Aussie-Chinese Girl Reflects on Her Med Practitioner Journey

 First of all, how the fck are we already 10 days into the fcking THIRD MONTH of 2024 and 6 weeks of MD3 has already gone and pass. No jokes, just feeling like I know what's up with O&G and already it's time to move onto another rotation 💀💀💀 guess there's some continuity in content with neonates technically being under paeds but otherwise all new content and ref ranges to learn 😨😨 But I digress and now back to the actual content of this post - REFLECTION! Everyone's fav part of PP what with the Gibb's cycle, how can we not 😆 not no, my brain is not str enough for that, you're just gonna get a very chaotic ver of that today 🙃🤡😚 #1 Don't skimp on sleep - pretty sure this was one of my tips for incoming MD2, but hey, "do as I preach, no as I do"...but no seriously, I had a slap in the face wake up moment just this week. Day 1 bedtime procrastination, just under 6hr sleep - could barely focus on what's going on in hosp, felt sick to t...

This post is prompted by all the new faces I'm seeing at the hospital and the fact that I've signed up to be a Peer tutor/mentor for a group of MD2s, so here goes nothing... 1. Everyone has their own golden ratio of placement:textbook/lecture study and that's alright - caveat is you do the min 20hr placement (fr I've heard of people repeating MD2 because of attendance 💀). Personally, I worked out I'm a more practical learner and things I learn opportunistically on the ward are what stick with me the most, so my ratio was more 70-80 ward: 20-30 textbook learning. There is the downside of feeling like I'm adding bricks to a wobbly pier, but honestly, uncertainty is just a feeling we have to learn to get used to in medicine regardless. Also, it's totally fine if your golden ratio changes according to which rotation you're on.  2. Getting enough sleep is more important than cramming in one last lecture or podcast or practice qs -  to be quite frank if you...

Been real slack this year with posting so far...😅😅😅...not a great reflection of being on track for my 2024 New Year Res goals but it's like they say, "two steps forwards, one step back...or few steps back", but as long as the overall trajectory is looking good, we good 😂 So the original plan was one reflective post per week but obviously, that didn't happen and somehow in the blink of an eye, it's already the start of week 5 in a 6-week rotation 😱😱😱💀💀💀 and to be quite frank, I'm only feeling slightly less confused and befuddled than 5 weeks ago at the beginning of term. I have, however, worked out that I'm not really keen to be staring down people's genital areas all day every day (nearly) for the rest of my medical career so O&G really isn't for me, but I do appreciate the mix of surg and physicians jobs in O&G.  Study reflection to date Positives Neutral Needs Improvement   Not shying ...

(technically week 2 has already come and gone but bear w me lol) Back into the grind with one of the most intense rotations for MD3 - obstetrics & gynaecology and I’m defs feeling it with 6:20am wake-ups, and mad rushes out the door 20mins later. Mind you, this is also after being on vacation in Thailand for three weeks right before placement started with 9am natural wake ups 💀 - talk about a drastic circadian rhythm adaptation (altho I’m defs not helping with irregular sleep times and bed time procrastination…) Also got chucked in the deep end when I didn’t have access to the online learning modules pre-placement and was just told to message your team’s reg about expectations before Day 1, so had to pluck up the courage and text a stranger on Australia Day, but thank god my reg was so chill and enthusiastic sounding (he was also irl so super lucky). My clinical buddy also caught gastro so just me a lost duckling trailing behind my reg and not understanding handover w the crazy am...

 As I was writing the previous post, I realized it's already 2024 (hella scary if you ask me), and of couse the most generic post I can make is a New Year's Resolution BUT...thought by posting it out into the public, it would make me more accountable.......*tell that to the ostrich in me XD* '24 New Year's Res 1. Target weight 52kg - not just for vanity's sake, but that weight actually falls within the health BMI range for Asians, and I'm currently considered above this range 💀 2. Study more Mon-Fri so I can relax properly on the weekends - also cuz I can already see quite a few commitments popping up on the weekends given both social and club activities (new co-Hiking Officer for WMMSS this year!) so need a better approach to studies than last year 😅 3. Aim for gym 3/7 - seemed to get best results when I was doing this back in early 2021 💪 4. Read more books - rediscovered my passion for reading these past 2/12 so would love to continue it throughout this...

Lmao so it's been almost a month since I last posted anything - funny how now that I'm on break w ample of time, I'm less bothered to write a blog post then when I have a full day of placement and more independent learning to do after...😅 (no, defs not using blogging as a more "productive" form of procrastination...not at all...) Anyways, continuing with my abc reflection series,  G = Geronimo Stilton  Must confess, the first thing that actually came to mind when I thought of G was Geris (geriatrics), but I honestly don't have much to say about that topic except to note that I have already been infected by the occupational hazard of linking everything to med...💀 Geronimo Stilton, on the other hand, is literally my childhood. In fact, ordering English books through Scholastic Inc magazines was one of the main highlights of the school year (honestly I have no idea where else to get English books in China back in the early 2000s and still no idea now lol). It...