Why medical students SHOULD get involved in extra-curricular activities

Many of you will know that a majority of us third years have been through an interview that will decide whether we can stay in college or not next year. Why are we going to these interviews in droves, you ask? Doesn't UPM medical students automatically get to stay in their hostels (K17) despite the level of extra-curricular involvement? A big reason this happened would be because we had previously thought there was no point in collecting merits as we had thought we would be staying in the KL Damai hostel next year when we have our postings in our 4th and 5th year. Because of politics and a lot of red tape, imagine the surprise, the slaps on our unsuspecting faces when we hear that there will be no KL Damai hostel and there might not even be a renewed contract with HKL as a teaching hospital for UPM anymore as of 2012. That's another story, and the issue is far more complex, but let's talk about the merits and staying in K17 part.

Medical students used to be priviliged enough to be able to stay in college without having to collect merits like other students, the cream of the cream syndrome if you ask me, so the few of us that do join these activities were seen as fools, and some were even advised by colleagues to quit medical school (with good intentions, of course) *ahem ahem*. Most of us won't even go out of the college to have a jog, preferring the creature comforts of our dorm rooms, let alone become chairperson of an event! So one wonders why should one get involved in these silly activities that nobody remembers in a few years time? I've heard of people saying medical students are so busy, they don't even go out to buy their own dinners! I've also read newsclippings relaying the opinion of some nerdy med student saying there is no enjoyment when studying medicine, only hard work and duty. Those "facts" are only true if you want it to be.

I have had the best time possible, and have learnt so much from being in UPM, and I've only gone through third year!  I never would've thought it would be possible since I honestly hadn't even known UPM existed before I searched it up to fill in my UPU form. I tell this to so many people, but it bears repeating: even if I could re-wind time, my first choice in the UPU form would still reflect that I want to be a medical student in UPM. Had I joined UM, UKM or USM I wouldn't have been able to join debate, I wouldn't have learnt the stuff I did, I wouldn't have been able to form the great relationships with the medical students, the staffs or the students from other courses. I would've never been able to gain working experience with my employers, some nasty, some nice. In short, I wouldn't be the person I am today .

Kem perkasa!

I think if I was to tell the kids about my time in UPM, the best thing would be about the fun I had joining the UPM debate team. (Of course, academically, clinical year was the best fun I've ever had learning.) It wasn't even hard to join debate because all you needed to be able to do was to speak "Yes" and "No" and you're in. Read the news and humanities journals? Learn economic/political/social theories? Um, yeah.. not really. I met with people I would've otherwise never did in K17, law students, fine art students, from Sabah, from Kyrgyztan, from other UPM colleges, previous medical graduates of UPM (hi Sooch!) Finally, it feels like I don't have to commit suicide by slitting my wrists with all my medical notes. I hadn't been able to join more tournaments since clinical year due to financial problems but I should hope that's about to change in 4th year.

Likewise, there are many seniors that's been vice president of the college MTM, MPP representatives, AIESEC members, thoose active in religious societies and so forth. Some can sing, dance, act, or all three and they do it well! Some have organized several big events and made it into the news! Some of them have their own side businesses and are able to afford cars on their part time jobs (hi Kak Ikin!). Some are married by their second, third, fourth year (hi, um.. nevermind). Don't think that a medical school limits you from having a life, because only you can decide that for yourself, not other folks propagating "truths" like to be a good doctor, one must study 24/7. Your life and how you balance it is up to you, so take control of it. People do ask, "How do you balance your studies?" I have no answer for this because I'm still not good at it even if I'm not active in extra-curricular activities, I make do with I have and I'm always improving my time-management.

Third Malaysian International Medical Student Conference 2011

Dear fellow colleagues,

The SMMAMS's very own annual medical student conference - MIMSC (Malaysian International Medical Student Conference) 2011 is now opened for registration. The 3rd MIMSC 2011, with the theme of "Trauma: Constructing the Future, Growing from the Past" is going to be held at Melaka-Manipal Medical College, from 2nd - 5th June 2011.

For further information about the conference (e.g. program, registration, fees, accommodation), please kindly visit the official conference website :www.smmams.org/mimsc or follow this link :http://mma-medicalstudents.blogspot.com/2011/01/3rd-malaysian-international-medical.html.

For those who are interested, please contact Jayanthi by 30th April 2011.

Thanks ya buddies! :)


Jayanthi, 3rdyr 2010/2011

Good news, slightly bad news, and even worse news:

GOOD NEWS:
1. I am in the process of extracting information (not through inception) about our medical undergraduate course alumnis (basically find out whether they have blogs and linking them, or find out whether they're interesting people with interesting achievements, generally being a busy body).

The slightly bad:

1. Yes, if you were the observant type, we have changed our website name into Putra MDs due to all the possible nonsensical red tapes that Putra Medical Club (PMC) might face were we to put this under PMC since that's all under the faculty. Urgh, who wants to deal with that? But it will still report all the events that PMC will be organising, hopefully, especially the upcoming Annual Dinner and the Orientation, amongst other things. There's also a very big possibility that batch 13 will organize an upcoming Anak Angkat (Homestay) program next year as well as the Sunathon program. In any case, thank you so much for any support given to this website, and the strange traffic from foreign countries it's been getting. I'm sure it'll grow to be something more.
2. We also have to change our profile picture. So, um I'm not sure if we should hold a design contest with no prize but gratitude or whether we should randomly take a Google Image picture. Thoughts?


The bad:

1. To those lacking college "merits" (which have nothing to do with university "merits", apparently), we might be moving to 13th College, which is really nice to sleep over at, not sure how fun it'll be compared to 17th College though. The good news is, because a lot of medical students apparently feel strongly about this, we have decided it'd be fun to start an internet debate, (how exciting!) part 1 consisting of why the merit system should be supported, part 2 why it shouldn't and we'll have a neutral conclusion part 3 afterwards. Why bother gossiping like old men over at facebook, when one can have a systematic, mature discussion over a blog with which to propose one's view? Am I too much of a nerd? Probably.

What do you think of the current situation? Do you support the merit system? Do medical students deserve to be kicked out of the college built to alienate them from the rest of UPM? Do you even care? Send us your thoughts, people! E-MAIL at putramediclub@gmail.com! Hmm.. perhaps I need to change the e-mail too..

Nazirah, 3rdyr 2010/2011

P.s: Good luck to those resitting Professional Exam 1! You can make it!

Good Luck, 5th years!

From all of the juniors, we hope all of you pass with flying colours and become the awesome housemans signing our logbooks next year. All the best with your 3rd Professional Exam! You can do it!

Sorry for the demotivating picture. It was the only one I could find.

Nazirah, 3rdyr 2010/2011

Random Articles in the Internet: For Future Doctors: What if …?

For Future Doctors: What if …?

 First of all, I would like to wish everyone a very Happy New Year 2011. It has been a while since I last posted anything on my “For Future Doctors “series, the last being on “Housemanship Glut”. I have been observing all the comments and enquiries that were posted in my blog regarding my articles. I had many interesting questions by medical students as well as houseofficers regarding their future prospect in medicine. I thought of answering some of these queries’ in this posting.

 What if I quit Housemanship?

I had a couple of housemen who asked me what will happen to them if they quit housemanship and what the other options are. According to Medical Act 1971, a medical graduate has to complete 1 year housemanship in order for them to receive their full registration under the Malaysian Medical Council. This has been increased to 2 years since 2008 (officially). I am not sure whether it is legally binding as the Medical Act 1971 has yet to be amended.

What will happen if you quit housemanship? The answer: You will NEVER be able to practise as a doctor anymore. If you quit housemanship, you will not get your full registration which means you will never be able to practise legally. Thus, whatever you have studied over the last 5-6 years is just a waste. It would have been better if you had decided much earlier that medicine is not your field and switch course during your undergraduate period. There are 2 parties to blame here, yourself and your parents.

Basically, you need to find another job or undergo another undergraduate training in another course. One of the person who wanted to quit housemanship asked me whether she can do Master’s programme in preclinical studies such as Physiology (Master’s in Medical Sciences) or Anatomy and subsequently become a lecturer. The answer is yes and no. Of course you can but in order for you to get a place for Master’s programme in Malaysia, you must be in service. You must have undergone at least 3 years of service with full registration and need recommendations from Head of Department as well as good SKT marks before being able to apply for the programme. As such when you quit housemanship, this is NOT possible especially when our Master’s availability is very much limited with high demand. Probably you can try overseas universities but however, the degree offered must be recognised in Malaysia as a postgraduate degree.

 Can I join Pharmaceutical companies? Again it is a possibility. In fact, with oversupply of doctors in Malaysia in a few years’ time, we might be seeing a lot of medical graduates joining pharma companies to get a job. Sometimes, pharma companies also need you to have full MMC registration in order to join them.

 Can I become a Lecturer by just holding a MBBS? The answer is NO. As I have said before, medicine a very peculiar field. If you are an engineering graduate, can’t find a job, you can be made as a lecturer if the university wants to. Of course an engineering graduate without field work is going to be a useless teacher but who cares in this Bolehland. I have seen so many engineering graduates who have become lecturers the day after they passed out! No wonder we have so many buildings collapsing. I also have seen many engineering graduates becoming school teachers. But for medicine this is not possible. Only doctors with postgraduate degrees are allowed to become lecturers, internationally and of course you will never be accepted as school teachers. But, who knows………………… in Bolehland anything can happen.!

 Usually, my general advice to whoever decides not to continue as a doctor is to at least complete your housemanship, whether you like it or not!

What if doctors become jobless in the next 5 years?

Random Articles in the Internet: For Future Doctors: Housemanship, Medical Officer and Postgraduate Training

For Future Doctors: Housemanship, Medical Officer and Postgraduate Training (Part 1)

I received more than 10 000 visitors to my blog posting on “The General Misconception of Doctors Part 1 & Part 2” since 08/09/2010. I also had many comments supporting my article. Surprisingly, most of the comments were from medical students and young doctors who just started housemanship or just completed. I also had some overseas doctors giving their comment, not sure whether they are Malaysians or ex-Malaysians?

Even though many supported my articles, I also had few asking me to tell them what is in store during housemanship and postgraduate training in detail. Thus I thought it is about time I give them the full detail, to my knowledge, about the current and future situation in Malaysia. There was a person who asked me to write some positive aspect of being a doctor. Well, I only have 1, a total satisfaction of treating a patient till recovery. But always remember, you can only cure sometimes. I have had a medical student who refused to go to the ward after seeing a young boy dying of Leukaemia. Well, this will be a daily affair once you set foot into the medical field. Be prepared to see people die no matter what you do. To comfort always but to cure sometimes should be your motto!

1)      Housemanship

I will divide this section into 3 subsections, explaining what has been happening since 1990s in housemanship training;

1a) Before 2000

Before 2000, the housemanship training use to have 4 monthly rotations in Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Medicine or Paediatric and Surgery or Orthopaedic. After the 1 year training, you will be transferred to rural or semirural areas to serve in district hospitals or Klinik Kesihatans (KK) (health clinics). Most of the time, these rural postings are a wonderful experience but a little bit scary due to lack of senior people to consult or assist you.

One of the major faults in this system is the fact that if you do Medicine, you will miss Paediatric and if you do Surgery, you will miss Ortho. Only O&G was made compulsory. Thus, the government felt it was inadequate. Many will go to KK and District Hospitals without doing Paediatrics/Medicine and Orthopaedics/Surgery. A lot of the time, you need to depend on the senior nurses or Medical Assistants (MA). I must say that during that time, the nurses and MAs were excellent. They were second to doctors, not to be compared with the current generation of nurses and MAs.

BTW, just to mention, the HO’s take home salary before 2000 use to be RM 1648!! Pathetic isn’t it? You won’t even be able to buy a car/house. The car loan interest rate than was 6-8%! You will get RM 20 for each on-call that you do! This “On Call” allowance was only introduced in 1994. Prior to that, you are not paid a single cent for your “On-Calls”, free labour for the government mah……………..

1b)  After 2000

Around the year 2000-2002, a new posting known as junior medical officer postings was introduced after housemanship. This is also known as the 4^th and 5^th HO posting. It was 3 month posting in either medicine/paediatric or surgery/ortho depending on which that you did not do during the 1 year housmanship as above. After completing the 4^th and 5^th postings, you will be posted to rural or district as a Medical Officer.

1c)  Since 2008

Since 2008, housemanship training has been extended to 2 years. This means you will be completing all the major postings before being transferred out.

2)      Life as a Houseofficer (HO)

When I did my Housemanship in 1990s, there were only 2-3 HOs in each ward of 40-60 patients. It was a tough life.  You are the front liners who will see the patients for the first time upon admission. You’re supposed to take the medical history of the patient, do a physical examination, take blood investigations and come to a diagnosis. In fact, you’re supposed to start the initial treatment and management of the patients. There won’t be any medical officers or specialist in the ward. Most of them will come only in the afternoon to see the patients. This means, you’re the boss in the ward and the life of the patient is in your hands! It is a very stressful life, where on top of all the existing patients in the ward, you also need to see all the new admissions. The new admissions can be about 20-30 admissions/day, divided between each of the 2-3 houseofficers.

You start your work around 7.00am everyday especially if you are doing medical or O&G postings by taking the ward patient’s blood. Then, you will be doing the clinical rounds with the Medical Officers and Specialist of the ward. After finishing the rounds, you need to carry out all the orders by the specialist and at the same time, clerk all the new admissions! You also have to run down to radiology department to get urgent appointments, go to the blood bank to get urgent bloods, trace results urgently etc etc. Of course, you may not finish your work by 5pm. If you are “On Call” on that day, you need to con’t your work throughout the night till the next morning 8am. And now, don’t think you can go back to your room and rest! You are supposed to con’t with the work on the next day as usual! You are basically a professional coolie!

As a HO, you need to do at least 10 calls a month, which means once every 3 days. I have even done continuous day calls before, never saw sunlight for 2-3 days! For each calls, we were paid RM 20 then, now it has gone up to RM 100 since 2006 ( please read my MMA article on “Government doctors: Past, Present and Future”). I use to say that you can earn better by working in Mc Donald’s!

Whatever said and done, I enjoyed my Housemanship simply because I had good colleagues who helped each other very well. I also enjoyed learning all the skills and procedures during my housemanship. Housemanship is the only time where you can learn all the necessary skills in doing procedures like CVP line, Chest tube, Peritoneal Dialysis etc etc. Thus, as I said before, if you became a doctor for passion and to help people, then you will enjoy housemanship. But if you choose medicine for glory, good life and money, it is during this time that you will realise that medicine is not for you. That’s the reason why, many will get a mental breakdown during housemanship. They never expected their life to be like this! Many still think that being a doctor is sitting in a clinic and seeing “cough and cold” cases. Being a doctor is more than that.

Of course, the situation has changed recently. With the tremendous increase in the number of doctors produced, we have almost 6-8 HOs in each ward of 40 patients. In fact, surgical department with 2 wards, sometimes has more than 40 HOs!! The workload will definitely be lower but you will lose out in your training. How many procedures would you be able to learn with so many of you in a ward? I have even seen some HOs leaving the medical department without doing a single CVP line or Chest tube. Only those who are eager to learn will succeed. The rests are just given a license to kill… Sorry to say!

3)      Rules and Regulation during Housemanship

There are few rules and regulations that you need to know as a HO. You will be given a log book for each posting. This log book needs to be signed off at the end of each posting by the department. The Head of Department (HOD) has the right to extend the training if he/she feels that you are not competent enough to be released. The extension is for a minimum of 3 months but can go on as long as the HOD feels adequate. Unfortunately, many of the HOD take the easy way out. No matter how incompetent the HO is, they usually let them go as they feel that it will not make any difference in extending their postings and of course less problem to the department. To me, I think it is very selfish for some of the HOD to think like this. Remember, these doctors are the one who is going to be released to the community with a “license to kill”.

As a government servant, you will be given 25 days annual leave. As a HO, these 25 days will be divided equally between the 3 postings that you do in a year. Any extra leaves including MCs, maternity leave and emergency leaves are considered as an extension of housemanship training. For example, if you take 1 week MC during a medical posting, your medical posting will be extended by one week, unless you want to deduct your annual leave allocated for that particular posting. This is one of the reasons why I always advise doctors/soon to be doctors not to get married during housemanship. Pregnancy will not reduce your workload as you need to do the same number of calls with the rest and it will only extend your housemanship even longer.

Random Articles in the Internet: For Future Doctors: General Misconceptions of Being a Doctor

For Future Doctors: General Misconception of being a doctor (Part 1)

Over the last few months, many budding doctors have contacted me to ask about the future prospects of doing medicine. Of course I gave them a depressing night after informing them of the current and future prospects of doctors in Malaysia. During these discussions I realise that many of these people do not understand a lot of issues surrounding the field of medicine. Thus I was obliged to write this article to wake up these people from their dream of “guaranteed” life if you were to become a doctor!

1)      Guaranteed Job and Good salary/can make money

 Many parents still believe that being a doctor guarantee their children’s future. Well, it may be so before but not in another 5-10 years time. You can read about these issues in my MMA articles column. 20 years ago we only had 3 medical schools producing about 400 doctors a year but now we have almost 30 medical schools in the country (the highest per capita population in the world). Last year alone, almost 4000 new doctors started housemanship in Ministry of Health (MOH). The number will further increase in coming years when all the medical schools start to produce their graduates. I believe it will reach a figure of 6000/year by 2015.

This is where issues arise. Even now, the MOH is struggling to place these doctors in various hospitals in the country. We have almost 30-40 houseofficers in each department now not knowing what to do every day. Their training is compromised and they are being released after that without proper training with license to kill! I may sound negative but this is the reality. Even district hospitals are being used to train houseofficers now, starting 2010. As you would have read in the papers recently of parents complaining that their child has been transferred to East Malaysia after completing housemanship, it is a known fact that the shortage of doctors at this point of time is in East Malaysia. As our MOH Director General had said, most doctors will be sent to Sabah and Sarawak from this year on wards.

What’s going to happen in the next few years? Again, my prediction is, there will be surplus of doctors by 2015. There will more bodies than post in MOH by 2015. Doctors most likely will need to queue up to be posted in government service.  You will be sent to rural and East Malaysia to serve. Any appeal will not be entertained. If you think this would not happen, please look at the nurses! 5 years ago, the government began to approve numerous nursing colleges due to shortage of nurses. Now, we have surplus of nurses without any jobs. I know of nurses who are currently working in petrol stations! BTW, the MOH is currently considering introducing common entry exams for all medical graduates. Only those who pass this exam will be given housemanship post. This will happen soon.

Furthermore there may be a pay cut for doctors when all the post are filled. One of the allowance known as critical allowance of RM 750 will be removed once all the posts are filled. Critical allowance is never a fixed allowance and is usually reviewed every 3 years. As you know, the pharmacist’s critical allowance is going to be removed if not already. 

I had one budding doctor who said that the reason she wanted to do medicine is because it is the only field where you have a guaranteed job and a starting salary of RM 6000. Well, I have talked about guaranteed job issue above but she is definitely wrong in stating that the starting salary. The starting salary of HO has gone up over the last 5 years; no doubt about it (please read my MMA article). However, the starting salary of HO currently is about RM 3500 to about RM4000 after including the on-call allowance. Remember, your salary only increases about RM 70/year. You will only reach a salary of RM 6000 after 7 years of service as a medical officer, when you are promoted to U48 according to current promotional prospect in civil service introduced end of last year! BTW, other than the difference of critical allowance, a doctor’s salary is only RM 200 more than a pharmacist in civil service!

 2)      Medical degree recognition

 If I can’t work in Malaysia, I can go to Singapore or Australia to work, right?

Again, another misconception. Many do not know that medicine is a very peculiar field and cannot be compared to any other profession. In order for you to work in another country, your degree needs to be recognised by the Medical Council of the other country. If it is not recognised, you would not be able to work there. For your information, only UKM and UM degrees are recognised in Singapore.

Almost all medical degrees from Malaysia are NOT recognised elsewhere.Malaysia Boleh mah! Only Monash University Malaysia’s medical degree is recognised by Australian Medical Council and thus you would be able to work in Australia/New Zealand. Some of the private medical colleges do twinning programmes with external universities from Ireland/UK/India etc. These may be recognised depending on which degree and where you graduate from. 

3)      Housemanship & Compulsory service

I have mentioned a little about housemanship above. As you know the housemanship has been extended to 2 years since 2008. Even though it is good for your own training but it does prolong your future postgraduate training. After Housemanship you have to undergo another 2 years of compulsory service before you decide to resign for private practise or pursue your postgraduate degree. It is during this compulsory service that you will be posted to anywhere in the country.

 Furthermore, housemanship is not an easy posting. Even though the numbers of HOs have increased tremendously over the last 2 years, it is still a very exhausting job. Many have had a mental breakdown during housemanship. I just heard of a houseman who is on psychiatric MC for the last 2 months! It seems she thought that being a doctor is just like sitting in a clinic and seeing cold cases (probably she thought she can become a GP immediately!)

4)      Hard work and post graduate training

 20-30 years ago, being an MBBS holder itself is good enough. You can easily open a clinic and become a GP and well respected by the community. But things are changing. Even GP practise is a speciality by itself in many countries (Master in Family Medicine/FRACGP etc). Malaysia is also moving towards that. Many patients are demanding and would prefer to see a specialist directly nowadays.

 Thus it is important that when you join medicine undergraduate degree, please be prepared to continue your education for another 10 years after graduation! In order for you to complete your postgraduate education, it will easily take another 10 years, assuming you pass all your exams in one try! So, don’t assume your education is only 5 years! MBBS do not mean anything now, in fact it is only considered as a diploma!

 Getting into postgraduate training is also becoming increasing difficult. The number of places for Master’s programme is very much limited in local universities. The demand is greater than supply and of course don’ forget the quota system as well! Other than MRCP (UK) – internal medicine, MRCPCH (UK) – paediatric and MRCOG - Obstetric, you have to depend on local master’s programme for your speciality. Thus, you have a very limited option. With such a big number of doctors coming into the market now, I can assure you that getting a place for post graduate education is going to be a major problem in 2-3 years time! Be prepared.

Doctor wannabe?

Assalamualaikum.

Ibubapa memainkan peranan penting untuk memupuk minat kanak-kanak, seperti sehelai kain putih yang perlu dicorakkan. Saya rasa, kebanyakan kanak-kanak disogok dengan impian menjadi seorang doktor, peguam atau cikgu. Ini pekerjaan yang biasa saya dengar dikalangan kawan-kawan sebaya sewaktu sekolah rendah. Tetapi tak dinafikan saya pernah bercita-cita mahu menjadi seorang posmen dahulu. Haha.

Berbalik kepada tajuk asal, kenapa doktor? Masyarakat memandang tinggi pekerjaan yang satu ini, kerana pekerjaannya yang sangat mulia dan menuntut pengorbanan yang bukan sedikit. Memetik kata-kata Martin H. Fischer, "A doctor must work eighteen hours a day and seven days a week. If you cannot console yourself to this, get out of the profession."

Secara jujurnya, sewaktu minggu orientasi medic, soalan kenapa nak jadi doktor ni menghantui sewaktu buddy day yang sangat menakutkan. Haha. Dan satu jawapan yang terlintas, jawapan yang sangat biasa dan kerap didengari oleh pelajar perubatan, saya mahu bantu masyarakat-jawap saya seadanya.

Dan senior membalas- Banyak cara untuk membantu manusia lain, tak semestinya menjadi seorang doktor. Cikgu, peguam dan polis juga membantu masyarakat dalam cara mereka sendiri. Jawapan kamu terlalu umum.

Sedari itu saya terfikir, kenapa doktor?

Saya bertanyakan coursemate yang lain, setelah melalui kos ini selama 2 tahun, jawapan mereka adalah seperti:

-Ayah aku nak sangat aku jadi doktor, apa nak dikata?

-Minat aku dari kecik daa..aku keluar je dari perut mak tu, terus je aku jatuh hati kat doktor yang sambut aku tu. Sejak tu lah aku nak jadi doktor..haha.

- Oh, aku suka-suka je.

- Sebab dapat tengok cadaver.. Suke nyeeeee... Huhu

- ‎(Jawapan common) cita-cita dari zaman purbakala

- Ilmu perubatan tu tak semua orang boleh dapat dan apply... Maybe sume leh belajar tp tak sume boleh hargai ilmu tu... Sangat berharga... Jadi doc memang lain dari yang lain... sebab tu la kot... ade banyak sebab tapi yang lain tu common-common je laa... kang berjela-jela lak..huhu

- Aku jadi doc sebab doc best, perlukan ilmu dan seni, kalau jadi nerd je study dgn ilmu, tp takda seni seperti cara komunikasi, ketelusan dlm buat kerja, bijak urus stress tak jadi doc, doc boleh kawal keadaan walau ape sekali pn, dan doc ni kite boleh berkhidmat smpi mati, no limit utk buat kebaikan.

- Fardhu kifayah~

‎

- "Sampai masa tibanya waktu..redup hati kami berdua..bila dua jasad bersatu..hidup mati kita bersama."

Err..yang ni maybe masih mabuk Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa agaknya.

- Berkata Imam Shafie, "Tidak aku melihat ilmu yang paling afdhal selepas mana ilmu syariah seperti mana ilmu perubatan. Jika ingin berpindah ke suatu kawasan, pastikan ada dua golongan iaitu ulama dan doktor kerana kita sentiasa memerlukan mereka. Imam shafie belajar perubatan semasa hayatnya..."

- Pejam celik, pejam celik trus dapat perubatan~ mohon nak jado economist, tapi doktor pulak dia bagi~~ haiiihhh

Random Articles in the Internet: Clinical Electives

Medical Student Electives in Malaysia

Malaysia is a tropical country with beautiful beaches, islands, old rainforests, various muliracial delicous foods, and a multiracial country that will definitely make your elective experience a memorable and wonderful one.

The University Hospitals, Government Hospitals (under the Ministry of Health) and some private hospitals accept attachment and elective application by undergraduate medical students. They are as following:

University Hospitals:

1. Universiti Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC) - click here for application form

2. National University of Malaysia Hospital (HUKM) - http://www.hukm.ukm.my

3. Universiti Sains Malaysia Hospital (HUSM) - http://www.medic.usm.my/elective/ 

Government Hospitals (under Ministry of Health) 
Kuala Lumpur- Capital of Malaysia:
1. Hospital Kuala Lumpur (HKL) - http://www.hkl.gov.my/ (total bed no: 2331)
2. Hospital Putrajaya - http://www.hpj.gov.my/ (total bed no: 272)


Penang - Pearl of the Orient, the "Food Heaven of Malaysia"
3. Hospital Pulau Pinang (Penang General Hospital) - http://hpp.moh.gov.my/ (total bed no: 1090)
4. Hospital Seberang Jaya - http://hsbjy.moh.gov.my/ (total bed no: 314)


Melaka- Historical City of Malaysia: 
5. Hospital Melaka (Melaka General Hospital) - http://hmelaka.moh.gov.my/ (total bed no: 901)


Selangor: 
6. Hospital Tengku Ampuan Rahimah, Klang - http://htar.moh.gov.my/ (total bed no: 893)
7. Hospital Selayang - http://hselayang.moh.gov.my/ (total bed no: 852)
8. Hospital Kajang - http://hkjg.moh.gov.my/ (total bed no: 306)
9. Hospital Serdang - http://hserdang.moh.gov.my/ (total bed no: 630)
10. Hospital Ampang - http://hampg.moh.gov.my/ (total bed no: 562)
11. Hospital Sungai Buloh - http://hsgbuloh.moh.gov.my/ (total bed no: 620)


Perak:
12. Hospital Taiping - http://htaiping.moh.gov.my/ (total bed no: 608)
13. Hospital Raja Permaisuri Bainun, Ipoh - http://hipoh.moh.gov.my/ (total bed no: 990)
14. Hospital Teluk Intan - http://htintan.moh.gov.my/ (total bed no: 548)
15. Hospital Seri Manjung-Lumut - http://hsmanjung.moh.gov.my/ (total bed no: 270)

Pilahdelphia

So the 28 of us were shooed away to the district of Kuala Pilah, Negeri Sembilan for 6 weeks of Community Medicine posting. Little did we know that it was the posting that would change our lives collectively, in one way or another.

Putting aside the academical aspect, this is the best posting everrrrrrrrrrrrrr! Enjoy tak ingat punya. We had so much free time on our hands, so we filled em up with daily badminton/football/touch rugby games, baling selipar, and the girls even had aerobics at the vacant lecture hall in the evenings!

And the ‘trip’ wouldn’t be complete if we didn’t take the chance to explore some interesting eateries around Kuala Pilah. Our favs included a Chinese restaurant in Kuala Pilah Government Rest House, Kuey Tiaw Kerang Special at Taman Sri Juasseh (tapi abang kedai tu kerek), Kedai Roti Special in Bahau (roti ice cream!), Cendol at Kuala Pilah Bus Station as well as a roadside stall selling Karipap Panas+Air Kelapa Muda on the way to Juasseh. We certainly left Kuala Pilah with a few more pounds gained, no doubt.

Oh and the roadtrips.

Jeram Tengkek is by far the best waterfall I have visited in yonks. This jeram has everything you look for in a waterfall – crystal clear water, moderate current, and challenging slopes. If you happen to pass by Kuala Pilah, do pay a visit to this hidden treasure near Batu Kikir. It is definitely better than the overrated Ulu Bendul, but you’ll encounter piles and piles of cow dung along the way, so beware!

We also had weekend getaways to PD, Melaka, and other historical places like Istana Seri Menanti and Teratak Za’aba during the 6 weeks. I know it sounds very touristy, but trips with the groupmates were never a bore.

If it hadn’t been for our stay in Kuala Pilah, I probably wouldn’t know a lot of random facts about my groupmates. For instance, Gi Ni’s selamba habit of parking his big ass Honda Civic at inappropriate places (like, tengah-tengah jalan), or the fact that Lini is actually a kaki shopping extraordinaire behind her ayu and shy exterior. We shared so many inside jokes that when we got back to KL for the exams, it was harder to communicate with the rest of the class because they just don’t get the jokes HAHAHA.

Love is also in the air for a pair of lovebirds in the class, and hopefully all goes well for them. <3

I know we’re all back to being our usual kiasu selves in OBGYN now, but I LOVE YOU GUYS! Hopefully the faculty won’t separate us next year. :)

Anyhoots, Pilahdelphia rocks!

Written by Norhidayu Salimin at December 13, 2008 at 6:32 pm when she was a 4thyr 2008/2009, at the moment she is a first year houseman. Taken from http://ayumin.wordpress.com/2008/12/13/pilahdelphia/

Sports Medicine posting at Institut Sukan Negara, Bukit Jalil

I think it's better if I went by the format of what happened throughout the days since the posting is only a week long. But you learn so much, and it was quite fun, though it has to be said the only sport I enjoy participating in is sleeping, which I figure requires extreme stamina in order to be fully mastered.

Again, apparently UPM is the only medical school in Malaysia that offers this posting, according to Dr Jasmiza Khuzairi (a 3rd batch senior and also a sports medicine MO working at ISN). Sports medicine is pretty much what it says on the can, the practise of medicine pertaining to sports. No OTs or surgery here, kids, unless you're an orthopaedic surgeon wanting to sub-specialise in sports injuries, which incidentally is where Prof. Lim said the real money is! Nope, just intra-articular injections with hyaluronic acid (corticosteroid if we're lucky enough to see it) and a bunch of orthopaedic examinations to localise the athlete's problem.

The girls from group A2 with Datuk Lee Chong Wei

SO, here goes:

DAY 1: Prof Lim gives a lecture in the morning about acute and chronic sports injuries. Pretty much only three sticks in my head:

1. Muscles sTrain, Ligaments sPrain. Both mean the same thing, tears in muscles and ligament respectively. Beza t dengan p kena ingat ye. 
2. You use RICE as an acute management to sports injuries: Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation.
3. Strains and Sprains are of three grades: Grade 1 =  microtears, Grade 2 = partial tear, Grade 3 = complete tear.

That's pretty much all I learnt for that day. They had a blackout lasting for two days at ISN so I spent much of the time sleeping in the comfortable pseudo-bed in the rehabilitation gym next to physiotherapy while everyone else worked out. Why bother since we had physical conditioning in the evening? In any case, because of the blackout, we couldn't use the gym to meet the famous athletes, no sauna, no hydrotherapy, no nothing. Then physical conditioning with Ms Ooi Swee Gaik was hell on Earth. According to her, we were doing the easy version. We did warm ups, co-ordination, balancing (for joint stability), core training and stretching all of which are not easy for a bunch of nerds like us to do. All of us suffered from DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) until Wednesday. I could feel it in my bones, my muscles, my ligaments. Everything. Hurts. Even going up the stairs or laughing the next day became a painful Herculean task. Today's lesson: Don't wait for sports medicine posting to work out. Get your ass moving!

DAY2: Dr Victor came and did a clinic session with us and gave an intra-articular injection for someone famous whom I can't seem to remember. Which is odd, because I was alone with her in the clinic for awhile, and I introduced myself and asked her for her name and the sport she plays, and had to be embarrassed later on when I told her I skip the sports section in the news. She's apparently the best Malaysian female badminton player on record, recently retired. She must've thought I was a complete moron.

Dr Victor (who reminded me of this 5th year named Hafiz because he looked like a Mat Salleh with a pekat Malay accent) took us to Bilik Kenanga to discuss INFLAMMATION. You might be laughing now, but it was a struggle in that room for all of us to remember first year pathology on chemokines, inflammatory cells, cardinal signs involved in inflammation. We barely scraped through alive. Learn from our mistakes, learn your inflammation WELL!  It's so easy, so trivial yet so important in every single discipline you go in. I've never been in a posting where the cardinal signs of inflammation was not asked. We had a Physiotherapy session later with Pn Faiza who showed us a bit about electrotherapy and taping. Pretty cool all in all. I remember Yog telling everyone he saw Azlan in the gym, the half Scottish squash player who posed half naked in CLEO; yes that one, I remember. Lesson today: Know this country's athletes, and hafal inflammation sampai muntah darah.

Sarawak Elective

So I’ve been getting questions from my non-medic friends about what an “elective posting” is all about. Well, it is actually a given period by medical schools for students to learn in other hospitals other than their own. We’ve been given the freedom to choose just about any hospital in any country in the world, so it is up to what one really wants out of their elective in choosing a place for their posting.

Those with enough funds may opt to do it overseas and experience what it’s like to practice medicine in other countries. For instance, my boys Heng and Joshua did theirs in Kenya and had many hands-on experience that one could not possibly get in local teaching hospitals (both performed their first Caesarean sections there. JEALOUS!). A few of us went to European countries like the UK to feast their eyes on angmohs *ehem*. Many opted to go back to their hometown hospitals for an additional 6-week holidays. And  some people just wanted to go off for a 6-week vacation!

Like me. Heh heh heh.

I chose Sarawak mainly because I’ve never been to either Borneo states before. Sabah hospitals placement have all been swapped up by my other classmates, so Sarawak was the only option left. Did plan on going overseas, but my application for Melbourne was rejected and I was already out of funds by the end of the semester. So Kuching it is!

On day one itself, our elective supervisor-cum-medical registrar-cum-tour guide Dr. Wong Jin Shyan has reminded us that a successful elective posting comprises of 1/3 medicine, 1/3 cultural experience, and 1/3 gastronomic experience. We took to his wise words and made sure that we lived the Sarawak life to its fullest.

We were attached to medical, surgical and emergency department of Sarawak General Hospital (SGH). To be frank, we just went to the hospital for the sake of filling up our attendances! Hehehe. But worry not, the kiasu bit in me made sure that we at least attended ward rounds, specialist clinics and OTs. We got to discuss a lot of interesting cases too, thanks to the ever helpful medical officers, specialists and consultants of SGH. :)

Sarawak Cultural Village was among the first tourist attraction we visited in Sarawak. It introduced us to Sarawak’s astounding variety of tribes as there were replicas of longhouses for every major ethnic group in Sarawak; namely Iban, Bidayuh, Orang Ulu, Melanau, Penan, Malay and Chinese. I used to have trouble differentiating between Sarawak and Sabah tribes, but I am now well-educated on that subject. I can also proudly say that by the end of 6 weeks, I could pretty much understand the Sarawakian Malay accent! Mauk kamek klaka Sawak kah? Sik hal.. (which means, do you want me to speak in Sarawakian accent? No problem..) :)

Few entries ago I did mention about Semenggoh Wildlife Centre, which is a temporary home for various endangered wildlife of Sarawak, especially orang utans that were rescued from captivity. We arrived in Semenggoh during their feeding time, and were lucky enough to see 6 orang utans coming out to eat a delicious spread of bananas, coconuts, watermelon, and papayas that were provided by the centre’s staffs. Nora and her adorable son, Baka attracted the most attention as they swung by the many trees looking as if they were performing stunts on ropes. These primates left us enthralled for quite a while, before we eventually lost sight of them as they get into the deep forest where they actually belong.

It would have been a shame to visit Sarawak if one does not go about exploring its magnificent tropical forest, thus we jumped on the opportunity to visit a few national parks that were situated near Kuching. We were in luck when the Sarawak Forestry Department informed us that Rafflesias were blooming in Gunung Gading National Park! So off we go to the quiet Lundu town where the national park is situated and hiked up the mountain to see the world’s biggest flower.

Now Rafflesias are exceedingly rare and special, as the flower buds take 8-9 months to mature and once they bloom they can only last for 3-4 days before starting to wither. We consider ourselves very lucky as there were only 2 flowers blooming during our stay in Sarawak. The Rafflesia we saw was disappointingly small though, measuring just 50cm in size. Bummer.

We then continued to climb up Gunung Gading for another hour and settled ourselves at the clean Waterfall Number 7. Later on, we took some time off at the unbelievably cheap Union Retreat Resort at Siar Beach just 10 minutes away from Gunung Gading before heading back to Kuching on the next day. Siar Beach was just so-so (Sarawak beaches in general are nothing to shout about, really) but we had the whole resort to ourselves so twas fun.

Bako National Park was on our itinerary for the third weekend. We boarded a speedboat from Bako terminal and passed through Kampung Bako, a fishing village along the riverbanks of Sungai Bako. Prior to our journey, we saw a signboard warning us to be careful of crocodiles and to our surprise; we did see a wild crocodile basking under the sun on a rubber tube! We screamed our lungs out as our boatman tried to corner the crocodile but it quickly glided back into the river.

After the encounter with the wild crocodile, we reached the national park and headed straight to the park headquarters to check in. Bako had various types of vegetation perfect for wildlife spotting. We’ve seen just about everything from silver-leaf monkeys, long-tailed macaque, bearded pigs and hermit crabs to Proboscis monkeys and even fireflies at night. Proboscis monkeys are probably one of the main reasons that make Bako National Park a worthy visit, as these long-nosed monkeys are now heading towards extinction.

The national park also boasts a picturesque coastline with exquisite multi-shaped rock formations. We rented a boat just to get near the famous sea stack, which is the icon of Bako National Park as commonly seen on Cuti-Cuti Malaysiaadvertisements. Other than that, we also went on a few trekking trails and saw spectacular views of various plants and trees along our way. We may came back from Bako with our skin a shade darker, but the scorching sun was damn well worth it. Highly-recommended to everyone!

Taking an international medical examination

Recently, I have been hearing a lot about AFTA from lecturers, post-grads lamenting (quite loudly in OTs) the fact they can't sub-specialise abroad and Head of Depatments not knowing what to do with the houseman surplus.

This is some quick info for all UPM students/MO/those wanting to specialise/train abroad:

You need to pass international medical examinations if you want to undergo your specialty training in that country. You can do it whenever you like after you finish studying. Ada yang kata lepas MO buat, ada yang kata lagi bagus kalau lepas 5th year buat, ikut anda semua apa yang lebih sesuai.

I have heard of lots of points of views, for example:
1) You can undergo your specialty training locally (UM, UKM, USM, but UPM offers Family Medicine and Pathology postgrad and they only take 3 per year) or regionally (Singapore is usually the main choice),
2) It's really hard/expensive/suicidal if you're going to take for fun, and only those who want to stay overseas permanently take it, otherwise it's not worth it,
3) What about JPA/PTPTN/local scholarship? You're betraying your country and taxpayers. You unpatriotic fool,
4) Ingat senang ke? Your english kena power habis lah,
5) Although, there are more technologically advanced medical practices, especially in developed countries. You can bring back all that wealth of knowledge and if you want, make Malaysia a better place in terms of the practise of medicine;

etc, etc. I have no answers/solutions/counter-argument, or rather I'd prefer not get political or confrontative. It's an option, not an obligation.

Image taken from http://dartmed.dartmouth.edu

I have divided this article into A) types of international medical examinations, B) IELTS and well, C) the cons of taking these exams.

A) Here are some in case you wanted to know (Wiki and official info website):
In America: USMLE and here's the official website
In the UK: GMC:PLAB and here's the official website
In Canada: MCCQE and here's the official website
In Australia: AMC and here's the official website
Bear in mind, this is not an exhaustive list.

B) You would definitely have to take IELTS since the UK and America recognises it. If I'm not mistaken, you need a band of about 6 to be considered competent in speaking English. Higher if you're a specialist who wants to undergo sub-specialty training. It costs about RM570 and you should take it at most 2 years before your international medical exam. You can take it in KL or Penang, wherever. Just click the link.

C) You should also consider:
1) Passing rate- I've heard from some people that the passing rate for international medical grads are 5%. Don't be discouraged. In any case, if you've seen the USMLE books, you'd know how hard the questions are. Never fear, if you want to study for them but not take the test, no-one's going to penalise you. It can't hurt to try to start studying and reading journals like those US medical students you see in Grey's Anatomy right? ;p
2) Total costs- Please don't be surprised if you find out that you need at least RM10k for the tests alone! USMLE is at least RM8k according to my calculations. In any case, you should start saving now. This doesn't even include flights/lodgings (see below). If you don't start saving for some test, at least for marriage, or kids, or a Ferrari or whatever.
3) Lodgings/Flight tickets- Check out AirAsia and Virgin. As for lodgings, my tip is to NEVER go to craiglist for a place to stay. The advertisers on that site are positively deranged.

Now, as for taking clinical training locally/regionally, and its pros and cons, I'm sure you can ask your seniors. If there's a demand, we'll be happy to try our best to interview some lecturers and supply the information.

Anyhow, wherever you do your practise, we hope for the best! Hope this helps!

Nazirah, 3rdyr 2010/2011