ breathlessness. That’s why I chose to specialise in pulmonary and respiratory diseases. And in critical conditions, the complexity of the diseases in patients is quite high; they often have multiple organ problems simultaneously. We see this as a challenge; if we have knowledge in this area, we can truly help patients.”
After specialising in Internal Medicine at Rajavithi Hospital, Pulmonary and Respiratory Diseases at Chulalongkorn Hospital, and Critical Care at Siriraj Hospital, Dr. Wasin was approached to become an ICU physician at Siriraj Piyamaharajkarun Hospital. The doctor was involved in pioneering the ICU department, which was initially small. After four years, he made the significant decision to join BNH Hospital to help care for patients there.
BNH Hospital was the next step in helping to pioneer their ICU department. Dr. Wasin began working shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic, playing a part in both establishing the critical care unit and setting up the COVID-19 patient care centre.
“At that time, patients were quite severely ill, mostly elderly and unable to care for themselves. They had to be in the ICU and required close care from the medical and nursing team. Everyone on the medical team gave their all. I’m truly proud that many patients who went through that period recovered and returned to living normal lives. To this day, they still come for regular follow-up appointments.”
Living with Critical Patients
Dr. Wasin is seen as a kind, friendly, and approachable doctor by his patients. He often explains things in detail, spends ample time with patients, and gives them the opportunity to ask anything they want to know. This is both his personal care technique and in line with BNH Hospital’s Complete Care policy.
“Complete Care means taking a proactive, forward-looking approach to disease prevention. For instance, getting vaccinated against respiratory infections, undergoing cancer screenings, or checking bone density to reduce the risk of osteoporosis, which can lead to various critical conditions.”
Whilst it is believed that prevention is better than cure, it is a natural law that no illness can be 100% prevented, and no one can halt the rules of nature. In critical situations, it becomes the duty of an ICU doctor like Dr. Wasin to care for both the patient and those around them, ensuring they navigate this period as smoothly and with as much dignity as possible.
An example is a patient treated for lung cancer with emphysema, discovered through a Low Dose CT scan that found a mass. During treatment, the patient continued to live normally. However, after that period, the COVID-19 pandemic spread, and he contracted the virus. Even after recovering from COVID, the lingering side effects combined with pre-existing impaired lung tissue made it difficult for the patient to breathe, requiring oxygen. During this time, he frequently had to be hospitalised to treat pneumonia and clear phlegm.
Dr. Wasin and the medical team made every effort to ensure the disease progressed favourably. However, due to his severely weakened body, further treatment would only prolong his life without improvement. Dr. Wasin therefore planned with the patient and his family for the best possible option, and ultimately, the patient passed away peacefully.
“Communicating with relatives requires providing information about the disease itself, whether there is any hope for treatment. We have to assess whether the doctor is treating or merely prolonging the patient’s life. We must choose the most suitable path for the patient, as each treatment has both benefits and drawbacks. We must ensure the patient is informed about the disease so they have time to manage themselves appropriately, and then we decide together that point where the patient agrees with the treatment. We will try to achieve the goal the patient desires.”
The Love of Learning
What Dr. Wasin loves most is learning. There is no period in his life when he is not seeking knowledge, whether from textbooks or beyond. And he then applies what he has learned to benefit others.
“After completing my ICU specialisation from Siriraj Hospital, I still felt my knowledge wasn’t sufficient, so I applied to sit the European Diploma in Intensive Care Medicine (EDIC) examination. The chances of passing are quite low because ICU doctors from all over the world come to sit this exam, and the number of successful candidates is limited.”
Working by day, preparing for the exam by night – this continued for one year until Dr. Wasin passed the first part of the diploma. This continued for another two years until he received the second part of the diploma, having considered giving up countless times and having to travel all the way to Europe for the exam. But in the end, he became a Thai ICU doctor who had passed the European standard examination.
The doctor’s hobbies also don’t stray far from learning. Dr. Wasin enjoys reading articles from international academic journals, mostly related to pulmonary diseases and critical care. To summarise and convey useful content to the medical community, he has been summarising the articles he reads on his Facebook page, ‘Paper-Reading Worm’ (หนอนน้อยอ่านเปเปอร์), for the past eight years. Today, it is a purely academic page with 63,000 followers.
When He Couldn't Find the Book He Wanted, He Wrote It Himself
After completing his three-year rural service, the doctor planned to pursue further studies in the United States. He even flew there to undergo actual practice, examine simulated patients, and engage in real conversations to prepare for an exam in Chicago. Although the doctor ultimately chose to work in Thailand, he frequently encountered foreign patients, especially when he started working at the hospital five years ago. A problem the doctor observed when working with junior doctors and various medical personnel was anxiety about communicating with foreign patients. Dr. Wasin then used the skills from his time training in the USA and his current work to write a book.
‘Basic English Communication Manual for Foreign Patients’ (คู่มือการสื่อสารภาษาอังกฤษกับผู้ป่วยต่างชาติเบื้องต้น) compiles conversations for taking medical history, performing patient examinations, preparing case presentations, tutoring medical grammar and sentence structures, writing standard English referral letters, and also includes English for nurses and pharmacists for communicating with patients.
“The reason I wrote the book is that I was interested in this topic but there was no one writing in this specific manner. So, I compiled the necessary content for patient care and rewrote it into this book, which has been quite well-received.”
One of the most impressive experiences for the doctor in caring for foreign patients in a critical condition involved a Swedish female patient who was admitted for severe headaches, low oxygen levels, and high blood pressure. She had to be treated in the ICU to receive medication for her lungs, but the headaches due to a brain tumour required insurance coverage from her home country. Dr. Wasin and the BNH Hospital team worked to coordinate this and treated her until the tumour shrunk, moving her out of critical condition, and successfully transferred her for continued treatment to Sweden. Just recently, the patient returned to Thailand and requested to meet Dr. Wasin to express her gratitude.
“I promised myself that if I recovered, I would come back and thank you, Doctor, and the team who cared for me.“
As the world turns, new knowledge constantly emerges, especially in medicine. Even small research findings can turn a crisis into a new life for a patient. This keeps doctors like Dr. Wasin, who deal with critical patients every day, from stopping their learning, because new knowledge might mean a new chance at life for his patients.
“I love updating my knowledge. I’m afraid that if I fall behind, patients won’t receive standard treatment. We want patients to recover and be safe. I want to be someone who, when they have problems, they can rely on, and to always do good things for others.”
WASIN JIRISANT, M.D.
นพ. วศิน จิริศานต์
Speciality
Internal Medicine
Pulmonary Medicine and Pulmonary Critical Care
Critical Care Medicine
Education
Medical Degree, Doctor of Medicine, Mahidol University, Thailand
Board and Sub board Certification
The Medical Council of Thailand, Pulmonary Medicine and Pulmonary Critical Care
Thai Medical Council, Internal Medicine
Language
English
Thai
Gender
Male
Schedule
Internal Medicine Department
| Day | Time |
|---|---|
| Monday | 08:00 - 12:00 |
| Tuesday | 08:00 - 13:00 |
| Wednesday | 08:00 - 12:00 |
| Thursday | - |
| Friday | - |
| Saturday | - |
| Sunday | - |
This is the doctor's regular weekly schedule. Actual availability may vary — please confirm the available date and time when you make an appointment.