"empathy is not a three minute station."

i now kick myself for not answering that way yesterday. three minutes? showing empathy to a person i know isn't even suffering? i mean, you get at least seven minutes during speed dating, so how can it be possible to tell how nice and sincere and empathetic a person is in three?! now i understand dm's posts from last year. imho, communication osces should be scrapped. heh. i'm saying this here not only because i want to share my experiences, but also because the feedback page is "unable to process my request". so much for insisting we had to do it asap.

other than those two com skills stations, yesterday's osces was so-so. weird questions about masses that move with respiration, central lines, and aseptic techniques, but at least they were kind enough to screen a movie after our test while we were waiting for the other shift to end.

was more apprehensive about my medicine test, but it turned out ok. my tester had taken us for a tutorial before, and he's reasonable, so i felt quite relaxed throughout the test. had a moment of drama when i was presenting my short, cuz an elderly patient who was being wheeled to the x-ray dept suddenly became drowsy and started snoring in his wheelchair. despite shaking him and calling out, my tester wasn't able to wake him up, so he sent the patient back to bed. it was otherwise an uneventful test, and for those curious, i got an abdo long and a cvs short.

next day was surgery, and true to the spirit, my tester was stuck in the ot for the whole day and ended up taking me at five. could have been worse, because his original plan was to give me a parotid or scrotal short. luckily both were discharged, so i got both abdo for my long and short.

oh well, it's been a great six weeks i must say, but i'm glad for this three week break. will not have another for the next four months! so goodbye m2, and hello m3! =)