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| sales & marketing in the 11 hours between 10:30pm & 9:30am, i learned many things. among them all, the one that stands out the most.... having a sales degree helps as a doctor i've never been in sales before but common sense precipitates that when you sell something you are firm yet subtle. you draw out all the little details that you think will entice or compel the person to buy it, conveniently leaving out "insignificant details" which would cause them to think twice about buying. until of course they have already bought it, in which case you can spill your guts out because it no longer matters. its very much like medicine really, or so i was told today. in the emergency department we "sell" patients to relevant medical teams for admission. you tell the team ONLY what you think will entice them to come and see the patient. and when they have agreed BINGO! you can spill all after and when nice and even firm persuasive technics don't work, you dictate. if however you intend to win the popularity contest, you need to know that that probably lowers your chances significantly. even worse, a parallel situation would be a 5th grader being told by her class teacher she should dictate the other class teachers. *siGh* i'm so tired of having to sell patients. we had a teenage boy today who spent 15hours in ED (Emergency). when i saw him he had already waited for 5hours. i thought he had reflux but just to make sure it wasn't anything more significant i called the surgical registrar. who then told me over the phone it did not sound like a surgical case & asked me to contact the medical registrar who was annoyed that the surgical registrar didn't come down to see the patient's presentation was "not really a medical case". to which i agree... reluctantly she agrees to see the patient to which i thank her profusely. after which she comes down and comes up with a completely different provisional diagnosis; and essentially she admits she is not sure what is going on. following which she rings the specialist at 6am (which is when they wake up) and specialist says they will admit him, but provided the surgical team comes down and actually SEES the patient and confirm it is not a surgical case. and at handover meeting at 8am i was blasted by the ED staff specialist for not being firm enough and was asked to file a complaint against the surgical registrar for not seeing the patient. to which i really do NOT want to do! a really tired & annoyed surgical registrar than comes down to see the patient even after her shift hours and after much "discussion" as to the sequence of events, she finally hands it over to the day-time surgical registrar. but before she left she came back and told me i really should not shoulder anything alone. and since i did discuss it with the senior doctor in emergency, it is his responsibility and his fault ARGH!!!!!!!! yesterday i came home loving my job. today, i just want to retire. badly. i had the most hectic night with so many patients and this was but one. today is day 7... oh well i've only hated my job for 2 days so far. the rest varied between being "ok" and "loving it". 2 out of 7 isn't too bad, no??? now... what was i planning to do at retirement again? | | |
| med school good-bye Today marks the last day of 6 years of med school & it is honestly surreal. Walking in to Prince of Wales Hospital just like any other day, it suddenly hit me that this is it and I've actually reached the end of this tunnel. To say it was always a tunnel would be grossly incorrect as more often than not it has been anything but a tunnel; think long road trips where you never know what lies around the corner - sometimes its grassy plains of spring flowers and other times its ricketty roads with potholes. I guess I've been doing med for so long that I've stopped thinking about finishing - pining for the end just makes the wait seem so much longer  Considering how much medical information I've forgotten in the short span of 2 months between exams & now, its amazing how clearly I recall the day I got the letter of offer into Medicine; and the excitement & anticipation on the day I left Malaysia to start my first year of med school. Then, 6 years was an eternity & I was under the impression that I would be at uni FOREVER. The journey has been largely enjoyable & has grown me in more ways than I could ever count. It has not always been easy & along the way I've gained so much, friendships not to say the least. I'm so grateful to God for seeing me through these past 6years; for being my possible during impossible times; for being my anchor in the storm; for being my breath of fresh air & springs of refreshing. And I'm so thankful to my mum & dad; for all their prayers & encouragement; for all the times they shared my burden & stress; for putting up with my variable moods & irritability during exams; for providing for me financially. And of course there is the rest of my family & all my friends who pushed & sometimes pulled me along; who believed in me even when I myself didn't. Now I sound like I'm giving an Academy Award speech  But hey, I'm Miss Sentimental-All Heart-Super Emotional- Uber Sentimental. So what did u expect?  | | |
| i guess this is it So my final exams are starting next week... Its bizarre but for some reason I feel really happy and at peace :) Random thoughts that go through my mind at different points "... can't believe I've been doing this for 6 years" When I see people graduating "... that's me in 2 months!!! woOhhoO!!!" and I'm excited because I will hopefully get big bunches of flowers haaHaaaa  when the nurses go "doctor, can you please (fill in the blanks)" and I go "sorry, i'm a medical student" but I think "but that's me pretty soon! LOL " When its only 8:45am in the morning and the patient refuses to let us see him because he has already seen 4 sets of medical students that morning; when the medical registrar sees me along the corridor & go "any patients? any patients? Sorry I haven't got any today" even before I have had the chance to open my mouth and ask him for patients, I think, "Man, why are there so many medical students around" "...I can't wait till my parents are over at the end of the year" "... and thank God my exams end the day before my birthday  " Anyway, what I really wanted to blog about was this.... Some time last week, I was just feeling stressed, irritable and wasn't sleeping very well. Long story short, I finally got to this verse which Megan (girl from my connect group) and Kelv gave to me "If God doesn't build the house, the builders only build shacks.
If God doesn't guard the city,
the night watchman might as well nap.
It's useless to rise early and go to bed late,
and work your worried fingers to the bone.
Don't you know he enjoys
giving rest to those he loves?" Psalm 127:1-2 from The Message Translation (emphasis mine) What amazing stuff!!!  It spoke right to my heart. I was thinking about it the whole day and started praying that God will build my house but somehow it just didn't sit right. And then I got this amazing revelation. Why on earth am I asking God to build my tiny little shack when I can be part of building God's beautiful, enormous castle? The best bit is coz its God's house, I know its gonna be built and built well, and it made the huge pressure I was giving myself seem so unnecessary. All this while I was letting myself be little-Ms Engineer-in-charge desigining & building my tiny shack but now i can be part of building something bigger without having to worry because the Master Engineer himself is in charge. | | |
| the blogosphere I was surfing blogs again with Malaysian blogs featuring as main course on today's menu :) Things like that that make me really sad. As much as I love Malaysia, it makes me feel angry, betrayed and disappointed when there is such injustice at the level of leadership. Things like that that make me question whether or not I really want to go back. Procrastinating Reading along, the article below touched my heart in more ways than one. Sourced from The Ancient Mariner
Visakhapatnam, May 24:
The wife of a poor pani puri vendor has become a software engineer in Infosys, thanks to her husband support. Sheik Salar, 26, a street hawker, used every rupee he earned to help his wife Fatima Bibi Sheik, 21, achieve her academic ambitions. And it was not in vain. Fatima completed her course at Gayatri Vidya Parishad College of Engineering with high marks and was given a plum posting by the software giant in a campus selection.
In fact, she is the first student from the college to get into Infosys. Fatima and Salar stay in a slum at Rajendranagar. While Fatima went to college, Salar roamed around the city with a pushcart selling puffed rice, corn, chilli bhajjis and pani puri, earning Rs 150 per day. When she was married off to her distant relation Salar by her parents in 2001, Fatima was just 15 and felt that she would never achieve her dream of being a software engineer.
did not want to marry since I wanted to study further and achieve something,?she said. She was crestfallen since Salar merely nodded when she told him about her dreams. But his nod meant a lot and he started saving money to help her study. By living frugally, Salar somehow got together Rs 60,000 to pay Fatima fee for the first and second year of her engineering course.
The Andhra Pradesh State Minorities Finance Corporation helped the couple pay the rest of the fee. t the time of our marriage I was not sure how serious Fatima was about her studies,?said Salar. ut when I realised that she got 536 marks in her SSC exams and stood first in her school, I decided to help her study.?The pani puri vendor was adamant that her future should not get spoilt because she married him.
A junior college in the city provided her free intermediate education. She secured a decent rank in the Emcet exam and opted to join the electronics and electrical engineering branch in college. e decided not to have kids till she got a good job,?said Salar. or this, I took much criticism from my parents.?Fatima eyes moisten when she talks about her husband. ou can imagine the hardships he suffered to help me,?she said. n the last six years, he was my strength. He sacrificed all his joys for me.?BR>
atima was always first in our class,?said Asha Kanthi, her classmate. e did not know her story then. Now she is our inspiration.?Though happy at the turn of events, the couple is a bit sad when thinking about their being apart for three months, when Fatima would go to the Infosys campus in Mysore for training. Have they ever quarreled? hen we have issues, we sit together and discuss and sort it out,?said Fatima. She plans to take her husband along with her when she gets her posting. Salar too is proud, for he has proved that behind every successful woman there is a man ... | | |
| operation red bean soup Its been ages since I last posted - feels shorter than it actually is though. I've just come back from a brilliant 4 weeks in Nowra. Albeit the freezing cold I had MUCH sleep and not only did I attempt the impossible, I succeeded in the impossible!!! haHAaaa :) The impossible being... **drumroll**... DECAFFEINATION! Sorry if you were expecting something more dramatic but I'm such a coffee-holic it is honestly an amazing feat. Man, I even had decaffeinated tea! I had a huge craving for red bean soup yesterday and so I went out and bought a whole heap of ingredients including taro-flavoured sago (interesting stuff!). By the time I rested and soaked the beans the cravings had exponentially increased. You can imagine how painful it was waiting for the red beans to boil  I would usually boil it in the morning, pop it in the 'magic cooker' and come home to it all-perfect, but I only started cooking the red bean soup at 9:30 last night. Finally, I cheated... I like the red beans reeeaallly mushy and the soup smooth and by that time the cravings were so intense I could not study or do anything except watch the pot boiling anyway, so I stood there for a good 20 minutes using the ladle to mush the beans... And finally... 
I was in the right frame of mind to study again. But... I was sleepy by then so to my warm and cosy bed it was | | |
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