DAY 1047-1060

July 15 - 28

1) And so... another two weeks have passed. Time for a summary of events. I started off the first week with a three day visit to the Private Clinics (in my case, at Island Hospital). I was initially supposed to shadow a neonatalogist (someone who specialises in neonatal health (babies below 1 month of age), but ended up following a paediatric cardiologist for the first two days instead. I must say I learnt a lot observing patients in a clinic setting (compared to the wards) as I got the opportunity for one-on-one teaching. It was really interesting to watch multiple echocardiograms (ultrasounds of the heart) as well as appreciate the different types of heart murmurs and clinical presentations of patients with heart disease.

2) On Thursday, we had our mid-module appraisal (MMA) at Hospital Kepala Batas. Thankfully, transport was provided for by van, although we had to leave really early to reach on time. Dr. Violet took us for the appraisal, which involved going over (confidentially) areas we were weak in, critique and feedback over the course so far, as well as a semi-mock exam for each of us. In the afternoon, she brought us over to the T&CM (Traditional and Chinese medicine) department - one of the few hospitals with this type of department that is endorsed by the Ministry of Health. It was a really interesting experience, and by interviewing some of the patients, we found out that the majority of them had a) tried Western medicine first and failed, then b) adopted a traditional approach and found that it worked. Whether by placebo or by some other method not demonstrable by science, these patients swear by the alternative medicine that they receive. Most of them had chronic pain or disability e.g. following a stroke.

3) Over the weekend, I've been trying to catch up with studies, as any medical student would want to haha. The mid-module appraisal represents the turning point (and halfway mark) for our paediatrics rotation. That means we have another four weeks to go before our end-of-rotation assessment (OSCEs and short cases). In addition to those, we have continuous assessments as well, in the form of online quizzes, preparations before class, and three online report submissions (on Paediatrics, Neonataology, and Evidence-Based Medicine respectively). Our group (B12) has but one more report to finish - on Paediatrics. After that, it's study all the way till finals - as caffeine consumption increases and sleep deprivation too.

4) Next week, we'll be in Penang General Hospital, with our so-called Self-Directed Learning, before finishing off our final week in the Seberang Jaya Hospital Clinics. Week 8 (the final week) is filled with any replacement classes, revision time, and the exams themselves. So all in all, a very packed rotation, with endless information, but enjoyable and interesting nonetheless. And on that note, I'll end this edition of my blog post. Thanks very much for visiting as always, and have a nice day. Cheers!

Kepala Batas Hospital - waiting for our Mid-Module Appraisal

(l-r: Mahitha, Athirah, Myself)

Posing in front of the Main Administrative building :)

Huge fried fish for lunch today <3

Chicken rice in college :)

Penang "Muar Chee" (glutinous rice balls) coated in savoury ground-up peanut :)

Chicken cheese lava at Coffee Elements

 

MPU U3 Members 

(l-r: Myself, Ice, Girvana, Mehwish, Zi Yan)

- we've since expanded our group members to nine :)

DAY 1033 - 1046

Jul 1-14

1) These past two weeks have been pretty hectic for me, and it still is - so I'll have to keep it short this time around. After our introductory week in Paediatrics, our group (Group B12) was posted to the neonatal ward at Penang General Hospital. We would be there for a whole week, clerking, performing examinations on neonates (basically babies below 28 weeks or <1 month old), as well as attending Bedside Teaching (BST) with the clinicians.

2) While posted there, we had a couple of tasks to accomplish, including learning about Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC), performing a heel-prick test on a baby, plotting a neonate's length, weight, and head circumference on an intrauterine growth chart (for pre-terms) etc. There was a lot to do, and a lot to learn. We also had to be on call for at least one night at the Neonatal Ward. Mahitha and I chose to do it together (basically we are on call in pairs), and we had a really interesting time visiting the NICU (Neonatal intensive care unit), reading and interpreting the investigations (ABGs, CXR, FBC etc) as we went along.

3) On top of all of that, we had to complete a neonatal case write-up, basically an extended version of our everyday clerking. Along with the case write-up was the EBM (Evidence-Based Medicine) write-up, which had to be submitted together. Essentially, that tested our ability to formulate a research question using the "PICO" format, select then critically appraise an article online, before applying the results to the case we had clerked. Sounds like a lot, doesn't it? And it certainly was - I spent an entire Saturday finishing the two write-ups.

4) And that was just our FIRST week in the wards. The second week, we were posted in Ward 2 (Paediatrics) at Seberang Jaya Hospital, and as with the previous posting, were required to spend at least one night on call at the Clinical Skills Unit (CSU). Khang Way, Athirah, and myself decided to go together for our "night shift" on Monday. We witnessed night ward rounds where the house officers (HO) would take turns to present the cases to the medical offer (MO), and shortly after that, the MO would have their own rounds to present the patients to the Specialist.

5) It was our first time spending the night (basically 7pm-7am) over at the Clinical Skills Unit. The idea is that by spending the night over, we get to see many more acute cases (emergency cases and new admissions) before the patients are stabilised. All in all, it was an interesting if tiring experience (we had to continue our morning clerking, bedside teachings, and afternoon lessons back at campus later!) And yes, we have our own paediatric case write up as well, thankfully sans any EBM component. So in total, we have three case write-ups to submit online.

6) Next week, I'll be in Island Hospital, shadowing a doctor in the paediatrics section. It will be interesting to compare and contrast the facilities and services in a public vs private setting. That's basically it for my blog today, hope you enjoyed reading about it. Thanks very much for visiting as always, and have a lovely week ahead. Cheers!

From l-r: Myself, Athirah, Aneesha, and Khang Way (missing our fifth member Mahitha)

- Group B12, having lunch at Nasi Kandar Pelita before our afternoon session at the Clinical Skills Unit (Cerebral Palsy case study)

RCSI + UCD Malaysia Campus - conveniently obscured by some trees 

 Having dinner at The Noodle House @ Gurney Plaza, with Aden and Denise :)

 I always prefer the "teared" noodles (cuz they are thicker and actually teared by hand) when it comes to pan mee

 All mix rice (roast chicken, siew yoke, char siew) with a side dish of lobak (five-spice meat rolls) - totally out-of-this world :)

Dinner at a famous "nasi kandar" outlet, with Khang Way

(en route to our first paediatric on-call night shift at SJH)

 This is basically nasi (rice), with their famous fried chicken, a side of vegetables (cabbage), and their "kuah campur" (mixed gravy)

Looks like a mess, tastes even better! :)

Khang Way, Athirah, and myself - en route to Seberang Jaya Hospital (yes, we carpool XD)

Afternoon snack at the Penang Digital Library cafe - this was the day after my on-call

(and as you can guess, my mind wasn't exactly functioning any more)

Burnt creme-brulee tart

Harvest time - dinner with Hoong Yun and Denise at Harvest Cafe

Something that I really like here is the chicken schitznel, served on a bed of mash and a side of greens - just look at the SIZE of the chicken! <3

Nasi Kandar Pelita - lunch with my friends

That's nasi briyani (briyani rice), with fried fish, fried egg, and mixed curry :)

 Ordered from Food Panda (food delivery) again, and this time for some breakfast - that's poached egg with hollandaise sauce, on toast bread with ham - very tasty, and very pretty :)