Aussie-Chinese Girl Reflects on Her Med Practitioner Journey

  Biggest takeaway? Interacting with patients’ parents is not nearly as difficult as I thought it would be.  *sigh in relief x1000* Don’t get me wrong though, I defs spent an inordinate amount of time on my first ED shift hyping myself up to enter a cubicle and give the whole “I’m a med student, doctor told me I could come and talk to you about why your kid is in hospital, are you happy to do so?”  *internal monologue: please don’t bite me I’m sorry I’ll just excuse myself out now*  Reality check? I have yet to be rejected by a parent, and actually, most are quite happy to discuss what’s going on and raise any concerns that may have arisen in the interim, doubly so if they've just been waiting in the waiting room for hours- apparently seeing even a med student feels like they're getting attention (thank you for overestimating my contribution)  Takeaway 2: common things are common - a no brainer but don't think that hit as hard last year as it does now. <1yo w...

 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...

 Coincidence chat! I literally just found out I passed MD2 and could not be more elated, and it just so turns out today’s letter is F so what’s more appropriate for an Aussie kid then…FCK YEAH So I actually wasn’t able to bring myself to share about the fact that I had to resit my final long case 2x which is why this win feels even more special - even tho I tried to brainwash myself into thinking that I’m fine with repeating MD2 if I have to given it has been 1.5yr since I studied at all and the first sem was ngl not a great experience…but I’m obvs still too much of a perfectionist and stereotypical Asian to truely accept it. Not bragging or anything, but it’s also the first time I’ve never failed a uni exam so mentally never been challenged this way.  Words will never be sufficient enough to express my gratitude for my family, both born into and found, for your ongoing support and for believing in my on my behalf when I was unable to do so. Thank you so much and I’m so fortun...

Funny how I had more posts during sem than now when I'm on break 😅 (lmao actually been on break since like 2/52 ago, needed this long to recuperate LOL), but now I'm in the mood to reflect on the past year and hopefully demonstrate that things are always not as bad as they seem at the time (yes fr, I know I can't convince you b/c past me defs catastrophized even when I knew I didn't need to....😶)  Challenging lessons learned 1. Avoidance is not the solulu - if you're an avoidant type like me, very sad news indeed - in order to move on and progress, you'll eventually have to face whatever it is that you're avoiding 💀 DISCLAIMER - I have another friend that's the opposite extreme and confronts everything head-on w no regards to if they're mentally capable of handling that load and well, catastrophe as well...so the only viable conclusion is to take a GRADED EXPOSURE APPROACH  2. It's okay to ask for help - sounds super sensible and "no duh...

 Was rudely woken up by my alarm this morning at 8:15am (it’s not even that early cf to when I had to drag my body out of the sweet cocoon of my duvet at 5:50am for surg but still dufkwovjg it’s a Sat) and squirmed in bed for another 22mins before finally rolling gracelessly onto the floor (Cookie was not happy bout that 😅). Honestly think I woke up during REM sleep I was so effing groggy and feeling like jelly but alas I had a gym sesh scheduled w my PT at 9am (yes I have a PT, he eats up 90% of my income 💀). I was so close to just making up an excuse to not go in but I thought I would regret it so I still drove in (IN MY OWN CAR FINALLY!!!!!! Wicheofjvlfjg it was being fixed after someone rear-ended me for like 2 months I swear).  Annoying revelation of the day? Even if my studies are going to shit (last fortnight has not been fun - borderlined my LC exam, hopefully I pass the rest of my exams and just need to resit this one mid Dec / early Jan - series of bad luck and unp...

aweoifjaweoifj I just did my long case exam yesterday morning, now anxiously a/w results to come out tomorrow, but tbh, will not be surprised if need to resit (for several reasons, both personal and external). FYI - long case is an exam style used in BPT (basic physician training) where you have 1 hr w a pt to take a comprehensive hx and o/e, 10ish min to organize your notes and thoughts, then 10ish min to present your findings, imp and issues list to the examiners, then ans their qs for another 10-20mins (or what I like to call "be executed"). @unimelb med school, the examiners are not in the room w u for the first 1 hr, but they've done their own consult for 15mins before you see them, and you're given a list of the pt rx and obs. It is by far the scariest and (in my opinion at least) easiest to fail exam in MD2. It has defs been a thundercloud over my head for the whole year which I've tried my best to ignore (maybe a bit too much...😅) but I've been slappe...

The medical school system and healthcare system have an uncanny ability to suck the joy, aspirations, childlike curiosity, and genuine empathy from its students and healthcare workers.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not regretting my decision to return to the system, but when you've been in the hospital for 7hr+ UNPAID and just there for the experience and your own learning, then gone home and realized you still have a Mt Everest worth of lecture content to plough through, there's no way you won't ask "why am I doing this to myself?" "am I just a sucker for punishment?"  I for one am lucky enough to have personal responses to this which are "Remember that time when you saw the resus team bring someone back to life from cardiac arrest?" or "Remember when Mr B was super grateful for you spending 2hr talking to them like another human and they confided their struggles with suicidal thoughts to you first and not their treating team?" et...

I’m sure y’all have heard about different learning styles, so much so that you probably have ear callouses 💀 BUT hear me out, this is super important in med school, esp transitioning from pre-clin to clin. And imma just focus on two broad category - practical v textbook learner .  First of all, IT’S A PROCESS , a process that took me nearly 2 years to figure out so don’t fret if you feel like you have no idea how to juggle placement time v desktop study time until end of 1st year clin or even beyond. BUT if I could give MD1 me any advice, it would be to actually sit down and think about how I learn best (ugh boring I know but I promise it will save you so much grief later)  Why do I think knowing if you’re a practical or textbook leaner is particularly important for clin years? Cuz you will hear all kinds of advice about how much time to spend in hospital v at home or in a library or wherever you study best. I’ve heard anything from “wish I spent so much less time in hospital...

aowiejfaoweifj oaweifj  First time witnessing a heated argument between 2 different medical teams and tbh still a bit shooketh. Not gonna name names here but it was also an extremely dumb argument that at its core is nothing more than politics and completely unrelated to patient care.  Long story short, we had a new pt in ICU who was apparently referred to X team as the home team but no one from ICU or ED called them about it (the pt still showed up on X team's inpt list). A very irate X team reg came storming to our team and kicked up a fuss about how that's super disrespectful and if they knew the pt was going to be under them and not just a consult, they would've brought her consultant over to r/v the pt. She kept cutting off our consultant to the point that the consultant actually said "I apologise for the miscommunication but let's not forget that we're all here to do what's best for the patient, and regardless of whether the pt is under you guys or an...

Was meant to post this 2 days ago but got "kidnapped" (voluntarily) by grandparents for boot camp style master classes on internal medicine and imaging interpretations 😂 (yes we're imminently entering exam period 💀).  Back to this post, I had the amazing opportunity to sit in with an incredible ICU consultant when she was having a family meeting with the pt's husband. I am not at all exaggerating when I say she has set the bar extremely high for what true shared-decision making between the healthcare team and the pt's family can and should look like. I got a real sense that the consultant truly meant it when she said "You know the patient best, certainly much better than me, and I'm asking for your help in determining the best treatment option for your wife moving forward when we take into consideration what she holds most dear in life and what's most important to her in life".  You know you did a good job when the family member / loved one / n...

 “9yo not likely to have sexually transmitted epididymo-orchitis but maybe times have changed, I don’t know, I don’t tx < 16yo” “Pt usually don’t like suppositories, expect the French, but they’re a diff breed”  “You can get nephrostomy tubes w a string tied to it so pt remove it themselves by pulling on the string - not that pleasant but in Canada, completely public sys so no choice - they just gotta suck it up and get on w it” “[causes for blah are blah etc] and a whole bunch of other stuff” → dis why med students perpetually stressed 💀

 Today was the first time I was sat down and given feedback by a member of my gen med team. Previously, all feedback was given on the fly or as part of mini-cex (which varied in usefulness) and it made me feel, "damn, this is really useful feedback I can incorporate into the rest of my MD journey" and DIDN'T bury my self-esteem 6 feet underground (shocking I know 😆💀😥).  General brownie points   centralised feedback delivered by intern → less intimidating, more relatable face-to-face (yes, I'm old-fashioned)  dedicated time during lunch, had time to unpack and explore feedback, including regular check-backs on how feedback is being taken, any concerns I would like to raise etc. secluded area, no one walking around or sitting near to distract and overhear → reduce anxiety and stress asking about how I'm going so far, not to stressed, anything to raise about placement in general etc. Specific feedback done well   turns out sandwich style does work well 😅 → inte...