Saturday, June 20, 2009

Confessions of a house officer #2 – Tagging


For the benefit of non-medical related readers, allow me to first explain the term ‘tagging’. You know, when a House Officer just graduated, they are usually assigned to a senior doctor (HO/MO) whom they would ‘tag’ with. Meaning, following them around, learning about how to manage patients, how to fill forms, what should be done, etc.

So, my Tagging period started last Friday Night, 5:00 pm. We were each assigned to wards. Dr Laila and I was sent to Ward 4-1. Female Ward.

5:00 pm – Reporting


5:11 pm- Laila & I were assigned to beds to a cubicle to manage patients and do the evening reviews. (Yup! On the first day itself! Correction: at the 11th minute, literally). Which I was pretty scared at first. But of course, whenever we are unsure, we consulted our senior HOs and MOs.


Myth: Housemanship is a time for training. We can study for exams during med school and later learn how to work during housemanship.


Fact: What you learn during medical school really effect life in housemanship. And it’s not just knowledge, but also the skills and ability to analyze the patients’ condition and manage them.


Moral of the story: Make good use of medical school. Yes, you are expected to ‘WORK’ right after you graduate. Good knowledge on history taking, physical examination, investigations, and management is very important. Skills especially blood taking, branula, etc is imperative. And the best time to learn is at medical school.


12:00 midnight – punched-out. Need to be back to prepare for morning rounds 630am the next morning. Then, a bunch of discharge summaries.

So the tagging schedule in Hospital Malacca is 7am-11pm.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------



shinyin’s diary:




I salute doctors. Not that I am proud of becoming one, but, being in their shoes, I realized how much they had sacrificed. Watching them, I feel sad for them. Lunch hours, Dinner dates, sometimes, even the luxury of FOOD in general, health, gastritis, peptic ulcer disease, risk of contacting diseases, needle prick injury, weekends, weekdays, holidays, kid’s report day, girlfriend’s birthday, phone calls, sleep, relationships, sometimes, even more…




Did I mention that I have only 10days of leave(cuti rehat) every 4 months, and that MCs are considered as cuti rehat? Means, I have to pay to get sick. Meaning, we cannot afford to get sick. Go ahead, abuse PCM (paracetamol), abuse antibiotics, abuse painkillers, do whatever it takes so that you can appear to be fit enough to work. Otherwise, risk losing your holidays.




And what the Pengarah Hospital promised to us during induction, about at least one day off during a week, well, it’s just a fantasy. THIS DOES NOT EXIST IN HOUSEMANSHIP IN MALAYSIA! And about what the ministry of health promised to us, about the day off after post-call (36 hours oncall), also a myth. THIS DOES NOT EXIST HERE!




So, if you are about to be a house officer, please be aware of this.


for the first time, I learned to eat alone. Not only that, I learnt to eat alone AND on the go.


I salute doctors because they had the stomach to withstand the acidic peptic juices. I wondered how much of metaplasia would have taken place.


I salute doctors because they had the ability to stand for hours, then run for blood perhaps, and continue standing for hours, then run to resuscitate patients, and continue oncall, do not sleep, and continue standing, and run, stand and run. And above all, still have sufficient glucose to supply the neurons in the brain.


Matriculations results just came out. Congrats to my evil brother, who just got into E&E, UPM. STPM results would be out soon. There will come again, the issue of top achievers not getting places into med school.


Think again, why would you want to be a doctor?


.
.


.


.


.


.


.


.


.


.


.


.


.


.


.


.


.




.
.
.
Okay, I do not want to be demotivating.
I think it is easy to like this job, this field.
But you have to be prepared to face the harshest conditions.

15 comments:

  1. yo,really appreciate you blogging bout this, at least i would spend more time on studying rather than fb/mousehunt/gaming/sleeping.movies, gambate shinyin!!!!! god is with you.

    btw, how to knw what to check for in the reviews? everything? full PE/hx? your mentor kind?

    ReplyDelete
  2. wow...wish u all the best...i think i better prepare myself with the worst in a year time...thanks for the post...inspiring...

    ReplyDelete
  3. hey, it is indeed a hectic schedule and the promises made by the gov is nothing but hot air which is really disheartening :(
    Like u rightly said, it is a noble job.
    Hang in there, be positive, the time will come when all will be worthwhile!!
    all the best and God bless!!
    p/s u'll be in 4.1 for 2 months? will try to drop by one of these days ;)

    ReplyDelete
  4. AGREE!!!! abuse watever u can for u to work!!
    so prof wu,can i abuse lasix for my pedal edema anot???keke...

    ReplyDelete
  5. I'm an MO, currently in 4th year of service.
    In the future, if my kids insist to become doctors, I'm going to encourage them to become dentists.
    Shorter hours, less stressful calls, more money.

    ReplyDelete
  6. 1. Dun worry!! you will, sure to gain your interest in to this feild. "Stress can change a person", I belived in that.

    2. In my 1st posting, i was so lucky tat i got a full-blown VZV infection. It burned all my "holidays" in the just-1st month of posting.

    The "worst thing", is never that worst if u look back....
    hope we have a successful HOship

    ReplyDelete
  7. Wah..i guess there a lot of young students out there that do not realized how much graduate doctors need to suffer.

    I was thought doctor is a glamorous job , 101% being looked up in society and an absolute CHICK magnet ..LOL :P

    ReplyDelete
  8. same position, same feeling. It's not easy to hang in there...coz the bad sides is conquering...can only blame myseft y i did not explore in n out about what the hell of a doc's life is...

    ReplyDelete
  9. tired tired tired!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

    ReplyDelete
  10. SOB...SOB...
    my tagging hr is 6.45 am till 8+pm leh...
    need foot massanger urgently...
    hehe...my birthday gift?

    ReplyDelete
  11. hotchick...here ppl all speak eng leh...
    ur fav....

    ReplyDelete
  12. my gastritis relapse lar...
    i dun have 10 days per 4 months...only 7 days..
    i dun have weekend off...
    i dun have post call day off...
    pretty same situation w u lar...
    i m not eating alone...as i dun like to eat alone..
    thus choose not to eat...can?
    miss u all so much....
    :(
    have to be breave while alone ooo....
    i also take care...
    i am also alone here.....
    how much i miss our old days back at school....

    ReplyDelete
  13. siva,
    usually, for my evening reviews, i would review the progress of the patients, and see how is she doing.. review the lab results, trace those which hasn't arrived yet,.. and yes, do physical examination, stressing on the important systems/parts... like looking for dehydration, signs of shock, bleeding and other warning signs in a DF patient... look for fluid overload in ESRF... etc..
    --------------------------------------
    Nic, i just hope my posts did not demotivate you... i hope things would improve, so that i can blog bout more positive things in HO-ship...
    --------------------------------------
    cuteLittleAngel, good to see you yesterday... i was too busy in the morning... tagging had been pretty taxing for me... let's have lunch together some day ya!! :) i should be more free after my tagging period ^^
    --------------------------------------
    yml, WAHAHA!! i prescribe you IV Frusemide ... wahaha! cute la you... you sure you not pregnant? it's one of the causes of bilateral pedal edema... hoho~
    ----------------------------------------
    ACE, and spend the rest of your life staring at teeths?? hehe... maybe i should consider public health or family med specialists.. haha... where do you work? 4th year is quite senior liao...
    ---------------------------------------
    CheeLee, you are saying that HO-ship is the worst already and things will never get worse? are you sure?? don't give me false hopes ya... sigh... i am already expecting worse...
    ---------------------------------------
    dear despair, well, don't be despair... maybe we might actually get immune to this... i heard that it is possible to adapt to hard work... let's just keep put fingers crossed that things would improve ya... ^^
    ---------------------------------------
    honey, i know you are tired.. i'm so tired too... can give me a massage?? that would be so nice...
    ----------------------------------------
    im sing, you work less hours than me and you are complaining?? ishh... my place ppl speak rojak kua... somehow, the chinese here speak mandarin also... you would like it here kua...
    you must jaga yourself aaa.. you know you got PUD de... antral gastritis with hiatus hernia!! still wanna skip meal??? i ask QKK to spank you then you know... haha!!
    -------------------------------------------

    ---------------------------------------

    ReplyDelete
  14. hai hai.. im gng to start my HO soon.. im getting preety scared.. any tips and tricks that i should take into account!!1pls help me...

    thanx

    ReplyDelete
  15. hey siva!! welcome to the team! where are you posted to?? good to have you around... if you come to hosp malacca, dont forget to find me ^^

    ReplyDelete

dear friends, firstly, thanks for leaving your comments.. they are very much valued :)

secondly, do remember to leave your name =)
i'll like to know how can i address you ^^ thx

oh yes, if you do not have a blog/URL, just select open ID and leave the URL section blank :)

Author's Note

Dear friends and readers, Thank you for dropping by and leaving comments/ shoutouts. More importantly, thank you for being there... please accept my apology that, lately, i may be busy with work and not have time to reply youir messages/comments, but rest assured, each and everyone is read, and highly appreciated :) have a nice day! ^^

of love

Today, i heard a story which was not a story of falling...
of living in the dark end of winter turmoil..
instead, it was a love story..
of a couple who did not live happily ever after...
but they live, loving each other..