M205

Excuse me, are you a first year too?

2009-03-31T17:53:00.003+08:00

Someone tapped my shoulder while I was watching an infant was being resuscitated.

"Excuse me, are you a first year too?"

He was wearing a long sleeved labcoat - surefire sign of a junior (Hehe.)

"No, I am not. I think I didn't see any of your batchmates either."

"Oh, ok."

"How long will you guys be here?"

"For a few days."

"So you guys are having nursing week, right?"

"No, I'm studying medicine."

"......."

"Oh... yeah, it's my nursing week."

"I see. Shouldn't you be in the wards now?"

"Huh? Then where am I now?"

"You're in the Emergency Department."

hello from glasgow

2009-03-22T02:21:00.002+08:00

heys lads and lassies! i was just reading random blogs and noticed that the m205 blog is kind of dead so i decided to just write a short update on how things are getting on in glasgow.

our exams are nearing...may 18th. the first ever exam we'll be having here. stress levels aren't that high yet but it will be soon enough. easter break has just commenced and we're, actually "i" in this case, is being a lazy bum as usual and procrastinating. it's a whole repeat of eos 5. argh!!! eos 5 all over again! however i shall not complain after hearing what our peeps at seremban had to go through for eos 7. congrats to all there!

well this is a short update. there's nothing much happening here with the exams getting nearer. till the next update ta!

GP Case 1 - the demanding patient

2009-02-21T16:55:00.000+08:00

Just to 'liven' things up a little, I'ma post a couple of cases which I've seen in my GP clinic for you guys to think. Yes, I have my OWN clinic! Okay, so it's just for 2 weeks .. but damn, it's the most fun I've had since while studying Medicine.

Anyway, here we go.

Case 1.

Guy in 20s came in with his wife and 2 kids, complaining of being depressed. He admitted being recently out of prison, and said while he was there he could not eat and felt really down. Upon release, he described himself as continuing to feel depressed all the time, lost interest in everything, was not eating or doing anything at all. Once, he said he injected himself with heroin and his wife found out. He saw a GP previously who put him on Fluoxetine, which did nothing. When queried, he said this depression has lasted for years but he had never talked to anyone about it, and Fluoxetine was his first medication.

Then his auntie gave him this 'medication' to take, which he handed the empty foil over to me. I looked at it, 'Neurontin' (a brand of Gabapentin). He said he's feeling much better after taking them, and began eating and helped around the house with the kids. He has just finished the Neurontin so he had come to get a prescription for it.

He claimed that the medication has helped him so much, if he couldn't get a prescription he'll just buy it from the pharmacist. He said his wife can vouch for the change in him after being on it, so I looked over at his wife but she was just minding the baby in her hands.

Hint: Just to be sure, I consulted the BNF.

What do you think and what will your management of this patient be? I'll update this post with an answer in a few days (:

EOS 7 Days

2009-02-18T18:10:00.002+08:00

Some pictures from the Taman Rasah Jaya gang depicting our crazy EOS 7 preps.

Letter From Tasmania

2008-08-10T18:38:00.003+08:00

Pic of Japanese section of Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens

G'day mates.. Jeremy here. Thought i'd talk a little about life in Tasmania (feel bad that i havn't posted anything here in more than 12 months.. hehe..).

Let's go to the beginning. 4 M205-ians are here (Kang Ler, Joanne, Fatin, & myself) with Yuni from M1. Getting started over here was pretty much a rough ride. IMU and UniTas don't exactly coordinate things very well. We were given the wrong dates for commencement of term and the offer letter was late. There was confusion on which year (3rd or 4th) we were to join. Preparations were hurried and chaotic. We all came to Hobart (the main city here) at different times (3 of us came very very late) and ended up living in varying places.

Pic of the clinical school. It's connected to the hospital at the back.

Classes were going to be interesting. For the first term, we spent 2 days a week doing Neuro/CNS (the horror...) and the other 3 days were spent doing our rotations (which were mostly classes though...). Neuro exams here were way more tough than in IMU. Funnily enough, i passed this one and not IMU's. Dissection was a good change in learning anatomy though... For 2nd term, we aren't doing Neuro anymore... we're doing like a quick run thru of different stuff... Medico-legal, Forensics, Immuno, etc.... and nearer the end of the year, we get selectives (No Hx of Med... thank goodness).

Exciting medical stuff you say? Well... i enjoyed surgery. I got to assist in a below-knee amputation and an appendicectomy.. Got to go around the Emergency Dept in scrubs too... Okay that's not really exciting but i thought it's cool. I got my own patient to talk to and examine (and there's this cute nurse.. haha.. not kidding tho). I recently got back from a Rural GP Posting. That was really good. I had always thought i'd be practising in a rural area sometime in the future, but the difference now is that i'm more likely to stay here than to go back to Malaysia (Malaysians can sigh in relief).

The pic below is me with the GP.

Life here isn't as bad as people say it is. True that Hobart is quiet and practically a ghost town by 5-6pm.. and it's cold most of the time (hasn't reached 0 degrees yet, tho it's winter). There isn't a lot to do if you are a city boy/girl. If you're used to being in KL, then coming down here would take a bit of adjusting. There's only one or 2 malls and they're only 2 or 3 stories high.

Pic of Elizabeth Street Mall. Okay... not a good pic... It's all i got :P

Nightlife? There's a couple of clubs around but none of us IMU peeps go (though i went twice just for the experience and free beer).

Cinema? I havn't been there yet.. So i've missed all the movies this year (Damnit.. i wanna watch Batman).

What is there to do here? Well... they call this "The Natural State" for a reason... and it's not only because of the Tassy Devils (which are dying at a remarkable rate, thanks to cancer). There are lots of places to go for the scenary, bushwalking, and hiking. Lots of national parks to go to. I'm hoping the 3 years here will be enough for me to cover the state. Port Arthur is a good place to go too. It's historical for being the settlement for convicts transferred from Europe (the British i guess). They maintain/restore quite a few places there, though much of the big buildings are empty.

If anyone wants to come here for a holiday, i wouldn't mind playing tour guide :) Driving around here is pretty alright. You get to avoid animals (live and dead) when you're travelling out of town.

P.s. Pics/posts on my travelling around Tas are on my blog.. too lazy to repost it here.

8 months on

2008-08-07T18:36:00.001+08:00

"Hey dudes and dudettes,
I'm leaving soon! All the best!"

went the sms that I received 2 weeks ago from mus. As silly as it sounds (yeah man, mus... "dudettes"?), there was something about the message that struck me unlike the other goodbyes before this. M205 has moved on.

Two and a half years rushed by like that.

The last lecture we had together

Back then, Praseong were still a couple. Siau wore bling blings around his neck.

Things have never been the same.

No more 2 hours of lecture and kamikazebbqwthshizukani after that (Outsiders: I really meant studying).
No more CGs at PBL rooms.
No more PBLs.
No more pseudo-escalator stairs.
No more Sun newspaper.
No more "staying awake" at the back of LT.
No more Sri Emas cafeteria (Thank God).
No more 5 minutes walk to Vista.
Friends are no longer a stone's throw away.
No Sri Petaling Chow Toufu (Ivy!!!!!)
No more jogging @ 9 loops lake.
No more air-con wherever we go.
No more pseudo-patients!
No more posters and videos to make (personal).
No more trying to study in the library but end up surfing websites at the e-lab.

I do appreciate the time we spent together. The jogs, the CGs, the chit-chats, the lame jokes, the cyber-cafe sessions, the game, the education et cetera.

Friends, how are you guys getting on?

thon glaikit laddie amang the mons isna daft efter a'

2008-08-02T08:01:00.020+08:00

2 weeks into the bridging course in University of Dundee Medical School, can't say we've really learned much haha. Most are just 1.5 hour lectures on the overview on the different specialties - Cardiology, Orthopaedics, O&G, and the like.

And of course there's also the much boredom-inducing communication skills class. Which is actually an English class in disguise. We learned how to restructure questions. And 'British' colloquial slang words mean, like awesome, loo, wee, take a hike, pissed off, bimbo, fag. Yawns. Imagine 2 hours, twice a week on that. Swear we almost asked for a refund. Haha.

Anyway that wasn't the thing i wanted to blog about here. Well, earlier yesterday, we had a clinical skills class on history taking. 3 SPs, 3 cases. Here's what one of the doctors told us about her view.

The way we take the history of the patient, is bombarding the patient with all sorts of questions, and then sifting through the HUGE load of answers trying to figure out what is wrong.

The way they take the history of the patient, is trying to figure out what is wrong while asking the questions. Sifting through the patient's answers, while asking relevant questions to rule in/out the differential diagnoses they thought of. Sort of making arguments for or against the diagnoses in their mind.

So how did they go about taking history?

Look at the presenting complaint in three ways:
1. Anatomy
2. Systems
3. Disease Mechanism

Let's say the patient has right upper quadrant pain in the abdomen. Looking at the anatomy, it might be the liver, gallbladder, lung, kidney, colon.

A patient with bilateral ankle swelling, looking at systems, it might be CVS or Renal. By disease mechanism, you might want to think what can cause the swelling? Proteinuria?

Another helpful tip is how to come up with differential diagnosis. Remember:

VINDICATE
Vascular
Infection/Inflammatory
Neoplasm
Drugs/Degenerative
Idiopathic
Congenital
Autoimmune
Trauma
Endocrine/Environment

Using this mnemonic, the causes of the symptoms can be easily figured out. For example, glomerulopathy. Infection, drugs, autoimmune, endocrine?

Hope this helps in taking histories. Happy talking to patients! (:

ps - the title is in Dundonian, the local Dundee slang. haha have fun figuring it out :P

Spark of the day

2008-07-17T12:25:00.001+08:00

While testing for vibration sensation (getaran) using a tuning fork.

"Cik, ada rasa gementar tak?"
-anonymous-

a lil update here, a lil update there - links updated!

2008-04-27T17:27:00.004+08:00

This blog can be classified as dead anyway. Haha. Since i haven't start my clinical phase which means i should have the most time of all the contributors.. i'll just put up this sorry excuse for a post.

The links to fellow M205-ians are updated!

Welcome our newest blogger batchmates Jackie Liew (tall Jackie aha) and Chee Mei! Also some of the bloggers have changed their blog URLs and i've updated them accordingly, namely Sebby, Keat How, the CH sisters Chui Han and Chia Huan, Yunny Hunny Bunny, M205's best speaker Pwasad, self-proclaimed leng zhai Chow Chow, and not forgetting not-the-other-Gary Gary Chia :)

Meanwhile feast your eyes on these picture updates by our fellow batchmates all over the globe :)

Jeremy Nunis hiking in Tasmania

Chia Huan celebrating Easter holidays in Melbourne

Chui Han clubbing in Perth

Yun and Fish going around Adelaide and Sydney

Chow, Nurliana, Wei Ming, Juliana going to Kapiti Coast and Botanic Garden in kiwi-land

Sebby, Bmed-ians and the Infinity Milers being leeched at Gunung Hantu Besar

Till next update, ta!

the end of a journey is the start of another

2008-01-09T00:51:00.000+08:00

This is it.

It's the end of our 2.5 years in IMU.

Good times, bad times, we've had it all.

Orientation, IMU Cup, EOS, CSU, PBL, MMS, we've been thru all.

Cheers to every M205ians..

..and hope this Friday will be a happy day for us all =)

ps - pray hard for those who got into the VIVA list!

pps - will be giving this blog a whole new makeover soon. perhaps a new chatbox since the current one doesn't update by itself.

and i feel like Rapunzel

2007-12-22T12:28:00.002+08:00

Ever wondered what it feels like to be Rapunzel?

To be locked-up in a room, only out to clear your bowel?

Strangely enough, i could have been living in her lair

Albeit without the golden stair made from her hair

But one day, when i have amassed enough lecture notes

I'm gonna tie them together and throw out my window a rope

And off to freedom, only to realise with a thunk

It's EOS in 9 days, and stop reading this junk
senaiboy (1986-present)

plagiarised from my blog.

I would like to dedicate this inspiring poem to my fellow batchmates. Haha :P.

Good luck for EOS guys and gals! And a Merry Christmas! And Happy New Year! And Happy Chinese New Year! And Happy Birthday (whenever yours is)!

matching results out! (updated after second matching)

2007-11-04T11:40:00.000+08:00

Not that everyone don't know anyway =.=". Haha. Anyway just to update this blog, i think i'll just post here who's going where. Please help add whoever i did not include here =) (and confirm them too. help needed to update after appeals)

[+/-] show/hide Australia list

University of Adelaide, Oz
Roshini
Sien Loong (Fish)
Thinesh
Timothy Chan
Yeap

University of Melbourne, Oz
Arvind Puri
Chia Huan
Dharma
Eleanor
Fabian Chiong
Linda
Sonali

University of Newcastle, Oz
Alvin Beng
Jae Mie

University of New South Wales, Oz
Ee Leen
Yun

University of Tasmania, Oz
Fatin
Jeremy Nunis
Joanne Chew
Kang Ler

University of Western Australia, Oz
Chui Han
Daphne Li

University of Queensland, Oz (confirmation needed)
Devi
Priya

BioMedical Science, IMU (University of Queensland, Oz - 2009)
Alexander Tiong
Alvin Quah
Irshad
Jack
Jaslyn
Patrick Chan
Shao Yang
Shin Yee
Siau Ying
Yu Ling

[+/-] show/hide New Zealand list

University of Auckland, NZ
Danny
Florence
Jamie
Kalpana
May Ee
Pamela
Rahel

University of Otago, NZ
Chow Chow
Jimi
Liana
Wei Ming

[+/-] show/hide Canada list

University of Calgary, Canada
Hafiz
Mustaqim

University of Dalhousie, Canada
Shin Yin
Shu Shan
Smarika (Bob)

University of Memorial, Canada
Hazwani
Karbela

[+/-] show/hide Ireland list

University of Galway, Ireland

[+/-] show/hide UK list

University of Aberdeen, UK
Deborah Chew
Fabian Lee
Jackie Liew
Karl King
Kong Fui
Lydia
Sue Ann

University of Dundee, UK
Hui Suan
Hwee Hong
Siaw
Wai Kian
Zameer

University of Edinburgh, UK
Benjamin Ng
Chee Mei
Ivy Ang
Prasad
Sarah

University of Glasgow, UK
Alfred
Li Li
Li Ying
Yew Wen
Zoe

University of Keele, UK
Jason

University of Leeds, UK

University of Leicester, UK

University of Liverpool, UK
Hui Lin
Li Shan

University of Manchester, UK
Aaqil
Fleur
Kee Fong
Jane June
Stephanie
Wilfred

University of Queens, UK
Andrew Yew

University of Southampton, UK
Wei Wei

University of St Georges, UK
Mun Ling
Rasyidah

[+/-] show/hide US list

University of Jefferson, US
Teik Jun
Yin Khurn

ps - if you can't edit this post, just leave a comment and someone'll fill it in =)

Thanks Hui Lin, Zoe, Sonali for your help =)

IMU cup 2007 champions!

2007-09-26T00:56:00.000+08:00

after 3 imu cups, lots of training, lots of screaming, sprained ankles, sweat, tears...

M205 ARE THE IMU CUP 2007 CHAMPIONS!

i'm sure we have many many happy/sad/speechless moments throughout our rollercoaster imu cup experiences, some captured on film, so do share your stories and your photographs for the convo mag! =)

good job everyone!

Profile Layout Preview

2007-08-14T20:20:00.000+08:00

As mentioned in the previous post, there will be a revote in the first week of MSK system. Here are the layout I have made.

Layout 'One'

Pros: High resolution, Personalized, Group Photo, ‘Photoshop’ allowed, Minimal Text, Any picture - natural

Cons: No dedication, Minimal Text, High resolution.

Layout 'Two'

Pros: Lots to write, Extra pictures, Dedication, Background color

Cons: Lots to write, Directed writing, Picture size, Font size, Solo Picture.

More descriptions about the pros and cons will be told before the voting. Feel free to leave comment about the layout design and improvement that can be made but strictly, please do not state your choice here =) Thanks.

convo mag updates

2007-08-11T17:50:00.001+08:00

hi guys!

as announced during the "history of medicine" ica, updates about the convo mag will be posted here. in the coming days, there will be info on how to put up your photographs, when the photo shoot sessions will be and sneak previews of the magazine itself.

just to recap the announcement made yesterday...

1. there will be a revote for the profile pages on the first week of msk. previews of the layouts made by chow (give him a round of applause!) will be posted here so you have a better idea of what you're voting for.

2. please dig out all your photos of you and your friends, especially old, embarrassing and entertaining photos you'd wanna share with everyone else. for memories' sake eh?

3. do consider taking out a dedications page. a full page only costs RM60. you also have the option of only taking up 1/6th of a page (RM10 per column) and you have free rein as to how you want it to look like.

4. ask your parents if they would like to take out any dedications and advertisements in the convo mag.

that's all for now. in the next update...we'll tell you what the theme is! stay tuned. =)

p/s: feel free to leave any comments and ideas on what you'd like to see in the magazine. =)

International Thalassaemia Day

2007-05-12T10:37:00.000+08:00

Okay, so International Thalassaemia Day was on 8th May. But i just stumbled across this on MMR.

Just to quote.. (from The Star)

Health authorities are taking bold measures to combat thalassaemia by urging couples who carry the faulty gene either not to marry or have children.

Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek said battling the hereditary disease on all fronts began with discouraging couples who are both thalassaemia gene carriers from getting married, as there was a high risk of their children contracting the gene.

“Love is blind, (but) sometimes we cannot be blind to the risks involved, so it is important that such couples are properly counselled,” he said when launching the national-level International Thalassaemia Day.

Dr Chua said that if such couples decided to go ahead with the marriage, then the authorities would advise them to avoid having children.

In cases where a child is conceived, the authorities would recommend abortion, although a final decision lay with the couple themselves, taking into consideration their religious practices, he added.

Malaysia currently has 800,000 to 1.2 million thalassaemia carriers nationwide.

We just had this discussion in Gombak with Dr Sasi about whether 2 thalassaemia carrier parents should abort their child. The chances of their kids being thalassaemic is 25%, being carrier is 50%. Don't think we come to a unanimous conclusion on whether they should go ahead with abortion.

War of The Hormones Is Upon Us

2007-04-05T16:40:00.000+08:00

Well, endocrine exam is tomorrow. All the best to us!! =)

Think about it.. No more unintelligible P. Kumar lectures for more than a month (at the very least). Is that not sufficient cause for celebration? Haha...

Happy Easter to those who are celebrating it & enjoy your rotations.. Whee!!

And to all of those who feel a little unprepared for the exam, just listen to the Superman theme song before going to the exam hall.. Its a good morale booster =)

the sem4 slacking syndrome

2007-03-18T11:39:00.000+08:00

so. our first week of endocrine has ended. judging by the number of movies watched, hours spent in the cafeteria talking crap and lack of time in the library, it seems to me that we have all fallen victim to the disease called "the sem4 slacking syndrome".

this syndrome is an accumulation of symptoms like letting notes backlog till the remaining 2 weeks of the system, planning group trips to exotic destinations during rotations, having lunch outside of imu almost every day and spending much more time with (newly-acquired) better halves doing activities that do not involve group study sessions.

what's the aetiology of this disease? is it the jealous remarks of sem5 friends who say, "eh enjoy sem4 ok. i miss it liao."? or the two-month relaxation period we all enjoyed so much that csu lecturers are complaining about our lack of enthusiasm and apparent brain atrophy? perhaps the "sem4 slacking syndrome" is a sort of self-reward for making it through the toughest exam in our pre-clinical years?

what do you think?

*note: lecture powerpoints will be uploaded soon! promise!

updated: endocrine timetable, csu manual & pbl trigger

2007-03-02T10:06:00.000+08:00

oh dear. the first reminder of the end of our holidays is here. ladies and gents, presenting our endocrine system timetable (incl pbl groupings), csu manual & pbl trigger.

here's more bad news: we have an english placement test on tuesday, 13th march. so brush up on your grammar and summary-writing skills!

see y'all in about a week (gah)!

uh-oh

2007-02-25T00:01:00.000+08:00

i didn't test the template in IE. turns out there's no scroll bar in the template if you're using IE. which means you're screwed if you use a comp with a mouse without a scroller. oops. thanks paul for pointing that out.

oh dear oh dear.

change template? or can someone help figure out how i can insert a scrollbar? it works fine in firefox.

revamped!

2007-02-24T15:26:00.000+08:00

hey m205! happy chinese new year!

well, since it's the hols and i have *some* time on my hands, i decided to look for a template for our blog! really liked this one because it's simple, clean and easy to navigate, although i need to add in a "home" link back to the main page and i haven't figured out how to do that just yet.

anyway, hope you guys like this and maybe the new look will motivate everyone to blog here more often. everyone is welcome to contribute...just inform siaw ok?

see you guys in 2 weeks' time!

2007-01-16T03:50:00.000+08:00

No one might be reading this.. but ah well. Good luck to those taking viva in a few hours time! You guys can do it, we'll see you in sem 4 for sure! ;)

Haemato results are out!

2006-11-10T11:11:00.000+08:00

Ok, they're out. Go check your personal email ;)

Good luck everyone!

.. and THE blog shall rise

2006-10-29T10:22:00.000+08:00

Once, there was a dreamer who dreamed.

Of a start of a blog of a batch of a university in some ulu place.

Which may one day be the one thing which kept us all together, close as we were since the days we were ragged silly, when we were all innocent-looking fresh-faced once-upon-a-time juniors.

So we could look back one day, so we could relive the days, so we could remember the friends we made, so we could see.. our footsteps on our journey as medical students to become doctors.

.. and thus, the dream will be realised.

welcome to M205's batch blog!

ps - yes it's typed at 10.22am in the morning. yes i woke up early to create this blog. yes you guys STILL owe me dinner =P