Patient is your best teacher

"Patient is your best teacher. When you have time, go to the hospital and clerk patient"

A wise man said this to us, students, once. What he said was indeed true. I noticed that though I read about some diseases from those thick huge books, I find it easier to remember all the details through my observation from the patients.

I must say that I am pretty thankful that I am studying here in India as the patients mostly are cooperative although sometimes they get annoyed when you asked question while they are in pain. Some days, you might even be lucky to have patients that speak English. Here, at where I am now, the locals majority use Kannada language, Marathi language or Hindi. I am happy enough if my patients are able to speak Hindi.

Patients here are welcoming the students and they look up on medical students like how they look upon their doctors. They greet you "Namaskar Madam" while smiling brightly.

There was this one time I got a patient with venous ulcer secondary to varicose vein. He was so cooperative which i was thankful about and everyday when I came to check on him, he will always asked whether i have eaten or not. He told me about his problems that led to his newly diagnosed hypertension. I was touched on how he trust me to tell his problem which are personal to him.
Building rapport is not easy with language barrier and the struggle is real guys.

There are also times when I tried to clerk a pediatric patient.Her mother who is her informant couldn't understand a word we're saying so she gave up on us. Yes, I was disappointed but what can I do? I'll just have to go and find another patient.

You know they trust you are good when they asked for your help in the ward like when the IV fluid isn't running or when they need any medication. I am not trained and am not qualified to do that just (without supervision) yet so I call the sister/brother in charge to take a look at them and still I'm happy that they trusted me.

Another doctor told us that when you clerk a patient and you don't know what the disease that are having. A disease that you never learned or never heard of before. You can get all the info from the patient itself. Start by asking the symptoms they are having that brings them to the hospitals. Any investigation done? what are the treatments they are taking? any side effects?
Through all these questions, you'll get to learn the whole thing about the disease. Been there, tried that and acquired the info.

I am definitely not a book worm (I tried to be one) so I try going to hospital everyday if I am able to because patient is your best teacher right?

Lecturers are the best teachers too, don't forget that. So, don't skip class!

Medical School : Pregnancy Test

Assalammualaikum !

Semua tau urine pregnancy test kan? Alaaaaahh, strip ada jual kat pharmacy ke Watson, check guna urine (air kencing) untuk check la awak tu pregnant atau tidak.

So, for our OSCE Semester 1 final exam, there was one station where we need to perform the urine pregnancy test using unknown subject's urine. The result was positive.

So, during the OSCE, I performed the steps accordingly then when I get the result, the examiner asked me what is the significance.

So I answered it is because of the hormone hCG (Human Chorionic Gonadotropin) that is presence when someone is pregnant.

Okay dah tu. Then, he asked me could it be false-positive result? Maksudnya that person is not even pregnant tapi result dia positive. I said yes but then he asked again, in what condition?

See, ramai yang tak tahu sebenarnya boleh ada false-positive result kan?

So, here I will tell you about false-positive result of urine pregnancy test.

In most cases, if the result is postive, the chances are that you are most likely pregnant. False positive is rare but in certain cases such as cancer and earlier miscarriage could interfere with the hCG level of our body. And sometimes ada juga medication that will disrupt our hormone.

Pada yang tertanya tanya hCG ni apa kan, sebenarnya hCG ni ialah hormone yang dikeluarkan semasa mengandung. Hormon ni dikeluarkan oleh sel yang akan membentuk placenta (uri). So, kalau buat blood test, around 11 days after conception hCG tu boleh di detect. Kalau guna urine test hari ke 12-14.

Nak cakap lebih, belum deep sangat lagi belajar. Nak bagitau je betapa pentingnya preganacy test ni sebab kadang kadang orang ingat postive mengandung tapi tak sebenanrnya. Jadi lepas check tu kan, refer lah ke doktor sebab diorang boleh buat further check up.

You're up for Medical Course?

Assalammualaikum

Tajuk post aku ni macam sombong pun ada jugak bila sekali baca. Tapi kalau kau tenung and paham bebetul apa yang aku nak sampaikan ni mesti kau rasa aku macam nak bagi ceramah motivasi.

I was thinking to do this post as to what I've experienced and saw previously. Taklah...cerita dia camni, dulu aku ni study kat adalah satu ipts ni. Then, dah nak dekat setahun ambil course medic kat situ, tetiba ada problem dekat uni tu. So, antara yang bertuah dapat dipilih untuk join interview usm-kle imp untuk session 2014/2015. So I passed the interview and here I am. Some of my friends's future were still unsecured at that time. Ada yang terfikir nak study medic lagi ke nak study benda lain. Sebab kami tak habis lagi first year exam jadi kalau tukar uni lain we have to start all over again from semester 1 year 1.

Tipulah kalau aku cakap aku tak pernah terfikir nak tukar course. Time kes tu, aku terfikir nak sambung belajar course aku seriously minat gila dari kecik. Aku nak ambik fashion designing sebab aku minat menjahit. Tapi parents aku harap sangat anak dia jadi doktor. Kakak aku tak minta pastu adik aku sekolah menengah lagi kan macam lama je lagi nak tunggu. So, aku ambik lah medic.

Dalam aku pikir-pikir tu kan, aku macam taknak sambung medic (tapi aku tak bagitau parents aku lagi, it is just my thoughts la) tapi aku hesitate gila nak buat keputusan. Rupa-rupanya aku suka medic. Aku rasa seronok bila aku belajar benda baru lepas tu dapat apply. Mungkin sebab ada time tu kami pergi hospital visit, then pakcik tu sangatlah encouraging and peramah. siap puji lagi kan. siapa yang tak suka betul tak?

lepas tu aku terfikir dan aku buat keputusan untuk teruskan medical course ni. sebab itulah aku dekat india sekarang ni pursuing my dream. Dream ni bila tertanam pun aku taktau. Mungkin sebab bapak aku selaly cerita and encourage aku. So, aku pun berminat lah kan. Tapi dulu aku ni budak-budak baru nak up so aku fikir ambik fashion designing la baru vogue. Ternyata tu semua dusta sebab aku tak pandai lukis tapi hanya mampu membayang dan menjahit ikut kehendak. Tapi minat tu jangan kasi hilang!

So, pada yang nak ambik medic tu, cuba korang jawab soalan bawah ni :

1. Kenapa nak belajar Medic?

Lecturer English (ada PhD tau) aku pernah cakap kat aku time asasi tu. What do you to take for degree? Ada macam macam jawapan time tu. Satu soalan je dia tanya kitorang, you want to do good or you want money first? Dia kata for instance, doctor lah kan, takkan kaya cepat. siapa nak buat benda baik tolong orang barulah pilih medical. Kalau setakat nak amik medic nak jadi doctor sebab nak kaya, jangan jadi doctor, ambik course lain macam accounting and so on.

So apa sebab korang nak belajar medic ni? Tetapkan tujuan anda ya!

2. Kau belajar sebab kena paksa dengan parents ke? Sebab kau ada banyak duit untuk study medic ke? Atau sebab kau betul-betul minat?

Kalau kau kata parents kau paksa, well aku tak cakap salah. Cuba fikir on the positive sit, you parents want you to have a good future kan. I understand, jangan lawan cakap mak bapak nanti ilmu tak berkat. Kalau betul tak minat try lah bincang dengan parents kau. Don't let them down. Kalau kena jugak masuk, kau fikir satu je.. kau study ni untuk diri kau bukan sebab parents kau paksa, untuk masa depan kau sebab ni yang dorong, diri kau sendiri yang akan dorong kau belajar. [aku baca dari buku jugak]

Setakat ni aku rasa untuk kau mulakan course medical ni kau kena fikir matlamat kau. Semua orang pandai, semua orang hebat tapi minat tu lain-lain kan. Cari minat kau. Kalau betullah kau minat Medic ni kan, aku doakan korang berjaya dan dapatlah course yang korang nak okay.

Aku tak cakap medic ni course paling hebat ke apa cuma sebab aku dalam course ni kan, jadi aku faham lah keraguan yang biasa ada tu. Manusia tak sempurna kan.


Aku pun bukan betul sangat pun kadang-kadang. Mengelamun je lebih. Tidur banyak. Sebabkan aku dah habis exam final semester 1 ni, aku fikir yang patutu kerja lebih kuat lagi. Nasib baik bila aku down tak faham ke apa ke, jiran-jiran sebelah bilik, geng study group aku, senior aku pian selalu bagi dorongan. Walaupun si pian tu suka membebel atau perli aku. Well, aku faham apa dia nak sampaikan.


Yang penting sentiasa kuat dan jangan putus harapan. Gagal sekali tak bermaksud gagal selamanya okay !