What Being A Houseman Is About

There are many different jobs in the hospital. Each job comes with certain duties.

Here is a list of what a houseman is supposed to do:
1. Clerk new cases
2. Inform the MOs about the new cases.
3. Do morning rounds. Sometimes have to do afternoon rounds as well.
4. Do rounds with the MO.
5. Do rounds with the specialist.
6. Do rounds with the consultant (if he/she comes for rounds).
7. Trace results.
8. Take blood.
9. Review all the investigation results and if abnormal, inform the MO or try to correct it.
10. Fill up xray/ultrasound/CT scan/MRI forms and other investigation forms.
11. Get ultrasound/CT scan/MRI appointments.
12. Go for xray/ CT scan/ MRI reporting.
13. Set line.
14. In O&G - interpret CTG.
15. In Ortho - put on backslab or POP.
16. Attend to patients who suddenly feel unwell/collapse.
17. Assist in OT.
18. Write OT notes.
19. Fill up COTDS form and also key in COTDS in the computer.
20. Get consent.
21. Check blood before transfusion.
22. Try your best so that patients don't collapse.
23. Collect blood from the blood bank (if need it urgently, or if need special orders like DIVC regime).
24. Send the blood to the lab if you want to get the results fast since most PPKs can be quite useless.
25. Do discharges.
26. Do OT list.
27. In medical and surgical - have to do other procedures like setting CVL, do PD, etc.
28. Refer cases to other departments if necessary.

This are the things I can think of for now.
Imagine doing this day in, day out, and getting scolding for not managing to do everything.
What's not to love, huh!

Is It News?

Recently, a few people have asked me - how long is your housemanship?

Why the question?
Because of this article here.

Now, I wonder...why was this news a news?
We have known for a long, long time that housemanship is a 2 year thing.
In fact, it has been 2 years for at least a year now.
So why the sudden 'announcement'?
Or is he just making a statement about what is being practiced in Malaysia?

Just to clarify things - housemanship lasts for a minimum of 2 years - minimum of 4 months in each department (Medical, Surgical, Ortho, Paeds, O&G, A&E).
Nothing has changed.
Yes, previously it was about a year and half, but that was quite some time ago.

Anyway, will be starting O&G tomorrow.
Am SO NERVOUS!
Hope I can sleep tonight.

Here's a joke I received today :

The Wedding Ring

A man went to the hospital in Gympie, Queensland to have his wedding ring cut off from his penis.
According to the nurse attending the operation, the patient's girlfriend found the ring in his pants pocket.
She didn't know he was married and she was so mad she used petroleum jelly to slip the ring on his penis while he was asleep.


I don't know what's worse:

1) Having your girl friend find out you're married.

2) Explaining to your wife how your wedding ring got on your penis.

OR....

3) Finding out your penis fits through your wedding ring.

What Does....

I have not blogged much recently. What's worse - I did not switch on my computer for the past 3 days!

There is a shortage of HOs is Ortho for now. Last week there was 15 of us plus 2 taggers. This week, 17 of us plus 3 taggers. Imagine this - a few months ago, there were 40 HOs in Ortho.

The thing is, there are 5 people oncall every day, plus 2 passive call, plus 1 in short OT and 1 in long OT. So, we are almost doing EOD (every other day) calls.

Yes, I know - our numbers are much more than previously. I know that everyone did EOD calls last time, even a couple of years back.

Do you know how many times specialists and MOs have told us - 'last time we used to do EOD calls, you all are so lucky, you all are pampered bla bla bla.'

Come on la - I know you all suffered, but then is that a reason to make us suffer as well?
Just because you had to go through it last time, we have to go through it too?

Isn't this the same mentality we claim child abusers have? It is said that people who are abused tend to become abusive themselves because of their past. Same principle applies here?

Anyway, there is no use complaining - it's not like anything is going to change. It is not that I mind the calls that much, but then I really don't see the need for a passive call when we already have quite a number of calls per month. Whatever..hopefully more people enter the department soon.

Recently, a few questions have been popping out of my head.

One of them - what does a cockroach eat? I mean, we see them quite often at homes and shops - if we know what they feed on and can avoid that, maybe we won't see much of them, right?

So, today, I googled for it. I typed 'what does' and a list of suggestion appeared. 'What does cockroach eat' seemed to be one of the top 10 suggestion - guess quite a number of people have been curious as well.

Today, I learnt that a cockroach eats anything it can chew but its favorites are rotted fruits and vegetable. Cockroaches like food that contain starch. They will eat wallpaper paste, paint, bookbindings, and paper. They also like to eat the crumbs that we leave behind.

Guess it won't be easy to avoid these yucky, disgusting creatures after all. If you know a way I can get rid of cockroach, please tell me - I have had a couple of invasions recently. :(

Safe To Work?

Today is the last day at work in Ipoh Hospital for some of my friends. They are JMO's (junior MO's), soon to be MO's. As of 1st of March, they are no more housemen and are officially safe to think and manage patients by themselves.

I think it is rather scary to be an MO.
For now, whatever decision I make, I can confirm with my MO.
If I don't know the diagnosis, I can just say I don't know and don't have to think that much.
If I can't set line - inform the MO and they will set the line (doesn't happen very often, usually the staffnurse will help with the line setting).
If a patient is in serious condition and I can't handle it, call the MO.
If anything goes wrong, I am just a houseman, I am not to be blamed (unless of course it is a really, really horrible mistake). The MO's and specialist have to take responsibility for whatever happens.

It's different for MOs.
They are supposed to be capable of handling almost all cases.
They are supposed to be reliable.
They must be able to handle emergencies.
They must not do stupid mistakes.
The only plus point - they have weekends off AND they don't have to do petty ward work - leave that to the housemen.

One can't remain a houseman forever.
Either you become an MO, or you are branded unsafe to work and are not granted a full registration and you end up looking for another job.

Yes, I can't wait to finish my housemanship.
At the same time, I am worried about the responsibilities I would have to face as an MO (assuming I am not barred from the proffesion).
For now, I am trying my best to not think about what is to come in about 2 years to come.
I am going to go through my housemanship posting by posting and hopefully by the end of it, my brain won't be as empty as it is now.
HOPEFULLY!

Ipoh Hospital, Here I Come!

It's been confirmed. I am going to work in Ipoh General Hospital (Hospital Raja Permaisuri Bainun) for the next two years. KKM said that they cannot offer me a place in Seremban Hospital because all the places have already been filled, but gave me a choice between the Melaka and Ipoh Hospital. Although Melaka Hospital is nearer to home, I somehow prefer Ipoh Hostpital. Maybe it is because my mind was kind of set between Ipoh and Seremban and wasn't prepared for another new place. Or maybe it's because at least 4 of my friends are in Ipoh Hospital already and if I were to go there, I know I will have some familiar faces around me. I think my parents are rather disappointed that I didn't choose Melaka, but they are OK with Ipoh; after all, it's going to be me working there, so they let me make my own choice.

Well, anyway, the decision has been made. I'll be reporting for duty at the Ipoh Hospital on the 5th of December. That's next Friday!! Can you believe it? By this time next week, I'll be officially an employee of the Ipoh Hospital. I am a little excited, but very afraid. Afraid of what is to come. My extremely rusty brain needs to be oiled. I am praying that I get a good MO who is nice to me and teaches me stuff and doesn't shout at me too often and who doesn't give up on me (if I am slow).

It is going to be a really, really new experience for me. Not just working life. But living out of home life. Yes, I wasn't living at home when I was studying, but then, back then I was living in a hostel full of friends who go to class at about the same time and come back at about the same time. Or maybe it is not that different after all. Maybe the only difference will be the fact that now I am in Malaysia and not Russia. Oh, I just thought of 2 other differences - I won't do my laundry here and I am not going to cook for myself here. They have shops (with reasonable prices) for that!

I heard that I will be given government quarters and I can choose my roomate, but then I don't really know anyone who would like to be roomates with me for now. It's not that I am not a nice person, I am, but then my university friends already have roomates (they started working earlier) and am not that close with friends from other universities. I am not going to force anyone to be my roomate. Maybe I'll just leave it to the management to decide. Most of my time will probably be spent in the hospital itself, so I guess it doesn't really matter.

I got to go now. Have a meeting to attend (sounds quite professional, huh!).