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Author
The author is a paranoid, deranged and cynical misanthrope who records snippets of her life so that she will remember them when she grows old and withered. The identities of any names or initials on this blog are based on the assumptions of the reader unless otherwise specified, and the author claims no responsibility for them.
Reality
The author somehow got into medical school. Yes, you of the general public, shudder and fear the wrath of an inept doctor.
Loves
Reading, Maisy (my dog), tea, writing (albeit badly), piano, music, junk food.
Hates
Almost everything else besides the things mentioned above.
Friends
Bao Cheng' Bernice' Chien Young' Chun Hing' Claire' Faustina' Felicia' Ferly' Gloria' Irene' Irene & Jiaying' Jac' Jiamin' Jiasin' Jiaying' Lutheng' Karene' Marissa' Melesa' Mingyi' My fictionpress' Pamelia' Pei Rong' Qiu Ting' Rachel' Satires Site' Stasia' Sylvia' The Clique' Vinette' Wenjia' Xin Rong' Xue Ying' Yanne & I' Yanne & Jamie' Zeena' 203'
Archives
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05/01/2014 - 06/01/2014
Chat area
It has been a rather eventful and packed 2 months, explaining my absence here. Or rather, providing me with an adequate excuse for said absence.
My 3 weeks in Sabah were very enjoyable. At least the non-hospital bits were. The hospital attachment was nothing short of shocking. Shockingly bad and also on the verge of terrifying. I never ever want to be treated in a public hospital in Malaysia (tertiary center or not) if I can ever help it. I think I stand a better chance braving the plane ride back to Perth (or nearby Singapore) than being treated in said hospitals.
I'm currently in Singapore, after a 5 year hiatus from this country. I honestly do not regret my choice of calling Perth home now. Singapore has changed dramatically within this short amount of time, and is almost unrecognisable to me now. I feel like a tourist in my homeland, which is rather regretable in a way. And I am so incredibly glad that I don't have to come back here to work.
Being a junior doctor in Singapore is almost synonymous with 'overworked slave' in my opinion. My hours as an elective student are about 7.30-6pm every day (although I do need an hour to travel each way to the hospital. Why do I always live so bloody far from wherever I need to be at?!), let alone the hours of the doctors. Their on-calls sound horrifying, where they are at the hospital for about 30hours at a go with little sleep given the hospital's policy to see patients within 2 hours.
In spite of that, my opinion of Singaporeans has improved with this stay (so far anyway). I've found that the younger generation are kinder. I see many more people giving up their seats to needy people (e.g. pregnant, elderly) than previously, where it was almost unseen/unheard of for people to give their seats up on public transport. The junior doctors and my registrar have been very nice and welcoming to us (I'm with a UNSW elective student too), and have been taking time out of their busy schedules to teach us. Even during the busy ward rounds, they quiz us while walking along the corridors. They even set us homework topics to read up on and actually remember to grill us on the topics the next day.
Ironically, the junior staff are a lot free-er in Malaysia but all (except 1) didn't bother with us much at all. On our first day, we were even told by an MO to either make ourselves useful or get out. Oh wells.
Knowledge wise, the Singaporean doctors are crazily good while the Malaysian ones... Have room for improvement. I felt good about myself in Malaysia, where I thought I might actually be reasonably competent to look after patients. In Singapore, I wonder why I've not flunked out of med school yet. Well, maybe not that bad. But I definitely wonder how I still manage to get the semi-decent grades that I get given the huge gaps in my knowledge.
Oh wells. I'm glad I don't need to go in on weekends though. I guess as doctors we never really get a break anyway. I get asked by friends/family on an almost-daily basis for advice. Although I used to welcome it, it's now starting to get somewhat annoying since I'd like some down-time from thinking about med all the time. I guess that's why we are always advised not to treat people we know, and why most consultants ask anyone who wants advice to go see someone else (e.g. GP). Part of it is probably because I've never viewed med as a vocation/calling, and chose it as a practical choice.
1 more week of elective and I'll be done! I can almost feel my soul dying in the Singaporean workforce... (am eternally tired)
12:50 PM