Tag Archives: district hospital

I woke up with a plan ..

Posted in All in a days work by

I woke up with a plan knowing that today would be horrendous. We are still short of people at work. 

I envisioned that my little Hazeeq would wake up without a fuss. That he would gulp down his bottle of milk before 630am and voluntarily strip off his pyjamas for his morning bath. After wearing his day clothes that he chose for himself – he would then get into the car with his chosen toys for the day so we could arrive at grandma’s house by at least 650AM – this will give me time to say HI to the mother in law – make some small talk before rushing to work at 7AM.

I then hoped that traffic would be fine – that the traffic lights would be all green shortening the pit stops I have to make before arriving at my supposed destination.

So far so good.. 

Then plan continued with me going up to wards to check if the patients have been transferred over from the tertiary hospital for their operation here this morning. I feel blessed for both of my patients were in and adequately fasted.This means I can have a quick breakfast at the cafeteria before the surgeons come to the operating theatre (OT). Quick is 7 minutes eating time of nasi lemak and a bottle of mineral water. Otherwise, I’d just wait to have my proper meal during lunch or if the emergency unit is awaiting the arrival of this emotionally labile princess than I’d skip lunch and bear the hunger till dinner.

I did skip lunch and delayed my Zuhr prayers – felt guilty afterwards and prayed to ALLAH that he wouldn’t give me a difficult resus case in the midst of this busy-ness. My cases in the OT finished a bit late and I was so worried that my colleague would be left alone to manage the emergency unit. He turned out fine and cheerful.  

The plan also included a short trip to the Record Office to collect my pending medical reports. And also to hand in my leave application form to the administrative office.

Both chores did not happen. 

I planned to leave sharp at 4PM so I could fetch my son promptly and we both head to Giant Hypermarket and do some meaningless grocery shopping. And also fuel up the car since the bar is already at 1.

That also did not happen. I ended up having dinner at my MIL’s house and arguing with my boy of who must get into the shower first. I had to be first. I need a change of plans tomorrow. A better one. 

Ikhlas …. No?

Posted in Everyday Life, Ponderings & Personal Development by

I once told myself that working in the emergency unit or anaesthesia is the best discipline to be if you want to self-test on the virtue of Ikhlas. 

It’s because patients often forget the first responders or gatekeepers  who detects a particular abnormality and contemplate on whether the person needs a referral or next visit or safely discharged. Or the doctor who puts you to sleep and ease you of your pain while the other more important doctor fixes your leg or bowels or deliver your baby.

While Ikhlas have been going strong for the past few months – the spirit I feel is waning over time. I’m not quite sure whether I have that ounce of Ikhlas in my soul anymore. I just don’t feel like helping people that much.

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Perhaps this is what people refer to as burnout. Where everything you do is just on auto-pilot. You think less, you care even less. Every patient that walks through the door has an agenda against you! They want to viral you on Facebook or pick a fight.

But of course these negative emotions tend to wither away after a few encounters with feeble old ladies with electrolyte imbalance or old grumpy men with asthma attacks – they are really sick after all.

I am looking forward to November – I have a few #BurnoutBasher projects up my sleeve. InsyaAllah … 

*menuju keikhlasan*

My 32nd Birthday

Posted in Everyday Life, Good Things by

I am 32 years old this year. And I celebrated my birthday as though I was 13. I had the presents, the cake with candles and all. Even a surprise birthday song from friends. I couldn’t wish for more. And as usual, I did some reflection or muhasabah diri as we call it – on my ambitions, success and failures.

I reminded myself that Quitting KKM is not a wise option at the moment. Definitely not to think about for the next 3 years. However with likelihood of consideration for the next 5 years after that of course. Ha ha – thus this keeps me focused to not be lead ashtray by promises of financial freedom and debt free, when in fact I still owe JPA a few hundred thousand ringgit of study loan for my medical school fees.

Birthday morning started with a present wrapped in Mr Husbands very own kain pelikat – which he said was inspired by the extreme cheapskate TV programme. I was honestly hoping to find a recycled bday card as well in the package. I got a bag + purse combo. Like any woman’s life motto, one could not have too many bags hence I welcomed the new addition to my current collection with very open arms. Later that day, I attended the Raya Celebration event organized by my unit.

Venue : Hospital compound

Photos credit to Wan Luffy Kowt

We had the heavy meals like nasi impit, bihun, rendang and spaghetti. Then there was the luxury of satay, hotdog sticks with lots and lots of cakes. The Raya event coincidently fell on my birthday to which I was overjoyed. It felt very syok sendiri to think that ‘we are all gathered here to celebrate the golden years of beloved MInci’ – fofular lah sangat. I was not let down as I had a surprise birthday song and cake to go with it.

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What I liked about the whole surprise thing was that it reaffirmed my role not only as a wife, mother or friend. In fact, it was a subtle recognition that I was a woman of my own. That people recognise and accept me for who I am and not as Mr bla bla ‘s wife or Ee’s mom per se. I was someone who got to where I was at my own terms – or at least so I hope. It’s like when someone mentions your name – people identify you by traits special to yourself instead of first imagining your husband or son before finding that particular face referred to as His Wife or His Mother.

Its worthwhile to review your life in Milestones rather than a yearly review. I’d rather see and measure my self worth at intervals of 30 years old and later at 35. Of course, one should always strive to do their best every year and attain smaller goals to materialize bigger ones. I am no exception. Being 32, I am happy and grateful for what I have today – my family & friends, my career and work colleagues. 

These are my social support. These are the people that I hope could turn to when I am at my most worst or sinking in my own sorrows. Also the people I’d go to when happiness strikes and I want to share and celebrate. That give meaning to what I do everyday. I hope these are the people who would miss me and find me should I go missing one day. And bottom of it all. I hope these 3 major circles of my life would intersect with each other in a harmonious manner so I could perform as the best version of myself in dunya and akhirat. InsyaAllah. Here is to my 33rd birthday next year.

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A sage advice

Posted in Everyday Life, Ponderings & Personal Development by

Last month our ‘usual consulting specialist’ from the nearby tertiary hospital decided to further her studies in a sub-specialty close to her heart. It was only natural for us medical officers from this district kecik hospital to organize a Continuous Medical Education (CME) session with her for the last time – in an attempt to just suck dry all the knowledge we could gather from her and of course spend ‘mummy angkat’ time with her.

Despite her occasional disappointment towards us regarding how we manage our cases – we have grown to love her persona and wittingly anticipate her to roll her eyes when we say something silly. Hihi.

Like anybody who has high standards and big personality she was dispensing work and life advice like water over the light refreshments we had after the CME.

One that stuck to mind was ;

Do not accept what is NORMAL

… by that she meant do not take everything as ‘biasa’.

kita biasa buat macam ni

biasanya kalau macam ni.. kita tak buat apa2

biasanya this… biasanya that

She went on to describe the great lengths her team took in managing a case of acute poisoning in a woman from our neighboring country – Indonesia. The lady had a domestic altercation with her husband, drank some poison but did not die. Brought to a nearby health facility in Indonesia with gastric lavage done then discharged home. Something must be off somewhere because the husband resorted to bring her to this hospital in Malaysia using the 1 hour ride ferry – just to seek treatment!!

The woman did not know what she drank. The husband was asked to call his neighbors back in Indonesia to look in the trash and find the bottle. The labels were unreadable but this specialist was not going to take NO as an answer. She practically ordered the neighbors to go back to the store where they bought the product 18 months ago. They later discovered it was a pesticide.

“This is what I expect from you. Do not just stop at where you are. Find out more. Work harder until there’s just nothing else you could do”

Thank you boss.

Simple detective work – to look for people

Posted in All in a days work by

How do you find a particular someone in a sea full of people? Well.. I was put on a test today.

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A few weeks ago, a middle aged lady was referred to our centre from a private GP for subsequent management. After this lady was assessed by an attending specialist, Specialist M, at our hospital, it was decided that she needs further investigation at a tertiary hospital where the facilities were more advanced – in this case, they had a CT scan machine available.

After the patient was transferred there, I have quite forgotten about the case until Specialist M wanted to see her again – for educational purposes. *gasp*

I did the easiest thing I could imagine, I traced her Casualty card to get her number. I then met Panic & Horror as the phone number belonged to someone else. Patutlah tak angkat.  The first thing that crossed my mind was, “OMG.. do I really need to get the police involved in this – to track her down and get her number?!!!” That is like so dramatic right..

I suddenly remembered that she brought along a relative who happened to be working as part of the private cleaning company in our hospital. Too bad I don’t know her name since she is not working in our unit. I tried my best to describe this particular relative to the other workers but alas, they are unable to recall who this lady tembam2 with tudung is. I was at wits end, I even tried to google her name in case someone mentions her on the web. Or if she by chance has a Facebook account. kerja gila.. I know. 

After much silly effort within that long 30 minutes, HELP came in the form of a friend.

“She was referred from a GP right?”

“Yes”

“Why don’t you call the GP and ask for her details. When patients register for the first time, they usually get their contact number and all”

OH bless him! And indeed he was right. I spoke to the GP owner herself, explained my predicament and voila.. I managed to give the patient a call and confirmed an appointment. Now that is one way how you find a person in a sea of people.