Me and anaesthesia department

Assalamualaikum guyss,,,

How are you doing? As usual, I will only update my blog once in a blue moon hihi. So this gonna be a looonggg post.......

Macam mimpi je sekarang aku MO kat anaesthesia department. Bila ingat balik, my very first intubation actually when I was a medical student in anaesthesia posting at Hospital Taiping. I forgot already what operation was it but I persuaded the anaesthetist to let me intubate and I succeeded with one attempt! Nevertheless, never in my mind that I wanted to pursue in anaesthesia. In fact, I really like medical department when I was a medical student.

During my early housemanship period at Sg Buloh, to be frank, I hated anaesth MOs especially when I was in my first posting but towards my subsequent postings I was pretty excited to see them or refer cases to them as they look so cool handling very sick patients. Apart from that, I was always envious to the anaesth team when I had to assist surgeries in OT during my surgical, O&G and ortho postings. (p/s: anaesth team doesn't have to assist surgery and I don't like to assist surgery too). Before I finish my fifth posting, my best friend Kama suggested that we choose anaesthesia as our final posting. We even wrote letter to hospital director so that he places us in anaesthesia department. However, Kama changed her mind in the very last minute as she chose to be in emergency department thereafter. Whereas, me and my unnie Fiffy reported duty at anaesth department together and we worked together in the department, many times so happily haha~~

Anaesthesia Sg Buloh provides a really good training (if you are diligent and want to learn) and HOs is trained with oncall system, not shift. We have superb intensivists and they are one of the reasons why I like to be in anaesth (they are tooooooo ADORABLE!!!) Sebenarnya aku takut nak join anaesth dept ni memula sebab MOs ramai macam garang and tak friendly. Jangkaan meleset, rupanya diorang ni macam angel je dengan anaesth HO, dengan department lain memang tegas and garang sikit hahah. They are really sweet and kind. I still remember Dr R let me intubate a patient in OT two attempts (usually other MO will give only one chance to HO); Dr A let me intubate patient in ICU (my first intubation as anaesth HO and it was successful); Dr T always be my alibi and taught me to insert IJV central venous catheter (CVL); Dr C always let me do procedures, taught me to do subclavian CVL and ECHO; Dr W always let me give spinal block even for emergency obstetric case (not fetal bradycardia); Dr F let me do all 7 CVLs without supervision as it was really jonah oncall day; Dr SG likes to crack jokes and very supportive; Dr S still really nice like when I first encounter him in surgical dept and etc. All in all, these lovely experiences have caused me to be so interested in anaesth. There was one incident on Aug 15th (I was about to finish the posting early September) where I was accused of MIA by this one obnoxious MO as I wasn't in his OT but with my specialist. Because I was so devastated, I applied to not be a floating MO in anaesth. But my application was rejected and my specialists who knows me so well, being so nice to me as she didn't put me to work with the obnoxious MO throughout my floating time. Hahaha, that's the bittersweet experience in anaesth HSgB. Until now, I still miss the anaesth team, the sisters, nurses, MOs and ofcourse the specialists.

Thank you everyone for the best experience throughout my housemanship <3

When I get posted to Sarawak, I asked for anaesthesia department however the post was full in Kuching. As I want to work only in Kuching area, I chose cardiology department in Sarawak Heart Center which is still near Kuching area. Everyday when I came to work at CCU, I will look at the anaesth oncall room's door while feeling really wants to be back in anaesth. It was not easy for me to go back to anaesth department. I approached anaesth HOD in Sarawak General Hospital (SGH) somewhere early December and gave her recommendation letter from my anaesth HOD in HSgB. I was jubilant when she said she'll help to arrange my placement but on Dec 13th she told me that MO anaesth placement in SGH is full. Being optimistic, I was just keep praying although I was upset by that news. On the very next day,  I received text from her to contact anaesth HOD in PJS. To my surprise, the HOD said he is gonna recruit me as anaesth MO in PJS. (P/s: they don't have their own anaesth MO in PJS so I became pioneer againnnnn hehe).

Alhamdulillah, I started working in anaesth dept since January where I did my tag call for one month in SGH. Alhamdulillah, I am very grateful that I opted to do what I like rather than staying in my previous department. Actually I am more grateful that I got to work as cardio MO for almost 2 months before I'm back to anaesthesia. At least I got to familiarise with the hospital and people in cardio dept. After 3months in anaesthesia department PJS, I really like the bosses and the working environment. Awesomeness!

After-work selfie. Haha XD

Because here is heart centre, we do not have general medical or obstetric or orthopaedic or neurosurgical patients hence I'm lacking of some anaesthesia skills on handling those cases. Looking at the bright side, I'm fortunate that we still have urology, geriatric and some peadiatric patients here therefore I still able to perform spinal block for the urology patients going for surgery and intubate peadiatric patients.

After the lengthy post, the take home message here is to do what you like and go for what you really want to do because you will enjoy it. Choose a job you love, you'll never work a day in your life.

Thank you for reading!