housemanship (2)

This is my hostel room in the nurses hostel, which I'm forced to take for the next 2 years. Quite funny that there are insufficient houseman quarters yet we are forced to stay in the hospital compound..

This is my bed. When you're tired, you just don't care where you sleep as long as you do.. My windows face the hospital. Hence I spend most of time, whenever I can back in my grandparents house. We have a common bathroom and cold showers. Toilet is very pathetic as well. Even if I finish work at 1a.m, I will still drive back to my grandparents place. I am actually paying the gov for this room.


This is the stack of discharge summaries I have to on average..


This is the rough amount of patient's I need to review everyday before 8a.m cause the MO's will come for their rounds.. Each file is ONE patient by the way, so if you're curious, go ahead and count them one by one.. That's why I pray every time my ward is active that there will be FEW patients being admitted and more being discharged :D

This is the amount of new patients that came in within 2 hours in one of the active wards one night. Each file represents one patient to be clerked fully, examined, prescribed medication, and managed, and blood taken. Can everyone PLEASE not plan to be admitted into the wards so late at night in a flock like this?

I especially feel annoyed when people get admitted for uncontrolled hypertension and diabetes with poor compliance to medication. Reason? Cause there will be repeated admissions in the future if they are not going to change their habits! and each time, some one will have to write a summary and discharge note and memo.. sheesh..

tomorrow will be the first time i'm going on call.. i'm having mixed feelings about it even though i'm starting with the passive ward cause i'll be covering two wards (male and female) and my main concern is the acute cubicles..

i'm praying i won't have to do any central venous lines in the middle of the night, or any resuscitation or some thing like that.. let it be a quiet night for me :P

i'm still learning everyday.. one patient's case served as a reminder for me. He was a 29 year old man, came in complaining of weakness and palpitations.. his potassium levels was 1.2 on admission.. dangerously low as the usual would be 3.5 to 4.5 at least.. he was at a very high risk of getting a heart attack and he was vigorously given potassium supplements intravenously to bring up his potassium level.. then on the 3rd day of admission, in the evening, he suddenly collapsed..

he never woke up again despite us doing active resuscitation for an hour..

29 years old.My heart ached when I looked into his father's eyes and his siblings who were standing behind the curtains..

hypokalaemia.. that was what killed him..

what an irony when it was something that could have been prevented..

aside from that, I've somehow managed to land myself a day off under emergency leave since I misinterpreted what my MO said cause I thought I was given off one day prior to being on call after tagging for a whole month.. I deserve one day off cause I've been working 18 hours a day, even on weekends, for one month. Any human right activist would have jumped and said this is worse than slavery in this modern day.

I have been getting by with about 5 hours of sleep a day, on my feet for almost 18 hours a day, and skipping lunch, dinner, and I don't deserve one day rest? Since when was working with the government this insane?

Some people just have inferiority complex and can't deal with it..In another 2 years time, I will be on par with my MO in terms of position. I hope by then, I will be a better MO in terms of emotion and work. There is no justification to be mean to others just because one experienced something of that sort in the past. Learning is best when it's shared positively.

Constructive criticism I can take. But everyone is different in communicating I suppose..

I am thankful that God has brought me through the last month in one piece. There have been times when I just break down in privacy, but as the days go by, I'm getting stronger and learning more of what is expected of me. 3 more months left in medical, I'm hoping to learn as much as I can with or without reprimanding from the seniors :) that's a positive thought..

thank you to all who have kept me in their prayers and encouraged me through messages.. All glory goes to God :)