all the replies and more on the latest doctor-patient paper war in the st forum here. one letter in particular caught my attention. the reader wrote,

"I believe every doctor should be made to go through a course in human relations before he is allowed to practise his trade. The competency of the doctor is not in question; it is the lack of compassion (in some cases) and understanding of the patient's stress that is of concern."

well, aren't we all put through a series of lectures on the various psychology and sociology theories which were meant to help us "understand" ourselves better? and aren't we all city folk, born of the same fast-paced, ungracious and selfish mould? there was this case about a boy who was being beaten up on an mrt train and not a single soul bothered to intercede. no one walked away to the other end of the train to call the police or inform the station managers. i was reminded of this case last year when those parisian boys dumped cream on my friend and i in one of the metro stations. none of the people walking by stopped to help. and i thought to myself, why should i be surprised?

then again, we all know of nice docs who do make you forget that you're even sick. now that we're entering the clinics, i really hope to one of those doctors who make their patients comfortable and at ease.

but first, the CAs. good luck everybody. heh.

yesterday was the last day of school. that's it folks. that's the last time we would spend our days just moving between the lecture theatres and the cofm labs and the seminar rooms. it was kinda fitting that the last lesson we had was our patho tut, altogether at the cofm lab with dr n. heh.

interesting letters in the forum of our esteemed local newpaper, with both readers giving their esteemed opnions on an esteemed profession. here are the juicy bits:

"I am not a medical doctor but I know what is professional ethics...If there are worries that the doctor and his staff will go home late, then don't operate until midnight. It's as simple as that."

and,

"The medical profession is not like any other business...Every doctor takes a pledge that he will put the interests of the patients first. A doctor has a social, moral and legal duty to attend to a sick person at any time."

in addition, a doctor's reply to a woman's complaint that she had been overcharged and given an expensive and not-often used antibiotic Klacid (which is clarithromycin) for her son. as usual she left out some very important details. go read.

to round off this medical news day, one hospital has installed cameras in its OTs for monitoring and teaching purposes. not surprisingly, this hasn't gone down well with the surgeons. interestingly enough, the same hospital made the news yesterday for having to close almost all its OTs due to a burst water pipe. fact -is- certainly stranger than fiction.

getting my medical instruments tomorrow. yay! this is one happy mumbler.

someone mentioned something really funny - that if our deans and provost were like the rolling stones and be able to attract a million people to watch them sing and dance, then that would solve our problems, wouldn't it? -heh-

reading about diabetes is giving me a headache. ugh.

the last week of preclinicals is here. two years ago, i was just a blur kid from jc embarking on what i thought would be the most enriching, exciting, and fulfilling journey in my life. it's not any less exciting or enriching now, but i've come to realize there're many more sides to the medical profession than was expected. and i also wonder at the people who can say "i intend to be a surgeon/o&g/pediatrician" when they haven't even had one hour of medical school yet.

i haven't gotten my stethoscope and other items yet, and i'm wondering why it's taking so long. it's also made me miss out on a chance to buy a rather nice (ie funtional yet not dowdy and drab) bag because i've got no idea how my medical odds and ends will weigh altogether.

gosh i'm whining. anyways, like someone said, it's no used trying to argue with the school admin, cuz they'll definitely have a ready answer for the fee hike. what we can all be irked about would be the way they broke the news to us - with a matter-of-fact, emotionless email and on the same day the media was informed. couldn't they have told us earlier? we're the ones paying, not the rest of the country. would it have increased admin costs to inform us a week before or so? and the letter in the papers - upgraded lecture theatres and labs and seminar rooms. can someone tell me what exactly has been upgraded, because the lts and seminar rooms look like they've been in their current state for, what, 5 years? and the only lab we use, and on an infrequent basis at that, is the microbiology lab.

if they could spend tens of millions to build a sprawling new university hall when the previous one was still functional, they could jolly well have set aside more money for bursaries and stuff like that. -shrugs-

tagboard isn't working again. ugh.

tuition fees have been raised again, and because they've counted it in percentages, we folks in medicine will pay five hundred bucks more. if they keep it up, we will end up paying thousands of dollars more than what we originally thought we would. and we'd have to explain to friends and relatives that doctors can be poor too.

is anyone listening? i want derek shepherd. o where art thou, dr shepherd?

happy valentine's day folks.

to add to my current distractions (tv, sleeping and dance), i've been visited by an old flame - singing. attended my alumni's first prac yesterday evening and the songs have been stuck in my head ever since. while i struggle with the list of diseases that my sex can acquire, i find myself tapping my feet and singing the chorus. sigh.

and grey's only has nine eps in this first season! wow, never knew any network would want to do that. oh well. it should get better.

politics is a dirty word. did i know it before? yes, for a long time. but this is the first instance when it's been so immature and downright blatant. it's right-in-my-face blatant. that's all i want to say. voicing all these angry and terrible thoughts isn't good, emotionally and spiritually. so there.

wise quote about the brain: "if you injure a complicated organ, you'll get complicated problems."

yesterday was somewhat the day for laughs. on the way to the train station in the morning, i saw two dogs being walked, and one was wearing bright red shoes. the poor chap was vaguely struggling to keep up with his friend. i wonder why these pet owners make their dogs wear shoes to make them look ridiculous (think poor tinkerbell who was positively disable by his shoes on a simple life).

later that day during our epidemiology lecture, somebody pulled off the lt door handle while coming in. that got the whole lecture in stitches. what was not funny however, was when during the practical somebody decided that making a bogus announcement that the pathology results were out. apparently someone told someone who told the person who made the announcement. whatever.

talking about the marks, they're still not in although last week we heard from a tutor that they were already tallying the marks. someone said it's because we did very very badly. but uh, witholding the grades from us won't make them better, would it?

it's less than a month to the final round of cas, the second last lap. jia you everyone!

an interesting read.

lots of interesting topics of conversations these days. and they're literally round-table discussions. heh.