it's kinda freaky when a patient you've clerked before makes the news for the wrong reasons. if i say any more, it'll probably breach the patient confidentiality thingy, so well, it's both sad and freaky because it's a reminder that there are many aspects to a person we never know about. sad because i've spoken to the person (as have many other people) and perhaps, just perhaps, there was this chance that one of us could have intervened. freaky because no one have expected this to happen and it sends chills down my spine now as i think about it.

talking about freaky, i was clerking one patient yesterday when the guy in the opposite bed started calling out for me to come over. as usual he called me "missy" but it wasn't because of this that i ignored him. i had this gut feeling that something wasn't right, and later i was joined by my male colleagues, who told me this patient had touched a nurse inappropriately, to put it mildly. dr nice also warned me about him. whew. many times when patients call out, it's because they need to go to the toilet or there's something they want us to help them with. pure instinct had prevented me from getting hurt this time, thankfully.

the fifth years are all around the wards these days for their SI "pretend-to-be-HO" program. everyone looks ok after one week, so i think it isn't as traumatising as i imagined it to be. mr black even taught us how to read an ecg, a great help because no one had ever explain the basis behind an ecg. i mean, ecg reading isn't a skill you can pick up "on the job". the rationale has to be properly explained before one can go on to challenge oneself with rabbit ears and whatnots, and that can't be done in a one hour lecture! now i can vaguely read all those squiggly lines, which is an achievement. yippee.