O&G

Finally the most dreaded awaited day has arrived. Will be entering O&G tomorrow.

I never seem to understand, why do we have to work 7 days a week with only minimal rest? What happened to the labor law that states a maximum 70 hours work per week? Or we medical interns are not even considered as humans so we’re not protected by the law? Our medical officers/specialists always say : ” we went through that during our housemanship, so all of you should go through the same thing. Don’t complain too much. “

Why? Why should we? I understand that we need very good training to become a good doctor in the future, but when you’ve worked for more than 30 hours straight, I don’t think anyone normal can learn anything at all.

It’s just a rant, letters has been written, complains made but nothing has been done. Everyone just pass down to their junior, bite hard and suffer for 2 years and you’re done with it. Fact is, nobody bothers about changing things at all, we malaysians are just too comfortable with the current system. Hopefully with the implementation of the new shift system, there will be some changes, but wait a minute, I doubt so. Most specialists will modify the system to their own liking and at the end of the day, at the expense of their slaves interns. Who doesn’t want free cheap labor?

Goodbye to another 4 months of my life. Till then..

Krabi

Ever since AirAsia’s business started blooming, lots of people are traveling very frequently. I took chance of this and visited Krabi, a small province in southern thailand which I’ve wanted to go for a long time after receiving some pics in a forward mail a few years back.

Went there with the miss, as a short getaway for both of us and also to celebrate my birthday together. I was expecting more from the island, as I wanted a total getaway but instead we were greeted with tonnes of tourists even on a off peak season, can’t imagine the crowd there during the peak season.

Landed in Krabi international airport in the afternoon around 2 plus, hotel representative was already waiting for us at the arrival hall after we cleared immigration. We were ushered off to the hotel, took about 40 mins to reach. Checked in, took a short rest and went walking around. Had some below par seafood for dinner at a beachside restaurant, was a bit to the pricey side, well you pay for the enviroment. We went island hopping which includes the famous Koh Phi Phi island on the 2nd day, did some snokerling, had some good time walking by the beach and when we reached the hotel around 4pm we were simply too dehydrated and tired to do anything else. Had dinner, and dozed off by 10pm. Day 3, we went for hot stream bath, elephant ride + jungle trekking and a short visit to the tiger temple. We read that if you manage to climb the 1297 steps up, you’ll be well rewarded with a magnificent scenery overlooking the whole island. Well I tried but not even 100 steps before giving up, miss tried about 200+ steps, we were simply too exhausted as that was our last stop of the day. As for our last day, we slept for a little longer, enjoyed our breakfast, did some packing and left for the airport. Didn’t get any souvenirs as both of us were just too lazy to go out again to shop. Don’t get me wrong, I did enjoy the trip, the sun, beach and sea water. It was real good to have a rest without getting any calls from the hospital staff. =)

All 3 pics above taken during island hopping on Day 2

1297 steps to the top ( it’s not as easy as u think )Taken by the miss @ about step 200++, that building is still under construction

 Sorry for the poor quality pics, all taken using iPhone, as I was too lazy to take with my cam thinking of the post processing work, but I still have a few good shots, will save it for another day. My seniors used to tell me working life is very different and most of the time it sucks, I choose not to believe them in the past, but now I’m with them 100%. Haven’t been shooting much every since I started working. Sigh..

 Have 2 Every-Other-Day (EOD) calls starting from tomorrow. Hopefully all 3 calls will be peaceful.

The 1 year mark

As usual, time flies. I’m in my 11th month of housemanship, and yes I was lazy for the past 3 months, so there was no entries at all. Instead of entering O&G, I went into orthopedics.

Yes I deal with rotten, foul smelling legs almost on a day to day basis, there are patients who deserve our care but most of the time, patients with diabetic foot ulcers deserve some good lecturing because they don’t take care of their own foot and they expect us to do so. They’ll skip their daily dressings, and when asked why, their answer would be : DR, kaki dah bersih, sudah pulih, tak payah cuci sudah.. and when you look at their foot, pus are oozing out at the slightest touch. There goes their sudah bersih.

Few days back, when I was in minor OT, there was a patient who was sent down because of an infected ulcer, and oh my what a sight to behold when we prep him for wound debridement. His wound was full of maggots, yes MAGGOTS crawling in & out enjoying their new found home. When asked, he claimed that he goes to a nearby clinic for daily dressing without fail but why would his leg be that bad if it’s washed daily? I can’t say whether it’s his fault or it’s our own health care staff who didn’t do their job properly?

And about fractures, I see that almost everyday too. I’ve had my fair share of close fractures, which most of the time can be treated conservatively, meaning using the plaster of paris after reduction if it’s displaced, and open fractures which usually require immediate would debridement & stabilization of the fractured bone. In my hospital setting, we usually will debride the wound, and use a temporary ext fixator before we proceed with a permanent locking nail, screw or plate. We only have 2 OTs running during office hours and after 5pm, it’ll only be 1 left for emergency cases.

Life was kinda good for the past 3 months, as the HOD was a really nice person to work with. I will never forget his kind words & teachings in OT. From the person who wasn’t a weeny bit interested in orthopedics, somehow now I’m quite interested in it, but I still HATE diabetic foot ulcers, the smell is just so ‘unforgettable’

I still have another month to go before I leave for O&G, I did thought of doing ortho for my masters but well it’s a pity I have a prolapsed L5/S1 intervertebrae disc so it’s kinda impossible for me to stand for long hours in the OT. Well, at least I did learn a lot from my current boss and even though I’m not going to specialize in this field, I have no regrets.

Will be going for a short holiday to Krabi next week as it’s my birthday, time to have some self reward after working for a year eh? =) Will write soon, this time for real I hope. Till then peeps..

The 6th month mark

Just realized today how time really shoot pass us when we’re busy, it has been 6 months plus since I became a slave started working. And yes I haven’t blogged for 3 months, last entry was on the last day of 2010.

Life is better currently, 3rd month in my surgical posting, I get weekend offs if I’m not on call and I get to go home on weekdays by 5pm if I finish my work on time. I guess this is a luxury for all house officers, but all of these will be over soon once I finish this posting end of next month, it’ll be back to working 7 days a week, 14-16 hours a day not inclusive of on call hours.  Recalling when first started working, life was disastrous in medical posting, but after 2-3 months down the line, my body started getting used to the stress and my mind started getting used to the daily harsh scoldings being threw around by the MOs and specialist. I guess it’s all about getting used to and making it a life routine for all of us. So for those who have yet started their housemanship, be prepared mentally & physically, no matter how harsh life will be for the first few weeks/months, bite hard and bear it for it’ll all be fine real soon.

I did have thoughts of giving up on blogging totally but after reading my mentor’s blog the other day, I chose to keep this blog as many years later, maybe I’ll find some humor in reading back what I went through during my younger days, how I started in this life long journey.

Will write as time permits, till then..

 

 

 

Goodbye 2010

Time flies… This time last year I was still a medical student in ukraine, and I still remember it was snowing the whole day on new year eve.. Gosh now I realize how much I miss that place which I’ve been complaining for the past few years.

I joined the real working world end of August this year and ever since my social life kinda ended. I leave for work before the sun rises, and finish work after the sun sets. It doesn’t make much difference to me because whenever I’m outside the hospital it’s dark. Think of it on the negative side, it’s kinda pathetic right? We in the health sector work around the clock to save ppl’s life and in the end sometimes we get scolded by unreasonable patients and not forgetting we lose our very own social life. At times, I do ask myself is all these worth my sacrifices?

This year today I don’t think I would want to have any new year resolution other than doing well in my career and getting my much needed holidays whenever possible. Thank god in the new posting, the boss is more understanding and less strict. I learnt a lot from the previous boss, despite the fact he’s a cruel dictator but I can’t deny the things that he taught me are so useful and it’ll help me in everywhere that I go. I haven’t got the opportunity to thank him personally yet, maybe I will do it one fine day. I think he did a good job in training me for the past 4 months.

On the personal side, it’s not time to elaborate so much yet but I’ll talk about it when it’s time. I hope this time I made the right choice, simply because I don’t really have the luxury to choose again and again.

Happy new year 2011 peeps, wishing all of you a great year ahead, and may all your new year resolutions come true! Time to get back to my much deserving long weekend break =)

Surviving housemanship

It has really been quite a while since I last blogged. Started working as a house officer end of August, it has been a month plus since I started being a slave to others.

Currently posted to medical department ( internal medicine ) and since I’m in a small hospital, we only have 3 normal wards, 1 CCU and 1 ICU ward each. Even in such a small setting I work around 14-16 hours everyday, and when I’m on call it’ll be 36-40 hours straight on till the next night when I get off work. Life sucks currently, I’m lack of sleep, but luckily I have some really nice ppl as my colleagues, but as the saying goes there are black sheep everywhere. Some seniors are nasty and it is a real torture to be working with them. Probably they were tortured so badly when they were juniors and now they’re getting back at us with the same way. It’ll be a never ending cycle and that’s why I dislike about malaysian culture. It happens everywhere, be it high schools, universities and even working places.

Sadly nothing can be done about this as the whole system has to be revamped, and I think most of the ppl in charged are too lazy or not bothered to do anything about it. The common reply given is : I went through the same thing also, just bear with it lah, you’ll finish it in time also. It’s not about bearing with it, but try to imagine highly educated doctors acting like uneducated gangsters & mobsters humiliating their juniors in front of patients ? To me I think that’s something unacceptable. Maybe that’s the way things are done over here, being scolded & humiliated are very normal, but back in Europe, things are done in a more subtle way. Junior doctors do get scolded but not in front of patients or any other ppl, they’ll be called into a room and whatever scoldings/advice will be given there.

Things has been going on like this for a long long time, so I think there is nothing much one could do. The only thing that I can do is to make sure I’ll not do the same thing to my juniors in the future. At least when they become seniors, their juniors will be spared. Hopefully in that way a new cycle will be started.

Gotta stop here for now, on call tmrw. Will be working for almost 40 hours non stop, need to get some rest before the long ordeal begins. Till then..

Ending holidays

It has been quite a while since I last blogged. I landed in Malaysia on 13th July, and since then was busy with the medical council registration, job interview and of course feasting among tonnes of local delicacies. Just got back from a trip up north 2 days ago and I received a letter from the Public Service Commission calling for induction.

For those who’re not too familiar, before we start our 2 years of hell internship, we’ve to go through a induction course, mainly to instill patriotic values in us. I think you should get the idea how boring the 5 days course will be. After the weekend, I’ll be stepping into a totally different world, where every single action & mistake I made will be accounted for. Frankly speaking, I hope I could start working a tad little, but figured out that there is no point avoiding this as sooner or later I still have to start working.

Trip up north was great, manage to meet the special someone that I was waiting to see for almost 8 months plus, I really enjoyed her company for the few days that we manage to spend together, not forgetting 2 whole days of BS with a photography buddy of mine, I think I’ll miss all of those when I start working.

Will write again soon, as I think this place will be a sanctuary for me to vent out all the work frustrations…

M.D.

7 years of studies in a foreign land has finally paid off. Yours truly received his degree after the dean office got back our certs from the capital for verifying purposes.

Have been busy cleaning up the mess in the room that accumulate over the past 6 years,( I stayed in another hostel during my foundation year here ) Leaving this place for good in 2 days time, have been waiting for this day for so long, and now I guess all of my batch mates have mixed feelings leaving this country we called our 2nd home for quite a while. Till then..

Bidding farewell

Been on a blogging hiatus since my exams ended, graduation was ok, didn’t get to take many pics as I was on the photography team, will go out one of these days to take some pictures so I won’t go home ‘pictureless’

Started packing today as I sold my cupboard and other stuff to the locals and anyhow it’s almost time to pack. It’s like taking a stroll down memory lane, just didn’t expect to finish packing that fast, but wait, I haven’t even started with my study desk, another day perhaps, kinda in a lazy mood right now.

Here’s all my clothes that I’m giving away to the charity, don’t think I’ll ever need them again.. Goodbye to -15 celcius winters

The grand finale

Yours truly has finished his exams finally! 7 long years, and it has finally come to an end.

Thinking back in 2003, graduating as a medical doctor seems to be so far away, and now I’ve finished my qualifying exams. Somehow it’s just unbelievable that I’ve finished med school and will be stepping into a different world in a few months time. Graduation is in late June, so I’ve a few weeks to waste enjoy myself to the max. No exact plans on what I’m gonna do, but probably will be busy throwing packing my stuff, make a few short trips to a few towns, get some decent pics as I don’t think I’ll be coming back here anymore in the future. I bet anyone who has studied here for 7 years wouldn’t want to, although all of us will definitely miss this place, all the ups & downs we went through during this period of time are simply unforgettable.

My advice to those who want to pursue medicine after their secondary school/college, think twice. This profession is not as glamorous as  you thought, and besides that there are other jobs that pay much better than being a house officer with the government hospitals. The blood & sweat you’ll shed during med school are of considerable amount, and not forgetting more when you start working. Not trying to sound discouraging, but that’s the hard cold fact that you peeps have to know before making the decision. It’s more than a life time commitment in my humble opinion. So pls, take some time and think carefully and don’t regret half way in med school. It’s too late by then. Don’t get me wrong, I never regretted taking this road, after all I can’t right? =P