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Saturday, October 03, 2009

General Practice rotation

It has been 5 weeks since the last time I blog. A lot has happened in the last 5 weeks. Alhamdulillah, I have finished my general practice (GP) rotation.

This rotation means that you are spending time with doctors at their own clinic and observing how the doctors managing their own patient. You will be given lots of opportunities to interview the patient on your own and then presenting your findings to the doctor. It is a good practice for my final year exam.

This rotation gives you an insight on what are the most common illnesses around the community. Sinusitis is more common than temporal arteritis. Otitis media is more common than croup. Pneumonia is quite common but it is not that severe to warrant the patient to be admitted to the hospital.

Having been spending few years in the hospital, it certainly give me a bias perception towards finding out what is the most likely diagnosis. If I were to see a patient in the hospital, I'm more inclined to think of rare or life-threatening conditions rather than to think of more safer illnesses.

I did my GP rotation in rural Victoria and there were several opportunities for procedural skills. I managed to excise a skin mole and suture the wound. After 6 years of studying medicine, I finally performed my first PR examination on a patient. It was an exciting experience to learn how normal and abnormal prostate gland feels like. I managed to deliver a baby in the hospital which is quite exciting considering that the last time I delivered a baby was almost 12 months ago.

It is certainly an interesting rotation and it certainly boosts my experience in managing the more common variety of medical illness.

p/s: Since I hardly been able to use the internet in the last 5 weeks, there are a lot that I need to catch up with. My google reader is already been filled with few thousands of unread items.

4 comments:

nhhas said...

salam/

fuh..5 weeks ya.. macam mana your raya celebration? bila balik malaysia?
Selamat Hari Raya Maaf Zahir Batin yer.

Hafiz said...

@ nihas,

sambutan raya biasa sahaja. Insha-Allah akan balik Malaysia hujung tahun ni.

أم الليث said...

yeah..first time i did a PR was masa elective (GP as well). just shows how much we are able to do kalau by the time grad, baru buat 2-3 PR hehehe

Hafiz said...

agree, despite spending 6 years in medical school, I could hardly count any important procedural skills that I have done. I guess you sharpened all those skills during housemanship