ENT posting (aka Easy No Tension posting).

Now, one of the things I never thought of would be this. I mean really people? Who would have thought I’d be writing an article on any posting. Then again, I suppose wonders or in this case, surprises never cease to exist. In either way, this is supposed to be an article about ENT posting.

Taken from Google Images

So, now, the question is where to start. The general consensus would say that that would be at the beginning itself. And I must warn you, I am a bit tedious when it comes to details and descriptions. Just kidding. It merits to be mentioned here that I literally did not know what posting I was going into the first day. All I knew was that the day before, we (Jay, Julia and I) had decided that we might as well go to the faculty at 8 in the morning and see what happens. So, the next morning, we had Julia coming into our room and telling me and Jay that she and I were in ENT while Jay got ophthalmology. It was a shocker and believe me when I say that I was whining in my heart.

Now, enough on all that personal stuff. It’s time to become professional. Again, just kidding! Not entirely. So, there we were at the tutorial room waiting for Mr. Yap and our briefing, which by the by was very informative and hilarious (you guys will experience it firsthand, and trust me, you will be glad I didn’t give you any spoilers) He managed to successfully make us look forward to the entire posting, despite the other shocker that we had to travel to HKL three days a week (that would be Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays). I suppose that you might want to know what made up the silver lining of that particular cloud. Truth be told, we realized it when he said the most important thing in that briefing; ‘WARDWORK = TIMES SQUARE TIME’. Not that we ever did it. Truly! Another thing about ENT is that the lectures are divided into 5 modules namely Laryngology (Dr. Subha), Otology (Dr. Khairul Shaharuddin), Rhinology (Ms. Narizan, who is actually an invited lecturer from HKL), Head and neck (Mr. Vincent, who is a new lecturer) and Allergy  with Mr. Yap himself). We also have another lecturer, Ms. Saraiza, who is an invited lecturer from HS. Okay, I see that I have handled the introductions to our doctors, I would believe now, I should give the limelight to our constant companions. And by that, I am in fact referring to our books.

Taken from shawnfeeney.com

For those who are going into ENT, the preferred reading material would be Lecture Notes on Otolaryngology by P.D Bull (not PItbull, as I initially thought. And I must admit, his name was one of the reasons I finished reading this particular book). Mr. Yap would tell us to finish this book by the first week (fret not, it is possible, even with a packed social calendar like ours) and then to move on to heavier materials such as P.L Dhingra’s Diseases of the Ear, Nose and Throat or even Logan Turner’s textbook who’s name escapes my memory at this point of time. But remember, whatever books you might read, it all tells us the same thing. Only difference is whether it is simple or convoluted.

After his briefing, we had the pleasure of meeting Ms. Subha in lecture. Later, we went to her clinic and learnt many things, the first one being that we did not know a lot of things. Hilarious isn’t it? Nonetheless, we had loads of fun in both clinic and her lectures. The next day off we went to HKL in the 6.30 am bus. I know it sounds not so fun but when you’re sleeping in the bus, all the animosity towards traffic jams for making us wake up so early to avoid it melts away in your dreams. In HKL, within the next few days, we would come to establish a routine, namely consisting of lectures, clinics and speech/audiology sessions (this is where we have to observe how audio testing is done by the audiologist and also speech therapy). Don’t get me wrong guys, these sessions are also available in HS but with fewer patients. An important note here would be regarding the BERA (Brainstem Evoked Response Audiometry) and also the allergy testing (which is done on Mondays and Thursdays in HKL and on Wednesdays in HS). BERA usually involves babies and requires them to fall asleep, so it is as you might be able to imagine, rather boring. So, when you go for that make sure you guys alternate. As for the allergy clinic, try to get it settled fo as soon as possible in the mornings because they usually finish up by 11 am. Then, we would also have bedside teachings in HKL, whereby each group gets two turns each, once with Mr. Vincent and another with Mr. Khairul. During our time there, Mr. Yap was away, so we didn’t get him for bedside or the opportunity to join his NPC clinic at the oncology clinic on Tuesdays. Hopefully, you guys will have better luck with that than we did. So, basically these are what you will be doing in the 3 weeks that you are here and in HKL.

Taken from geekologie.com

OW! Before I forget, we also had skills lab, where we got to play with all the ‘tools of the trade’, namely the otoscope, Thudicum (nasal) speculum and also mirrors that let us see your larynx. So, yea it was fun. Loads of it. Now, I can't imagine to tell you all that we experienced or learnt in ENT but I can endeavor to give u a sketchy idea of what it was like to be in this particular posting. Truth be told, it is actually a jam packed ride that is fun and scary at the same time.

Taken from onthebrinkofanewera.blogspot.com

Now, in a nutshell I believe I have told you as much as I can about what to expect in ENT posting, but truth be told, I feel like a spoiler already. Hopefully you guys would find this an interesting article that was helpful and funny (now, that’s the narcissist in me talking!) Now, for those who will be going into ENT, cherish every moment you get to spend in this posting. The main reason I am saying this is because 3 weeks has the tendency to just pass within a blink of an eye (I think that is the ophthalmology posting speaking). Anyways, have fun guys and hope you guys enjoyed this article.

P/S: There were no suicidal tendencies experienced!

Durga, 3rdyr 2010/2011