Chan Weng Kit's Blogspot: DAY 169

Feb 17

1) Today has been an extremely exciting day! I had an important decision to make, sit for the lectures today, or go for ICHAMS (International Conference for Healthcare and Medical Students) 2017! Unfortunately, the two events coincided with each other, bringing back memories of "The Road Not Taken". And after long contemplation, I chose to forgo the HBPS module as well as the Healthcare Symposia(!) to go for ICHAMS. Not perhaps, the wisest choice, but what the heck - might as well seize the opportunity.

2) So after our anatomy practicals, I went to my GP appointment at Mercer Medical Centre, where I was given the second dose of MMR (Measles, mumps and rubella) for lifelong immunity. Came back to the Exam Hall for the ICHAMS event, where there was a poster exhibition. These were posters done by undergrads from all across the globe, including such names as King's College London, Trinity College, and of course our very own RCSI! We even had extra stalls set up for various programmes such as the Erasmus Programme and the University of Groningen, Netherlands! At the end of the day, there will be awards for best poster presentation as well as best oral presentation.

3) After lunch, we headed over to the first event - the Laporoscopic Skills session, and I discovered that it was quite similar to the previous sessions of laporoscopic skills research programme that I was taking part in! So I switched with Aisha (I'm not supposed to but oh well...) and went for the Physiotherapy and Sports Medicine event, which was a really interesting talk on sports injuries especially on the hamstring muscles (biceps femoris, semimembranosus and semitendinosus). Next, we had the Oral Presentation Session at the Harold Browne lecture theatre. The first speaker of the day was none other than Tenby's pride, Nicole Fong! Essentially, each speaker was given around 10 minutes to present on their research which they undertook over the previous summer, with questions by the panel of adjudicators to follow afterwards. It was very interesting to listen to different presentations by the various speakers of the day.

4) After that, I went over to the Cheyne Lecture Theatre, where there was a talk on Personality Disorders, specifically on EUPD (Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder). The talk was given by a professional psychiatrist, who divulged a lot of her personal experience in treating patients with this type of condition. Again, another eye opening lecture, and well worth skipping the Healthcare Symposia. At 5.00pm, my friends (who did finish sitting through the Healthcare Symposia) joined me and we sat for Keynote Speech 2 - a talk on "Preventing Sudden Cardiac Death". The speaker - Dr. Joseph Galvin, was, coincidentally, an alumnus of none other than RCSI haha. Next was the Opening/ Welcoming Speech by the Dean of RCSI herself, Professor Hannah McGee. This was followed by the wine and cheese reception, in which we were more than glad to contribute our empty stomachs. A fine selection of cheese of all shapes and sizes, paired with crackers as well as a plethora of wine and juices - and that was just the beginning! The group went off for Pub Crawl next, while I stayed behind to type this out.

5) Anyway, most of my friends headed off for Ballad Session - organised by the Music Society as part of RAG week, and held at the Opium Rooms. I didn't go for that, so I stayed back instead and finished the rest of my blog. That has been my day today - really eventful, and very, very educational. I hope you enjoyed reading about it, and stay tuned for more updates on ICHAMS tomorrow! Thanks for reading as always, and have a great day. Cheers!