Huh, 2 months of me not writing anything. I'm just plain lazy, u all can understand that. The last time i wrote, it was before my minor posting exams. The mcq was okay, but the ospe was sort of a killer. I really think i'll do dermato for specialisation, even though many people think its boring. I hate opthalmo and ent, cos my anatomy has never been strong.
Ive been in kuching for the past two months doing selective and elective at sarawak hospital. I did internal med, and it was great. I am going back to work in kuching. Honestly, there is a big difference between hospital staff in the semenanjung and here. I find ppl here are more friendly, and doctors here are nicer. Even if they think you're an idiot, they still teach you. I had an unfortunate run in with a cocky mo who got pissed with me because i couldn't tell him much about femoral dialysis.
One thing is that everytime a med student is from a private medical uni or from russia i do think they look down on them. Unless you're from uk, australia and nz. I guess its the glamor of studying in those countries. The doctors here like to ask tons of questions. I guess once you sort of can answer those questions, they'll treat you like any other med student. But i have to give my hat off to UM graduates. They honestly are the best. Sometimes i feel like i shouldn't have screwed up my matriculation days. I probably might have graduated from there. But the past is the past.
The specialist, mo and ho that i was with were very nice. it is a givne fact that once i become a ho, i will be moderately depressed every day. The workload for doctors working in sarawak is terrible. Can you imagine that you've just finished your housemanship and you get thrown to some district hospital and you're the one who has to make a decision for everything? Not to mention doing procedures like chest tube, lumbar puncture during your ho training? I'll admit, i'm scared to death about my ho posting here.
I just finished my posting in the emergency department, and the specialist says i suck in answereing questions. I do notice i always beat around the bush (even though my answers are correct). I easily get flustered when someone asks me questions and i just shoot whatever comes out from my mouth. Guess i gotta improve myself again.
The obstetrics here is also not bad. UNIMAS students have to do 10 deliveries and 10 episiotomies before graduating. How about IMU? i'm not sure. I just absolutely hate it sometimes when they think that private students are lousier than public grads. Hopefully by the time i'm a ho i can prove to them that private students are just as equal to anyone from public u's.
I did my a n e posting with michelle, and it was fun. We got to see a lot of cases, and if you read her blog, she wrote about jering induced nephropathy. Only in Sarawak!! And yes, when i did my 2 months posting here there were so many other students from russia. they told me they have to come every year. thank god imu just sends us twice. Most of them were friendly, a few jpa students were quite snobbish. And almost all of them are girls.
There are also white students from uk and elsewhere, and yes, they get a little bit more attention, but its not so drastic as getting them to meet the state health director. most of them are interested in seeing tropical deseases. and mulu caves. and sarawak cultural village. and iban longhouses. but other than that, they're treated just like anyone else.
There's one cardiologist, dr allan who was so nice as to take a huge number of students during his ward round. everytime he comes to the medical ward, he looks just like a shepherd with a flock of sheep. Its pretty amusing. But he's a great teacher, and he does teach a lot. ONe thing i like about the docs here is that they teach when they have the time. or ask you tons of questions. its so unlike seremban.
As for studying here, i don't get to do a lot of practical stuff. At the a n e for instance, i can try setting a cannula on a patient one time ONLY. In the wards, the nurses forbid us to do any cannulas unless we ask the doctors. They are so worried we'll cause pain that honestly, i gotta say my medical skill sucks. I really , really hope i get to do more stuff in sem 10. I'm honestly worried for myself because in sarawak if i ever do get thrown into the backwaters i don't want to be or look incompetent. What to do.....
Some really interesting cases i saw in these 2 months: Jering nephropathy, SLE with cardiac asystole (real drama in the ward), septic shock, dengue haemorrhagic fever, acute psychotic disorder, typoid fever (it seems to be common here), staph aureus sepsis, aortic stenosis, infective endocarditis, and LOTs of alcoholic liver disease. every day i see about 2-3 male patients with alcoholic liver. People here do drink a lot.
Sarawak is unique. I love the culture, the people and the food. When i was in the hospital, most of the patients are those with very little education,mostly farmers and living in the small towns or kampungs. It makes me want to give back to my state, because there is so much that i can do for them. Ask anyone of my batch mates, and most of them want to work in sabah. So far, only i 1 person who is a non sarawakian wants to come here for housemanship. Kinda sad, but i guess Sabah is more exciting for them.
As for meeting michelle again at the a n e, it was good....there were so many things for us to talk about, so many news to catch up on. But a bulk of our conversations were about politics, politicians, red tape etc. Somehow both of us have the same views about many things. We both agreed that our Yang Berhormat's should have more intelligent conversations in parliament rather than say, debating whether women should wear lipstick to the office.
In singapore, those in parliament have at least a degree. Lee kuan yew was from Harvard and was best student in something. Here, not many of them have a degree. I dont mean to insult them, but it does affect the intelligence of conversation at the dewan rakyat. Sometimes when i read about the things they discuss in parliament, i just shake my head. Its no point laughing or crying anymore.
It is true that we have world class facilities but 3rd class mentalities. Take a look at the bus crash at perak. 22 lives are gone and the mother of the bus driver refuses to accept her son is guilty just because he has had so many summonses in the past. And bus companies just want to make more money. Sometimes all of us can be so selfish that we forget to think about others. Why is it neighbouring countries like australia and new zealand don't have bus crashes?
To me, its the way they take pride in their job. In new zealand for example, they really adhere to the rules, make sure people wear seat belts and have regular driver changes after a certain number of hours. I dunno how much they are paid, but the thing is when they do a job, they make sure they do it well. Here, we just shut up and pray hard whenever the bus driver drives like a speed demon.
What about the people in the rural areas? There is much progress in terms of facilites being built. But if any of you were to go to parkson during the weekends or weekdays, its just full of young teens loitering around, and disturbing ppl. I went to buy movie tickets once and there were some teen boys outside the building playing with dirt. Weird, isn't it, until you think that they might have been high from sniffing glue. And that was on a weekday.
Nobody tells young ppl living in the longhouses, kampungs, small towns that education is a good way to get out of poverty. And i see so many of them jobless or taking up small jobs. Those who cant' find work resort to stealing. And it saddens me because majority of them are the dayaks. Of course the dayaks who live in town are different.These are the people that need help, and i am sad that the poverty cycle repeats itself again.
Rantings from a young adult. Anyways, semester 9 is starting next week. I'm going to start with surgery first and end with radiology/anes. I'm starting to pray hard i pass my exams. The lecturers have promised to bring us down. And i just want to finish my student years so i can go back to kuching :)
