Aug 29 - Sept 23
1) This is the longest I've gone without a blog update - and for good reason. I've been waiting for the end-of-fourth year results to come out. What initially started out as a one week wait turned into two, then three, and finally just shy of a month since our last exam, we finally received our results this morning, during online class no less. I can just imagine some of my friends just zoning out of the lecture in order to check our results mid-lesson - I know I did.
2) For the past four weeks, we have had online classes on medicine and surgery, which are our fifth year modules. It has been rather difficult for me to find motivation to study for fifth year, especially when we didn't even know if we passed fourth year or not. Honestly, I was mentally preparing for the worst - as I knew I did not do well in a few modules. But without getting into too much detail, I was so incredibly lucky to pass fourth year! And suddenly, the stress and anxiety of waiting a month for our results seemed to just melt away.
3) So the next (and final) step is fifth year - which is divided into Semester 9 and 10. Semester 9 has three modules which the students rotate through i.e. surgery, medicine, and public health. However, there have been problems getting us medical students back to the wards, as our main teaching hospital (Penang General Hospital) has no more teaching wards. This is due to the fact that most of the wards have been converted into COVID-19 wards, which is off-limits for medical students.
4) Nevertheless, we are scheduled to return to clinics beginning next Monday. It will be a slightly different experience, as the clinics see different patients compared to the wards. The main difference being that patients seen in clinics are generally in a more stable condition as they do not require ward admission. But there is still hope, as we are likely to utilise another teaching hospital (Taiping Hospital) after our first two weeks of clinics. Currently, there is a lot of uncertainty regarding the resumption of clinical teaching. Hopefully, this is sorted out as soon as possible, so that we may graduate and move on in life.
5) The coronavirus pandemic has really turned the world upside down, and on a personal note, has affected our clinical exposure with patients. Hopefully, we will be able to make up for this deficit and become safe and competent healthcare professionals in the end. On that note, I'll end my blog post here. Thanks very much for visiting, and have a great day. Cheers!
