Astaghfirullah

Astaghfirullah 

Ya Allah, Ya Rahman, Ya Rahim. 

Alhamdulillah

All praise be to Allah, the Creator, the Owner, the Sustainer of the heaven and the earth. 

With His provisions, His guidance, His permission - I am now a junior doctor.

Astaghfirullah, Alhamdulillah. 

Alhamdulillah- He showered me with blessings every single day. 

Astaghfirullah because I know I haven't thanked Him enough. 

Now is the time to use these ni'mah to good use. 

Ya Allah guide me. 

Running those runs... Part 1

Salam to all.

Wow, the last post was in 2012! Time sure flies.

What I intend to share today are some of my thoughts and also the things I picked up during my first year of clinical medicine. 

So here goes:

1. Choosing the run sequence

The way I see it, there are three main ways in choosing run sequence. 

First, put the hardest one first. Reasons: first few weeks, students are still in the 'accommodation' phase, not expected to know as much therefore less expectation from the consultants/registrars (regs) and hopefully a more lenient assessment. The downside? Well, it took me around 2 weeks to get over the excitement of starting clinical years get my head around the hospital grounds, learn the lingo, know the people etc.... So that 2 weeks wasn't really used to work on the run. Luckily I still have another 4 weeks... 

Second, put the hardest one last. This gives you more time to learn stuff over the year, to get your mind and heart to beat synchronously with the constant beep of the anaesthetic machine and also to get some valuable tips from your buddies on how to cruise the run. You are however, expected to know a wee bit more than your early-year counterparts. 

Third, enjoy the holidays!! Got to be the maid-of-honour for your best friend's wedding during winter break? Awesome!! Just make sure that your holiday falls during that period because as you may find out already, our holidays are now different from the majority of other undergrads in Uni; ours are shorter and quite randomly placed throughout the year. Well, you can try asking for a few days off from your consultant... but I haven't tried that so I'm not sure how it'll turn out.. Also, look at the different holiday combination. I prefer a more widely-scattered holidays Eg. 1 week in March, 2 weeks in August, 1 week in October. Some prefer a more 'concentrated' holiday of 3 straight weeks in June... 

2. 'Hardest run' - my definition

The one with the most unfamiliar things to learn plus assignments/OSCEs/sign-offs to be completed within the shortest period of time. Eg. General Medicine aka GenMed. 4 case reports each with different requirements, 10 patients to clerk, 6 grand rounds to attend and 1 mini-CEX/mini-OSCE to be completed in 6 weeks. Compare this with Speciality Medicine aka SpecMed. 4 case reports and 1 mini-CEX also in 6 weeks. 

Progress test/exams scheduled sometime during the run is also a factor. Ask someone from the years above you regarding the run with the most workload. Better yet, ask them everything... seriously... 

Again, that's my personal view on what defines a hard run. Yours could be totally different. 

...
...

Okay, so maybe after reading the first two points, you're thinking, God, I'm screwed. I have Progress Test and end-of-year OSCE right in the middle of my GenMed!! Not to mention the international medical student conference halfway across the world, which I've already bought non-refundable flight tickets to!!

Err.. I'm not sure if it could get that complicated... but anyway, take a deep breath and read point No 3. 

3. Get an overview of the whole year. 

Get the year's diary/planner, preferably a big one-sided wall planner so you could see better. Note the run's start date, end date, lecture weeks, exams/OSCEs and most importantly : holidays! Why holidays are the most important? Well, it keeps you sane. And motivated ;) *also excellent to catch up on some sleep reading... 

And when you get the specific details of each run's assessment hand-in dates (usually the school will provide you with this on the first day of the run) write it on the wall planner!

Now embrace it.  

Take a deep breath and think like a Military General. You have your battles laid out in front of you. Strategise your plan of attack and work on it!!! :D

To be continued insyaAllah. 

Have to learn it still

Salam to all.

How are you today? Alhamdulillah for everything ey?

Yup, again, easier said than done.

Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah (All Praise is to Allah).

Just got my 303 (Repro) test marks. What can I say? hmmm.. not exactly what I've hoped it would be. It's just one mark higher than my 313 (brain) test marks although it's waaaay easier than 313. I thought I could answer it well but if marks is the determinant, then I was wrong. 

What am I feeling at the moment? 

I don't know. Shocked is definitely one of them. Sad? A little bit. Whether the time I spent studying was useless? Nauzubillah min zalik (may Allah protect us from that).

It's just so hard to remind and keep reminding myself that for a Muslim, Effort is NOT equal to Result. Result is something that's been pre-determined by Allah. And only Doa (prayers) can change that with the permission of Allah. 

First clinical skill :)

Salam to all.

It's exactly 0000, 23rd March.

In 9 hours, I have to be in Robb and hopefully insyaAllah listen to the lecture about cell injury. InsyaAllah I'll like it, I've already liked writing about liking it.

Please ignore.

Anyhow, I spent 3 hours doing the Auckland Day Out poster. Something I kinda enjoy but I wish I could do it faster next time.

What happened today was it's my first clinical skills practice!

Yeayyyyy!

Learnt some cool stuff like taking a pulse, checking thyroid, taking BP, listening to heartbeat, body fat measurement and checking temperature. There are other stations as well (hand washing, patient history taking, BMI calculation~~) but let's just say I like the earlier ones better ;)

And I had the annual flu vaccination. The rate of the doctor jabbing the patient was something like 25 people per half an hour? Well, that's what he had to do to jab all med and nursing students in 2 days.

Tried fish burger at M@G. Okay la. The fish is the normal fish and chips, cut in half and sandwiched between burger bread. For just $5.90, that's pretty sweet~~~ :D

Everyday $5.90~ 1 week = $29.50, 1 month = $118.

Ngahahaha!

Oh, lapar balik :p

Must.. hafal... vitamins.... Must... eat... Must... do... test... next.. Thursday...

Seriously, I need a life other than books and Umsa events =.='

Thank you for waiting

Salam to all.

Yes, I do miss blogging and sometimes I do write in my head.

Haha, you miss me? Cut the crap :P

Anyway, since the last post, a LOT of things happen. But I guess they're mostly not Drama-dom material.

Where I am now?

Well, I'm currently sitting in my quite-comfortable chair with wheels, looking out to my window, which is sadly-but-I-must-be-grateful facing another apartment. Yes, I must stop complaining about not having direct sunlight into my room!!

I'm the one who willingly agree to take this room, the one used for storage during summer break. Oh, I must stop this self-sacrificial nonsense things!!

Just so you know, currently MJ and Akon's Hold My Hand is playing.

And I guess that's what I need lately. Alhamdulillah Romeo, my giant teddy bear, arrived 2 days ago. At least I have something to hug. :')

So what happened today?

Spent $10 for gym. 17 minutes on the bike and another 17 on the treadmill+hand jog item.

Then came home and studiedddd. Hahaha, I guess that's the first time when I'm really studying. 1 and a half hour of concentrated studying. If there is such word. Haha.

And now it's Fearless. 

Lately it's sorta a bit bumpy. I get frustrated easily and I tend to think the worst of any situation. I get impatient and irrational and it's just unfair coz I tend to crack at the wrong person. Hopefully she doesn't really notice. 

Now it's Elevator, which is a bit of a love-hate coz I am using the song as my Alarm. Haha.

Yesterday, I found out that it's POSSIBLE to get ALL A's throughout FIRST and SECOND year.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

I got two conflicting responses.

One, I feel happy and motivated to know that it IS possible.

Two, I feel lousy coz my result last year wasn't that good, passed the Medic requirement but still~

This brings forth the issue of Usaha and Tawakkal.

Yes, if you were to ask me if I studied for my Sem 2 final exam, yes, I studiedddddddd.

Medsci was crazy giler susahhhhhhhhhh. Lots and lots of blank pages. Arghhhhhhhhhhhhh!!
Expected a C or lower but alhamdulillah got a B.

Pop 102 was honestly much much better. I couldn't stop writing for the whole 2 hours coz Alhamdulillah the ideas keep flowing. I didn't miss any question though there was one or two sub-question I couldn't get through. I expected an A+ but got a B instead.
I'm quite sure I should ask for a recount of marks but somehow I didn't do it. Regret? I try not to.

Econs and Health Psych came out B+.

Alhamdulillah.

I'm still having problem with Tawakkal. Help me please?

I miss playing futsal. A lot.

Hopefully kak Zati can organise futsal again.

So that I can let them play with their new geng without feeling jealous that I'm not a guy.

Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

I need the positive vibe.

Currently playing is Get it Right, Glee.

Spot on.

I miss Langkawi. Again.

The last of Benjamin :(

Salam to all.

Last lecture for pop 102. :(

Really enjoyed the subject, an eye-opener indeed.

But then again, 2 assignments costs me my beauty sleep. =.='

Just submitted the assignment 2. Slept for only half an hour between 10pm and now, which is 12.21pm. Whoa, boleh la start training utk jadi TI lagi 5 thn! <---adeyh.. lambat lagi laa..


Sangat bersyukur Allah beri peluang ini. :)

I'm sooooooooo gonna miss lecture!

love? :D

Salam to all.


I love the fact that learning MedSci can always make me go 'Subhanallah'.


Do you know that the diffusion distance in the alveoli of lungs is just 0.5micrometer?


Our red blood cell is already so tiny, 0.5micrometer is like one fifteenth of the red blood cell's diameter.


Subhanallah.


Subhanallah.


Subhanallah.


Innaka anta al-alim al-hakim.