Rotations In Retrospect
Now that the one month rotation has ended, I feel that it is the right time, at last, to write about it.

1. Kuala Kubu Baru Hospital
The 3 days allowed us much interaction with hospital staff and patients, it basically gave us a tiny glimpse into the real world. It also taught me one thing, it's only with your own initiative that you can see, observe and learn more. If all of us had hid in the wards from 9 to 4 daily, all we would have seen would have been the patients and nurses. Many thanks to our own initiative, we got to observe much more and truly made the most of our time there.

2. Klinik Kesihatan Serendah/ KKB OPD
Boring, uninspiring, depressing are but 3 of the many negative words I'll use to describe this part of our rotation. I still don't see the point of sitting in the lab for half a day, packing tablets in the pharmacy for half a day, looking for patients' records for another half a day, weighing patients for yet half a day. For our time in the clinics, well, please refer to my "A Doctor, A Mechanic" post.

3. GP
Hmm... this will depend a lot on where you are posted to. I had a very nice GP who was willing to teach us, answering our countless questions. The only problem was that he didn't have many patients, we didn't have many chances to observe... but well, I guess I'm lucky in that I had a pleasant GP. Some people were posted to clinics where they were told to sit in the waiting area with the patients, help the nurses or even go home. Others were posted to places where they got to see interesting cases, assist in procedures etc. I think this depends a lot on, well, your luck.

4. Community Medicine
Dr R rocks! :P No comments on this one. Heh heh.

5. CSU
Interesting. The new Dr was good, IMHO. CSU doesn't seem too happy with our batch. Well, I guess we just to have work a little harder, read up a little more and most importantly, remember what we read from good old Talley's and Macleod. Or maybe even go for extra classes! (Yeah, I'm very enthu about going for extra CSU, anyone else interested ah? I seriously need it. My physical examination skills sucks.)

6. Behavioural Science
A lesson taken by PJ, need I say more? If someone finds a lecturer who can make lectures more interesting, please let me know ok? I also blogged about this lesson. :) No, I'm not trying to increase blog traffic by pointing that out. But yeah, no harm visiting your friend's blog right? Hee.

7. Lab
If you have a passion for slides, slides, slides and more slides, I'm sure you would have loved this part of the rotations. The only problem is that I don't have passion for slides AT ALL. Taking a look at our own samples was pretty fun though. :) Otherwise, nah, I didn't enjoy this at all.

How I Hate Her

I hate her i hate her i hate her.
I hate her guts I hate her guts I hate her guts.
I hate her always picking on me I hate her always picking on me I hate her always picking on me
I hate her comparing I hate her comparing I hate her comparing
I hate her complaining I hate her complaining I hate her complaining
I hate her i hate her i hate her.

heh...

this post is dedicated to all those who are not happy with the way IMU is teaching us.
 

Rotation/Posting: A waste of time?

Despite the numerous testimonies of people who had heaps of fun at KKB & KKS, I still have my reservations about this whole thing. Again, let me start with my post with the disclaimer that all I am about to write are my opinions only and just because I feel this way does not mean that I'm dissing your opinions.
With that outta the way, onto why I think this whole month is a bloody waste of time, and particularly, why I think KKB & KKS is a waste of time.

I've been dreading KKB & KKS ever since I heard about it. Contrary to popular belief, just because I am from Sarawak does not mean that I like jungly, ulu-ulu type accommodations.
I am a city girl through and through: I like my hot water, IKEA bed, and other comforts of civilisation.
But if there's anything more to me than being a city girl, it's that I HATE trips of this kind.
I HATE the idea of packing for EIGHT FRIGGIN' DAYS.
I HATE the idea of being stuck somewhere without a computer, or at the very least, at someplace with one with a server slower than IMU's.
I HATE having to get off my bum and leave Vista Komanwel to go to some God-forsaken place at the tip of Selangor.
And I HATE FROGS.

For those of you who say it's an experience...
It's an experience no doubt, but frankly, an experience I can do without.

For those of you who say it's about serving the people...
There's not much you can do armed only with basic knowledge in CVS, and never mind the fact I don't even know if I'm competent in that one field since I might've flunked my exam.

For those of you who say THIS IS IT! This is what being a doctor is all about! Going to places where we're needed and seeing how it's like...
Ditto what I said earlier.
And I don't care if we're labeled future doctors. Point is, presently, we're only medical students.
We will be seeing patients in lonely outspots of the globe for the REST OF OUR LIVES when we're DOCTORS.

I will be working for the Government for 10 YEARS - and possibly more - serving patients in the interior of Sarawak.
Which is why I fully intend to enjoy my student life... and it's unlikely I'll get to do that if barely into my 2nd year, I already have to encounter the pressure of living and working in inhospitable conditions.
When what would've been a 1-month break is reduced to 1 week. (And never mind the fact that our longest holidays are in our pre-clinical years, ie. now. By the time we're in clinical school, 1-week holidays per semester are the norm.)

If it sounds like I'm upset, well, guess what? I am! And it doesn't help that an insensitive dungu tried to brace me up by saying "Be a sport! You'll probably enjoy it more than anyone!" If I'm upset, it means I AM UPSET.
Hello: I only get to spend 1 week back home in Miri. Only 1 week to spend time with my brother and sister, and my parents. And next year, my brother's gonna be off in matrix/uni. Since we have different timetables and different break times, I dunno if I'll get to see him the next time I'm at home.

Who knows, maybe when I come back, I might be singing a different tune. But for now, Sheena is SO NOT A HAPPY CAMPER.

Kuala Kubu Bahru

ah... Rotations. what a wonderful word.. A senior once told me, I don't know anybody who didn't had fun over in KKB... She was right. It was FUN. of course depending on where you stay makes it even more fun.

Firstly, I just like to point out that the girls won't be confirmed staying in the houses even though you have made arrangements to stay with whom. If you are lucky, you most likely can stay there. Let's just do some simple maths.

7 houses available
Average 2 houses for guys each group
At any one time there are 2 groups in KKB
therefore, 2housesforguys x 2groupsatatime = 4housesforguys
that leaves, 7houses - 4forguys = 3forgirls
take note that each group has about 3 houses of girls
therefore, only about 3 groups of girls can stay in the house

Unless of course you all don't mind staying in the house full of guys. like mine, there were only 5 of us. one more extra bed.

Of course, everybody would say that their house is the best, having a deck of cards or laptop... Mine is multiracial. We had fun talking about our religions and customs over dinner (yes we have dinner together). And of course it was so interesting that even the natives (the frogs) would pop by every once in a while to play with us.

Imagine having to open the door to your toilet to brush your teeth and to see a yellow big eyed frog sitting on the sink staring at you... or when you are squating there and suddenly a frog decides to see what all that smell is about and pops out of nowhere... Apart from frogs, there was also a huge spider. of course not the ones that eat birds found in my farm, but large enough to scare people. And of all places, it had to come into my room. We took about 10 minutes getting rid of it. And that was in the morning before the bus came... sigh..

Speaking of bus, yeah, my house is just next to the administration house, so it would be the second closest to the bus pickup point. We could take our time getting ready and only leave the house when the bus comes. We would be sitting there, tempted to bring out the chairs to make fun of the others still standing in the middle of the road..

Another thing about location was that my house is the last row way back in the housing estate. meaning just behind us was the jungle. Imagine the fun we could have if we ventured into the jungles of peninsular malaysia... Anyway, I don't really know who started the rumour but it was said that there was a graveyard for soldiers just behind our house. So in the middle of the night, they would visit our lovely abode (see? even ghosts come by our house.. it must really be a great house). Of course there is nothing to fear, but we ended up huddling together in one room. OK before you all get excited about a bunch of guys naturally curious about their sexual desires and inclinations, WE DIDN'T DO ANYTHING of that sort. But we did had our fun, even playing with a condom that was given to us by the Family Planning Nurse. The nurse's job is to introduce various methods of contraceptives to the new families, even had to show how to wear the condom. So, in her explanation, she had to open a packet, we took it.

Speaking of the education we were supposed to get from there, i guess we learnt lots. The medicine they showed us really looked familiar... i think i remembered hearing the names in between ...as such and the lye-on. There you'll meet all sorts of people, from those who just want an MC (master of ceremony, medical checkup, medical clearence...) and those coming to tell that he's not compliant. All sorts. You'll know when you get there.


To make things easier for you guys, I think I would list down here what you all should bring, and not forget everything. You also want to consider what to bring to save space and not bring too much things:

- Pillow, bedsheet, blanket (optional, coz all you get is a matress and that's good enough for me)
- Toiletries; toothbrush, toothpaste, soap, toilet rolls, shaver, makeup, sanitary pads, facial wash, etc (all these are optional, and a suggestion would be to share some of these stuff)
- Food; for breakfast, and snacks (we all brought food, but ended up walking to town to get supplies. we also ate our dinner there)
- Beverages is optional, unless you MUST have your morning coffee...
- There will be a kettle, but NO filter. so for those who are abit picky and don't want to drink from the river like the natives, you can either bring your own water, or buy from the town.
- Utensils, like forks and spoons.
- Clothes, enough for the days you are spending there. there isn't any washing equipment there, but you can bring to save on clothes.
- Writing material to write our reports and things in your log book. of course you can just borrow a pencil from your friends. Heck, just borrow the goddam log book!
- Entertainment is a must. a deck of cards, laptops to play LAN on (btw, there are some LAN shops in town...), a book (eg. papa patho, macleods), a blow up partner, condoms, etc... It's up to your own creativity and imagination. Car is also good.
- Anything else your bag/bags can fit.


Visiting houses is encouraged. Imagine playing Mafia with just 5 people... We did it. really.

Enjoy your stay!

Tagboard II

Tagboard is up!
(Hey, this is the first time I'm posting here.)
:)