4th Med Senang (Part II)

Assalamualaikum.

Sekarang tengah minggu last for medicine rotation. Untuk minggu ni, aku tengah rotation neurology, which is not too bad~

Semalam aku ada mini-OSCE dengan lagi 4 orang budak 4th year. Ada yang kena ambik history, ada yang kena buat cardio exam, respi exam and sampai turn aku kena buat abdominal exam. Coolio~ Pastu Dr Rizzo tunjuk Kardex a.k.a drug chart patients. And she asked me to explain the class drugs for all the medication and its function. Lucky me, ubat-ubat tu common jugak lah, plus aku memang ada lah study therapeutic stuffs sikit-sikit pun sebab ada Prescribing Safety Assessment pun Jumaat ni, hoho. 

And then petang semalam ada slot osce and short case tutorial dengan Dr Tony Lynch. Memang awesome ar cara dia mengajar. Banyak soal students... Actually bila doktor banyak soal kita, lagi banyak sebenarnya yang kita belajar. And kalau doktor kurang soal, it means that if you want to gain a lot, you should be the one who asking the questions. Gituuu.

And pagi tadi pulak ada neurology upper limb tutorial dengan Dr Simon Cronin. Oh my consultant ni memang best. Muka dia nampak tegang tapi kelakar, duhhh. I did mistake on checking the reflex, and dia sengih macam "ish ish budak ni 4th year pun tak reti check reflex". Haha.

Okey so motif aku tulis panjang-panjang ni adalah secara umumnya nak list kan kesilapan-kesilapan common dak medik, tak kisah la budak medik melayu ke irish ke. 

1. Tak confidence

Aku percaya yang budak-budak Melayu ni, diorang punya knowledge sama level je dengan budak-budak Irish, ataupun sebenarnya mungkin ada sebilangan yang lebih intelektual. Tapi when it comes to do the clinical skills, nampak macam tak power. 

So, actually penting ar sebenarnya untuk kita develop air of self confidence bak kata Dr Tony. We should be the one who control our self. Bila kita freak out, memang kelam kabut laa semuanya. Yes, kita memang nak to be quick and sleek during clinical exam, but kalau kita anxious, memang melayang laa.. 

Jadi untuk dak dak 4th year, still tak terlambat untuk practise untuk build air of self confidence. Curik je self confidence macam budak-budak Irish. Kadang tu, budak Irish ada yang biasa-biasa je, tapi sebab self confidence diorang tu, they look more intelectual... 

2. Ask questions

Aitttt, tadi cakap kena suruh banyak bertanya. Ni contradict pulak, gapo dio ni? Hasil pengamatan aku dari mini osce semalam, pastu tutorial dengan dr tony, and then tutorial dengan dr cronin, examiner tak gemar kalau kita as student, bila tengah buat clinical exam on patient, and then kita tanya examiner, "should i do this, should i do that,". The key is, just do what you think you have to do, unless they asked you not to do it. Another things, when you ask question to examiner, it shows you are not confident about what you are doing.

3. Do you have any pain?

In doing what ever clinical exam on patient, don't ever forget this question. This gives you mark, bak kata dr tony.

4. Take history from patients but dont do examination on them and dont present the case

Taking history from patients is a good thing as you need a lot of practise, especially if english is not your mother tongue language. But when you are in 4th year, take every opportunity you have to examine stable patients. Sebab last two weeks, Dr Ora said, why dont you examine themm? Haha aku hanya mampu memberi sengihan sahaja. Paling koman, always use you stethoscope in every patient you meet! Listen for their heart and lungs.

And lagi satu, present the case. But first, practise sebelum present. Dr Mala, the intern always suruh practise before present which is a good thing. Imagine when you want to present a case, it is like you are presenting a case for your final meds exam! I know, language might be a barrier for a person like me, but hey practise make perfect, right? As time passed by, your presentation will be more smooth than before and in you short case or long case exam, the smoothness in you history presentation will show you did meet a lot of patient.

Penting ar sebenarnya untuk jumpa banyak patient although banyak benda nak kena hadam dari buku. But nanti kita kan bekerja dengan manusia. Jadi approach buku dan manusia perlu seimbang.

5. Mudah ambil hati

Hehs not sure whether all of you are familiar with the term "stone face" or not. But for me it can be first line prophylaxis before somebody scold you or make you feel down. We might feel deeply hurt by their cynical comments on us, but dont think about that too much. Kritikan membina kita ambiklah, yang cynical dia ke sinis dia ke, buang ke tepi. Don't waste your brain to preoccupy yourself with the negative comments. 

In case the way they comments you is kinda in a negative way that you don't like, then you have your stone face. For me stone face ni macam muka professional sebabnya, "Okay I accept your comment, and I'm not feeling bad about myself, I'm cool".

So yeah, rasanya itu je kot mampu dicoretkan. I'm not a perfect medical student anyway, I did all these mistakes anyway, but to be a better person, what we can do is to improve ourselves every day. May Allah guide us to be a dedicated doctor for ummah!

Sekian, wassalam..