Tag Archives: MOship

An unfavourable outcome

Posted in All in a days work, Ponderings & Personal Development by

I started my new year with a business trip to Lombok. Neh.. I wish.

Instead it started with me being oncall.

Assisting people in diagnosing their medical illness and while at it, solving their social issues. Honestly, if one decides to step their foot in the emergency unit – it must be for a very serious and urgent matter. Hence, they must be prepared for the outcome of the visit such as

  • for admission to stabilise the condition or observation
  • for a follow up consultation in the respective specialised clinic
  • transfer to a tertiary centre with relevant expertise, should they need one

Therefore, it is heartbreaking and at times frustrating when after the length of procedures and test we do prior to the above 3 solutions, you suddenly say

  • I want to be admitted at a private hospital – do they not realize that a similar battery of tests and investigations will be repeated at the private centre.. membazirlah test yg dibuat earlier from the RM1 payment.
  • I can’t be admitted to the hospital now – my birds at home needs to be taken care of or someone needs to cook dinner for my 25 year old son ..
  • or you did not honour the follow-up appointment we got for you the week after and make a return visit to the emergency unit – saying the previous ER doc that saw you did NOTHING and yet we found a referral letter folded neatly in between you BP trend notebook dated a year ago!
  • you refuse transfer to the best hospital (which is conveniently only 45 minutes away) because it would be difficult for your relatives to visit you – like hellooo.. if your distant relatives want to visit you, do it when you are well or during festive seasons..

So yes – nak sembuh pun I kena merayu masuk wad. 

And I haven’t even listed the grandiose, bongkak statements some patients make regarding the health that Allah bestowed upon them. Perhaps I shall leave you with one ..

“Tak payahlah nak cuci2 darah doctor, tengok saya nih umur masih panjang dan sihat”

(there’s no need for a dialysis doc, look at me, look at how I am still very much alive”

Yet your Urea is a freaking 51, Creatinine a horrifying >900, potassium of 6.2 and an acidotic blood gas? And you came to the emergency unit for being lethargic. *sigh*

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*

Jovial jolly jolly

Posted in Everyday Life, Reviews by

Today everybody was in a good mood. Almost every hour ( in between patients) we were laughing over a joke, a ghost story that went wrong, a case which is shitty but funny all the same. Perhaps its because we are on full manpower today. No one on leave. No one went for a course. No one ‘mengular’. 

We were all a happy family. Like siblings kidding with each other.

And another business card arrived from my trusted online biz-card maker : PHOTOBOOK MALAYSIA. 

This time it is for my sister’s little restaurant. RESTORAN SERI KENYALANG.

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I hope she likes it.

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.