Transition Period

I am now in a transition period. I have finished my 2 years of housemanship and currently works as a medical officer in a small district hospital.

All of the challenges that I faced during my housemanship are quite memorable indeed. There were few of happy moments interspersed with sad experience. The journey was quite arduous and few of my colleagues were extended and one of my good friend resigned from Ministry of Health. Few of those were diagnosed with mental illness due to harsh working environment albeit the current situation is slightly improved with the introduction of shift system.

Nevertheless, facing hardship is part and parcel of life. By overcoming great difficulty, we will be able to improve ourselves to a greater height than previously. 

"And certainly, We shall test you with something of fear, hunger, loss of wealth, lives and fruits, but give glad tidings to As-Sabirin " [Al-Baqarah:155]

 

 “Indeed amazing are the affairs of a believer! They are all for his benefit. If he is granted ease of living he is thankful; and this is best for him. And if he is afflicted with a hardship, he perseveres; and this is best or him.” (Muslim)

My next journey as a medical officer has just begins. Hopefully I will be able to remain steadfast in this long journey....

Abusing Emergency Department

After being in the department for almost 2 months, I have seen literally thousands of patients and about a small portion of the patients seen in the department does not warrant an admission to the emergency department.

Few of these patients will present with insignificant body injury and then, prior to being discharged from emergency department, they will ask for medical certificate for 2-3 days. This is usually seen at the end of long weekend / public holiday.

A small number of patients who has been under followup of specialist clinic presented for a variety of complaints. Upon further questioning, their motive is to seek earlier clinic appointment or to seek earlier date for surgical operation. Truth be told, the waiting list for operation in the government hospital is very long and it is extremely difficult to get earlier date for operation unless the patient him/herself has suffered an emergency complications of the organ itself. Otherwise, I personally recommend them to go to the private hospital for an earlier date for operation. In term of clinic appointment, it is quite difficult to get earlier date unless your medical condition has deteriorated significantly over the past few months

There is quite a big group of patient who came to emergency department for insignificant minor trauma. For example, they had been involved in an accident and then suffered a small abrasion wound about 0.5x0.5 cm. Apart from that, they are quite well. Although emergency department is reserved for all type of trauma cases, I don't think this group of patients should come to A&E. At least they should go to GP first to seek the appropriate treatment. Most of the time, this minor trauma will resolved by itself without any intervention.

Emergency department is for emergency cases. If the community keeps on abusing the department for non life threatening condition, I don't think the department can cope with the large number of patient and give the best treatment for all patients.

The Last Rotation

I am now in my last rotation as a houseman. ETD (Emergency and Trauma Department) and once it was called as A&E (Accident and Emergency).

This posting is one of the best posting as it combines all of your previous learning experience in the the other postings and sharpen your skill to diagnose and manage life threatening conditions. Apart from that, this department has one of the best shift system and even the tagging period, the period whereby the new houseman enter a department, is also enjoyable.

Personally, I might be thinking to join this department as a medical officer in the future too.

La Tahzan

Dari Abu Abbas, Abdullah bin Abbas r.a : 

" Bahawa pada suatu hari saya sedang berada di belakang Rasulullah SAW ( di atas binatang tunggangannya), lalu sabda baginda : ' Wahai anak kecil, sesungguhnya aku telah mengajar kamu beberapa perkataan. Peliharalah ( perintah ) Allah, nescaya Dia akan memelihara kamu, peliharalah ( kehormatan ) Allah, nescaya engkau akan merasakan Dia berada bersama-samamu. Jika engkau memohon, pohonlah kepada Allah semata-mata. Jika engkau meminta pertolongan mintalah kepada Allah semata-mata. Ketahuilah bahawa jika semua umat manusia berkumpul untuk memberikan kepadamu sesuatu menafaat, nescaya mereka tidak akan mampu memberi menafaat itu, melainkan dengan sesuatu yang telah ditaqdirkan oleh Allah. Begitu juga sekiranya mereka berkumpul untuk menentukan suatu mudharat untuk kamu, nescaya mereka tidak akan mampu menentukannya, melainkan dengan suatu yang telah ditentukan Allah ke atas kamu. Telah diangkat kalam ( tulisan ) dan telah kering ( tinta ) buku catitan. '

The Shift System

With the recently introduced shift system for the houseman officers in Malaysia, I found that this system is better than the previous system.

There are more free time available for the junior doctors. The old system has produced an environment consists of overworked and sleep deprived doctors. The shift system helps to reduce those burden and help to improve the quality of the lifestyle for houseman officers. With more time to rest, I find that I am able to give more concentration to the work compared to the old system.

Regardless of this, there are still room of improvement in the new shift system. Overall, I hope that the entire healthcare system could be improved without any external pressure and ultimately, to give the best quality of health service to Malaysians in the future.