Category Archives: All in a days work

as a medical officer

For colleagues, instead of patients

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A friend wrote on my FB wall today, saying how much he appreciated me doing a Central Venous Line on one of his patients with difficult veins. He was oncall and honestly I was going to end my shift when the call for help came. I then had 2 choices; to either answer the mayday or shove the responsibility to somebody else by pretending to be busy. I chose to help. Not because I felt it was my responsibilty in helping the patient get better but I did it because the one asking for the favour was a friend. A good friend who never brought me any trouble. Who never sabotaged his fellow colleagues.

Yes, I suppose it serves as a kind of motivation to do your job well and penuh amanah mun kau molah kerana nulong kawan. kerana kau sik mok kawan ko dimarah specialist or dpt susah.

A mantra Ive always hold on to,

TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF AND EACH OTHER

Gosh.. sik ingat dah sapa madah yah..

And because a friend asked… mun sik pande molah pun kenak pande2 kan dirik… muahahaha. If not CRY CRY jak lah…

The Graveyard Shift

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“All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence”

I have never done ED (Emergency Department) in my Housemanship posting. Instead I was absorbed into the Anaesthetic department and later stayed on to work as their MO. It was a good department, almost like a family and I hope to continue serving in the department even at another place. [read: mok masuk Anaes at GHM!!!]

Anyway, until that time comes.. I still have to serve in the district. This means seeing cases from the very little to the very old. And of course doing my time in ED.

For the past few days I have been doing the graveyard shift. From 4PM to 12MN. Imagine having to drive back from Jasin to Peringgit at night!. The road seems so scary sometimes that the mind too feel that it has to jump in the fun and make me see things. LOL.

One thing for sure is that ED is far more interesting than staying in the wards. What I despise however is when it comes to dispensing MCs. My gawd these people are freaking lazy going to work. Even the kids are spoilt. And their parents are not doing a good job at enforcing discipline on them as well. Ada kah diencourage nya miak ya sak sik sekolah. Like excuse me… mun menar lah aku rasa ko sik boleh keja atay skola.. nang aku merik MC bah..

Anyone who can walk to the welfare office can walk to work.
Al Capp

Then theres those who frequent the ED like its a shopping complex. Coming in for all sorts of lame yet bizarre complaints sometimes. Usually they’re not aggressive. They’ll talk to you in the most gentle tone and wonderful choice of words but theres just an inkling that something aint right. As you try to gather more history, you’d notice a piece of note written by your MA (Medical Assistant) that read, “Just give her some medicine, she’s ‘drunk'”. And the MA s are right. These group of patients will come back in another day or two with the SAME illness although its happening for the first time, saying that they’ve never sought medical treatment before. Like hello.. memori ikan emas kah apa?

ED oh ED.

Well, its only the 1st week. I have another 3 weeks to explore.

Im not judging you, just feed

Posted in All in a days work, Parenting, Family and Relationships by

It has become a common phrase said to first-time-young-mothers who often hesitate in admitting that they have been giving milk formulas to their newborn babies ON TOP of their breast milk.

IM NOT JUDGING YOU, DONT WORRY

I am a first timer myself and without strong moral support, breastfeeding is not as easy as how other mothers make it. I remembered how anxious I was when I was not lactating until D4 of life for Baby Zeeq. Then, theres the anxiety of proper positioning and suckling method. later, I had to deal with the pain of breast engorgement that no one told me about and the 24/7 leaking!!! At that time I only had Mr Husband with me as we were ‘working overseas’.. away from both of our parents and other elderly people. There was no home visiting services in my area .. so you could imagine how difficult it was for the both of us as we try to understand that new phase of our lives. And honestly people.. learning virtually from the internet is not as effective.

Plus with Baby Zeeq yang sik mok nyusu tete’… nang dipalin koh mukanya dari badan kita.. kakya nya nangis lapa.. hati neh sik give in. So I too resorted to formula milk at the time. It kept the baby quiet and full. I also gave in to the use of pacifiers. It honestly broke my heart having to do that because I had all these ideals in raising a child. Exclusive breastfeeding as one of them. But… hmm.. *sigh*

I owe an apology to Baby Zeeq. InsyaAllah now that Ive known better.. I will not make the same mistake with Baby No 2 in the future.

But perhaps judging people out there would be more kind and willing to accept breastmilk feeding as opposed to pure breastfeeding per se. NO?

The Ward Doctor

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“Healing is a matter of time, but it is sometimes also a matter of opportunity.” – Hippocrates

My typical day as a Ward Doctor in a district hospital with full bed occupancy of 28 patients.

0700   : Set off from home. If I need to refill the tank, I’ll leave 10 minutes early

0740   : Arrive at work. Just in time to gather my white pocket and stuff it with my doc accessories. Swallow a vitamin and start my morning review of the patients

0800 – 1200  : Includes rounds with the specialist, preparing discharge summaries, write referrals, review medications, counsel patients regarding treatment options/procedure risk/uncontrolled medical condition and their complications/on why they are not allowed to go home that day!!

1230 – 1400 : Lunch hour –> eat, catnap, quick read on medical topics, pray.

1400 – 1700 : Attend CME. If there’s no CME, update patients 555 book, do PM review, review results and Xrays, perform procedures, make case summaries, catch up on non clinical work. [read: gossip/discuss about Cinta untuk Emelda]

1650 – 1700 : Perform Asr prayer, then wait by the punch card machine to punch out.

1750   : Arrive home. Play with Baby Zeeq. Bathe him et cetera.

Emotions Charged!

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“If you can, help others; if you cannot do that, at least do not harm them”

The theme of today is : Emotionally Charged

I started my morning with an emotionally charged discussion with a patient and her husband regarding her medical condition. Honestly, seeing the doctor first thing in the morning to ask regarding ones wellbeing or progress is not a wise thing. Especially when the ward is run under a specialists supervision. the best time is probably during designated visiting hours where doctors are surely to be around to answer questions. Early morning encounter not only deprives the doc-in-charge to do his/her rounds to other patients (which is not fair) but also in the event of a heated argument, it will leave everybody in a foul mood for THE WHOLE DAY!

Later in the afternoon we had a Mortality & Morbidity review.

Its difficult to stay calm especially when you’ve got 5 cases to present with drawbacks in each, hopefully with an intention to improve. Though no names were mentioned, there were accusatory tones in terms of giving the presentation and also from those providing expert opinions on the matter. In short, it was an uncomfortable 300 minutes. I could feel all my vital organs burning, heated at most, throughout the meeting eventhough I did not participate directly in the discussions.

Then when I returned home, I was hit with another avalanche of negative emotions.

I had to, again, apologize to the person involved of my husbands abrupt and seemingly rude comment. Honestly, this is not the first time – apologizing on behalf. Although yes, he had a point to the person.. I believed it could be conveyed in a more gentleman manner. perhaps its because Im a peaceful person myself and perhaps it was because the person had a change in his tone and demeanour after the ‘teguran’ by Mr Husband. It just left this very uncomfortable feeling in my throat and an ugly aura in the room itself.  Mr Husband wanted to appear heroic but unfortunately at a price.

*Sigh*. Im spent. Emotionally.