Troubleshoot should I quit housemanship

Assalamualaikum and hi there!

This time I'll write on a more serious topic as per the title. Based on stories I heard from those who studied medicine abroad, I can say that housemanship in Malaysia is kinda tough. But at least nowadays housemen working schedule is in shift system, no more oncall system. Mind you certain hospital still using oncall system and in Sg Buloh, anaes department also trained all the HOs to work in oncall system. Being a houseman is really not easy as it is a transition from an enjoyable student lifestyle to an unimaginable hectic working life.

It is normal to feel so overwhelmed, down and wanting to quit housemanship especially those who are very new to this job. For the first posters, you must be shocked, emotionally and physically tired after at least 14 days of working for more than 15hours per day. Plus, you are adapting with the new environment, new people e.g. senior HO, MOs, specialists, nurses etc as well as coping with the working system (review patients, familiarise with writting notes in PC or on papers and taking bloods).

Me being a houseman for 722days already (I have to be exact as I'm counting days to finish really soon hewhewhew), I observed so many trends and behaviours of my housemanship colleagues. Some really work so efficiently and diligently, some work smartly (do work fast & go back home early), some just likes to take their own sweet time to finish carry out plan and dont mind getting home late at night. I am all of the above, it really depends on my mood though hiksss! Not forgetting those with attitude problem MIA and not doing work properly, I can just pray they change to be better.

Lemme stop making this entry so lengthy and just straight to the point. Here are questions I prepared to help determine whether you should or should not quit housemanship:

1. Is medicine is your choice or your family's?
- if it is your choice , add 1 point
- if its your family's, minus 1 point

2. Do you have some liking in this field?
- if yes, add 1 point
- if no, minus 1 point

3. Can you stand with humiliation, scoldings and working without seeing sunlight for at least 2 weeks?
- if you think you can, add 1 point
- if no, minus 1 point

4. Are you afraid to quit because of yourself or your family?
- if its because of yourself, add 2 points
- if its because of your family, minus 1 point
- if you are not sure, add 1 point

5. After start working for 14days, are you surviving well means you dont have to fake illness or take mc or el?
- if yes, add 3 points
- if no, minus 3 points

6. Do yo always feel afraid to go to work until you have to take mc or el?
- if yes, minus 1 point
- if no, add 1 point

After all the above questions, if your mark is negative, you should rethink about being in this profession. If you get positive marks, you should just continue this housemanship journey. Its just for a short time, once you become more senior you will be able to cope better.
Below are additional questions to help you decide.

7. Do you think you can cope with this kind of no-life life?
- if your answer is no and you are really not happy, my advice is you should consider quitting and do something you like. Dont torcher yourself to achieve your family's ambition because you deserve to be happy and achieve your own ambition.
- if you are not sure or your answer is yes, go to the next question.

8. Do you feel happy saving people and make other's smile after they recover from their illness?
- if yes, please do not quit. This is your ambition and your passion. You can survive this. Be strong!
- if no or you are not sure, go to next question.

9. Is being a doctor is your ambition?
- if yes, STRICTLY DO NOT QUIT!!!
- if no and you have other things to do in your mind, you should just quit and do what you like.

These are rough guidelines to help you make decision. After answering these questions you still not sure of your decision, do istikarah prayer and ask around-your colleagues, batchmate, family and even the bosses. Their opinions are really helpful.

I think that is all for now. If you decide to continue being a doctor, do not settle for average, do your very best and serve the patients the best you can. Because if the patient is you or your family, you would choose to be treated from a good doctor right?

Toodles peeps... xoxo

Me as senior house officer: Medical Dept

Asslamualaikum semua...

Aku masuk medical department as a fifth poster. Still remember when I was still tagging (day 1 in department), one of the patients desaturated but the PM shift HO is a junior poster. He did not know what to do hence I helped him managing the patient while waiting for oncall MO to arrive. Remember peeps, if patient desaturated ke ape ke, just use ABCD approach k, baru la tak lupa nak buat apa.

On my day 2 of tagging, after 4pm ada patient kat PKKN ni persistent tachycardia pulak. Terus suruh nurse buat ECG and I reviewed with my friend looks like sinus tachycardia. Patient looks dry as well and complain of pain kat tangan. So aku suruh run fluids and prescribed pain killer. The very next morning round dengan MO review balik ECG, still we are convinced it's sinus tachycardia. Kebetulan konsultan aka HOD lalu wad so MO panggil bos nak tanya opinion. Bos cakap it's SVT then mengamuk habis sebab aku tak passover kes tu to the oncall doctor semalam. Itu lah second time aku kena marah teruk sejak housemanship ni. The patient was sent to CCU immediately and discharged well after few days.

In medical, specialists and MOs are like friends. We work and eat together. Hewhewhew~

Since my 2nd week in medical, I was assign to be ward leader hence I was incharge of HO roster. Therefore, it's easy for me to arrange my schedule but it was so difficult to handle HOs yang suka EL. Pernah aku kena kerja 24hours kat medical ni sebab ganti orang EL. Totally unplanned and unprepared but I survived, alhamdulilah.

Paling happy kat medical ni ialah waktu viva department, dapat full marks. Dr J and Dr S claimed they never gave full marks to anyone before and asked me to join them in medical. Of course the safe answer I gave " Errrrr, I will consider it". Haha. The best part is waktu hospital viva, my HOD said "I still remember you in PKKN before, but you did so well throughout the posting. Dr J is really stingy to give marks but you got full marks. Well done". Malu I olls dia puji depan HOD department lain and timbalan pengarah hospital. >.<

Sebab bos semua baik sangat, aku struggle pegi beli kek ni dan ajak kawan2 buat farewell party the week we were leaving the department. TQ medical team for the bitter sweet memories.

All in all, the take home messages here are to always passover smartly to the oncall person and expect the unexpected. Anything abnormal, inform je bos awal2, lantaklah kalau kena marah sebab inform simple thing pun.

Thanks for reading!

"I am stronger because I had to be, smarter because of my mistakes, happier because of the sadness I have known and now wiser because I learned."

My housemanship summary: Senior year

Assalamualaikum,

Ha, baru ade mood nak update blog.. Six month apart pulak tu. LOL. My life is still the same. I still work as a doctor in the same hospital. Yup, my work means my life. I love my job now. I faced with love-hate relationship with my job before but now I really love my job. Dulu setiap minggu mesti mesej mak cakap nak quit la, dah penat la, nak quit and quit and quit. But I didn't because I don't have plan B which is what I'm going to do next if I quit. Being a rational person, I didn't quit but faced all the struggles instead. Now I'm glad I didn't quit. After being so long in the stormy days, I now found the rainbow. Ceewah =)

Allah dah takdirkan aku dapat posting yang banyak dugaan dulu dan pergi ke posting yang makin mudah kemudiannya. Orthopedics -- Paediatrics -- O&G -- Surgical -- Medical -- Anaethesiology. Ortho tu ko orang takyah tanya memang banyak drama. Somehow I missed the dramas. LOL. I enjoyed the drama actually especially during radiology conference; cuma aku punya adrenaline rush waktu grand ward round setiap hari Isnin tu memang paling aku tak suka. Anak Dato' pun boleh kena halau keluar wad tau waktu round kalau ko salah bagi simple info like patient tu ade diabetes dah 10 tahun tapi ko cakap dua tahun. Nasib baik aku tak pernah kena HAHAHAHA. Bila fikir balik, sebenarnya orthoLIFE training ni the best training. Ajar semua HO tentang love, integrity, fun and endurance. Bila HOD strict sikit baru la takde orang nak EL je kejenya. Yes, aku memang pembenci orang yang EL/ malas kerja ni.

Paeds busy tapi takde drama. Aku paling suka HOD paeds antara semua HOD, baik and sporting habis (HOD anaes pun best). Last week aku terjumpa Dr V, supervisor kat paeds dulu. Tak sangka dia ingat aku lagi dan suruh aku join paeds. Waktu dia cakap, "What do you want to do next? Oh you are considering paeds right. Come join us after this", I was like "errr  I'm not sure yet, I'm still considering paeds". Ok jawapan selamat. =B

O&G best jugak. Siap turun padang main bola jaring dengan bosses lagi. Tapi sebab hari tu aku postcall, aku rasa baiklah aku tengok je tak main. Huhu. Surgical pun best. Aku agak jonah kat surgical. Ade je patient hematemesis tengah2 malam waktu aku shift PM. Padahal patient tu KIV discharge coming morning kot. Urghhhh. Paling best surgical ni banyak cuti. Aku cuti 2 minggu ok untuk EOP!! Yeayyyyy

Nampak sangat muka postcall di situ! Heh

My 5th posting is medical. Memang posting yang the best lah! Orang kata save the best for the last kan. So memang 2 posting terakhir aku ni paling best. Medical ni busy dan ade drama sikit kalau kat wad PKKN tapi bosses dia baik nak mamp. Aku sayang gila kat MOs and specialists medical ni. Ade la sorang MO and sorang specialist aku tak suka tapi aku tak kerja bawah diorang sangat pun.

Aku suka buat scan untuk patients yang datang kat early pregnancy unit (EPAU). Heee~

Thanks for reading!