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Wrap Up of HUSM's Memories
December 27, 2016
Kota Bharu is kinda significant to me. I've spent 2 weeks there in 2014 and this year, another 4 weeks. Not really 4 weeks haha as I went home almost every weekends. Another fact that makes Kota Bharu special is, my experience with domestic flights were all between Kota Bharu - KL (Subang, KLIA, KLIA 2) either with Firefly, Air Asia, MAS. :D
It has been almost 5 days I left HUSM, it feels a bit different when I don't have to get prepared early in the morning to catch the ward round, I don't have to walk from the hostel to the ward, I don't have to struggle to get online. But, I miss the environment especially the students there - they are way younger than me T_T but never mind, I love juniors.
I would love to express my gratitude to everyone I met there; the students, the doctors, the nurses and the workers. Without them I bet my life in HUSM would be dull and lonely. Hoho.
I spent most of my days with my lovely junior, Ika. It's been a while since we last met, but I am glad she is still the same Ika I used to know :) A stronger one. I enjoyed most food-hunting in Kota Bharu with her. We rented a car to get to KB Mall, AEON Mall or simply walk around shops in front of HUSM.
At the wards, I was closer to 3rd year students. Ana, Sameera, Faiqah, Rafidah, Rubiah, Shamim, Shafika, Tasha, Zhi Yee, Hafiz etc. Gosh, these bunch of lovely juniors were so welcoming. My days in the wards were never bored with them. They were new to clinical phase so it was easier to join them with all introduction to short and long cases - just to get rough ideas how presenting cases in Malaysia looks like. I joined final year classes occasionally for more detailed-presentations.
Towards the end of my elective like another one week and half, I met another 2 electives students from PMC - Ain, Adnin. The three of us were free to manage our own schedules, and actually electives are more about our own desires to learn. If we want to learn more, we can join more practical sessions, join the doctors for ward rounds or oncalls, join the HOs to do procedures. Our own initiatives.
Dr. Afaf, Dr. Afiq, Dr. Nahily, Dr. Preet, Dr. Tiqah, Dr. Adib, Dr. Wafy, Dr. Amry. I am totally glad that most HOs are about my age, it was a bit awkward to think how to call them but seriously most of them are so friendly than I can call them with just names. During on-calls, I can listen to their experiences while taking blood. When there's no new admission, I joined them for late supper.
MOs and registrars are helpful as well :D
I met them almost every weekdays for ward rounds. Even though they will not recognize me but I am so thankful to have chance to learn at least something from them - especially about all those mobile apps used to make life in the ward easier. Believe me, doctors cannot remember everything. Why not we just use those mobile apps?
Dr. Abu Dzarr - my supervisor. He works in Hematology (a part of Medical). I didn't meet him frequently as I usually spend more time in general Medical ward - more diagnosis and patients clerking to learn etc. But, I would love to thank him to keep responding to my daily reports.
Rasya, Kina, Hana. Thank you girls for allowing me to stay over your room for few days while waiting for my own room.
And special thanks to my high school ex-deskmate, Dr. Amyny. :D Thank you for spending your off day with me. So many things to catch up and it was really fun to listen to your experiences.
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At the beginning of the elective, I listed down my targets throughout those 4 weeks. Alhamdulillah, after checking back, I managed to expose myself to each of them.
- To expose myself with working environment in Malaysia as I plan to work in Malaysia after completing my study (HO tasks, oncall, ward round etc)
- To gain more experience with blood taking as this task is more likely to be done by nurses in Czech.
- To familiarize myself with common diseases in Malaysia and how to approach these patients, especially dengue, leptospirosis, melioidosis etc.
- To do history taking with Malaysian style - for this one, I have approach few USM medical students to help with the guidelines.
- To join classes for USM students for short and long cases.
Some techniques and approaches are different and I can say students here learn very detailed practicals.
Okay, freshly graduated doctors will start their work as housemen, well we need to admit the word 'fresh' as less working experience. Housemen are more known as HO (house officers) or interns. From what I know, during 2 years of housemen-ship, HOs need to fulfill 5 postings (4 months each).
- Obstetrics and Gynecology
- Pediatrics
- Medical
- Orthopedics
- Surgery
My 4 weeks in HUSM was only for medical posting. In this department, I met patients with diseases of heart, lungs, kidney, digestive system, blood. Basically, almost every major organs in our body. Even neurology patients (saraf) can be in this department as well. In this ward, you can expect the most sudden deaths T_T when everyone need to struggle to give CPR to the dying patients.
Most patients are elderly but younger one is frequent as well. T_T I learned that before I approach a patient, I really need to check his / her age. Kadang-kadang perasan muda padahal patients umur sebaya or lebih muda. I still remember a doctor (age around 40+) called a 50 year-old patient as pakcik. Haha, formality maybe.
Going back to Czech soon. :)
The Five Love Languages We Should Know
December 23, 2016
The first time I heard about these 5 love languages was during my 1st year in Czech, it was during a medical talk with Dr. Harlina (she just got promoted to a title of Professor!) :D I don't remember why she mentioned that in the talk but to know that there are different ways to approach people is an interesting fact we should explore.
Different people, different lifestyle, different preferences, different needs - these make us unique.
'The Five Love Languages' is actually a book (I haven't read though). Based on the author, Gary Chapman, the love languages are about ways to experience and express our love.
- Words of Affirmation
- Acts of Service
- Receiving Gifts
- Quality Time
- Physical Touch
5 years ago, my interpretation of love was more on my parents, my siblings and my friends. Maybe now I need to think about love towards different gender. I am glad I didn't explore much about this topic during that time. I was so immature and struggles to study abroad was more important to think, for me.
Well, at least I managed to apply these love languages on my family and friends. One of the best thing I learned during my early days in Czech. To my friends, I may not know exactly your love languages but please know that I am still trying :)
Quality Time.
For me, personally, the biggest point for myself is this.
To walk home from school with a good friend is something I always love to do, even though I have a bike. Maryam, if you are reading this, please know that I really love to walk with you after school <3 And to my hiking mates (these people keep changing haha), thank you so much for lending your ears to hear my stories, complaints, sharing throughout the hiking trip. Can you imagine how much we can know our friends when walking at least half a day in the forest without any disturbances?
Well, at least I managed to apply these love languages on my family and friends. One of the best thing I learned during my early days in Czech. To my friends, I may not know exactly your love languages but please know that I am still trying :)
Quality Time.
For me, personally, the biggest point for myself is this.
To walk home from school with a good friend is something I always love to do, even though I have a bike. Maryam, if you are reading this, please know that I really love to walk with you after school <3 And to my hiking mates (these people keep changing haha), thank you so much for lending your ears to hear my stories, complaints, sharing throughout the hiking trip. Can you imagine how much we can know our friends when walking at least half a day in the forest without any disturbances?
Besar pulak gambar ni T_T
If you watch The Return of Superman (TROS), a Korean variety show, seriously you can find all these features via interactions between parents-parents, between parents-children, between child-child. My favourite babies are obviously the triplets, to move on after the episode when Song Il Kook decided to withdraw his family from the show was a hard thing to do. :p
Find your love languages - you may have more than 1 actually.
Explore them as well on people you love as well or simply ask them, I guess? :)
Salam Jumaah, everyone.
May you have a blessed day. <3
May you have a blessed day. <3
Kota Bharu, Kelantan, Malaysia
161223
How To Stop Stalking Your Crush?
December 19, 2016
Haha, I have no idea why should I write this post but I think one of the way to make any transformation steps more effective is to tell people about the plan. But, not everyone use this specific same style okay? I know some people don't want others to know what they are fighting against. Well, it is applicable to me as well sometime.
First, set your mind why you should stop having that crush. Lain orang lain sebab and for me, one of the reasons is I spent too much time stalking just to kill all of my curiosity. With time, I managed to refrained myself not to search deeper on someone / something.
I was a really good online stalker. This skill is still inside of me but I chose not to polish it and let it fade away.
1. If your crush is your friend, stop following him / her on Facebook.
Stop following is not equal to unfriend.
When I said 'stop following' means you will not find his / her updates or new posts on your news feed. Ya Allah, that's help me so much. You don't have to unfriend which it will just make the friendship awkward when he / she realised it. Yes, you can just blamed it as technical error, but it will be weird.
Over time, you will ignore all updates and you will not remember you had that crush. Why? Nothing to trigger you.
Maybe this is hard if you keep contacting over other medium but to try at least something should help. Mute your Whatsapp conversation, change the name into something that keep reminds you to stop that crush-y thing.
2. If your crush is a celebrity, remove everything about him / her in your phone's / laptop's memories.
I used to love Kim Jong Kook so much, even until now I don't have reasons not to like him. A soft, gentle guy to women, a tough one to protect women, and his voice omg. I don't mind people making fun of his unique mosquito's voice, it is lovable enough for me to enjoy.
But, I know there was a time when I like him so much, I spent lots of money on merchandise etc. I need to stop. Liking him took me away from doing what should I actually do. Kalau sampai sanggup tangguh solat sampai hujung waktu just for the sake of watching him on online shows that I can pause and replay anytime. Hmmm.
He is not to be blamed though.
I am.
3. Keep yourself busy over other things.
Don't find another crush. Lol. Another cycle it will be.
Go somewhere, try something new that you will never think you will do it. Sleep more, read more, help others. Seriously, from my personal view, when I make myself busy, I tend to prioritize and plan better.
Distract yourself with other good, meaningful activities.
Stop wasting your time and your life.
Honestly when you find some good, same gender friends who are willing to listen to you, exchange with you about their life - don't lose them. One time ago, I don't care much about friends with different gender, I still try to keep my limit (hopefully I did) but the conversations can go beyond appropriate border - that leads to having a crush.
And define yourself what is that border.
4. Think of it as creepy.
Hahaha. And it is really creepy. You are one step away to be obsessive.
My motto is, don't do things that you don't want others doing the same things to you. I am not an artist who may enjoy being the center of attraction. I don't like publicity much. To imagine maybe there is someone who's stalking me too much, ouch.
Kalau lah ada. Haha ni cuma imagination.
This is one of the main reason, I stop stalking my crush. Creepy.
Just. Let. It. Go.
Trying to.
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I believe most of us have / had this phase at least once in our life.
So far, all these steps help me to exit myself from this non-beneficial habit.
What about you guys? Haha
161219
HUSM, Kelantan, Malaysia
What I Learned After 6KM Walk in Kota Bharu, Kelantan
December 17, 2016
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| After weeks of these! |
This achievement deserves a blog post. Haha
I've been eyeing on this route every time I wanna spend an evening out in Kota Bharu. Well, I've stayed in HUSM Kubang Kerian for almost 3 weeks so far but I usually rent a car to go to Tesco, AEON or KB Mall.
And maybe you know it is rainy season now, I keep on postponing my target about walking from HUSM to somewhere else. I don't like to have my feet soaked in wet shoes, but I love walking in the river though. Complicated hidup kau, Nina.
If you read my blog posts regularly, you may know that my main transportation in Czech is my bike, Kelly. Or else, my own two feet. In worse case like heavy rain or snow, only then I would take the bus.
Why Walking in Malaysia Can Be Challenging?
1. It is really hot.
Wear a cap/hat or an umbrella. I love hands-free when walking, so I would go for a cap. But I didn't wear it that day. Wear sun-screen as well and for me, I kept on spraying facial mist every 1-2km. Haha.
2. No proper pavement to walk on.
This is essential if you want to walk. T_T
What I did yesterday, I walked on a 'pavement' against the traffic direction. How to describe this eh? Hmm like a concrete floor covering the road drainage?
3. No proper zebra crossing.
Especially at the T or cross junctions even with traffic lights.
This is the hardest part. Do you realised that there are actually traffic lights for pedestrians at the road junctions? But, actually they don't function well. And for me yesterday, that traffic lights had never turn green! HAHAHA. Since I practiced crossing the road without zebra crossing in front of HUSM itself, yeah I got the pattern and how to use the hand gestures.
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| One of the school I passed by. |
4. Too many cars, too much air pollution.
Plus the hot weather, you need to be hydrated along the way. Too many cars, too many smokes. An important point for me is, if I ever wanna walk like this again, I need to prepare a small, wet handkerchief to cover the nose and mouth. I love my respiratory tract.
5. The buildings are far away from each other.
This may be different in the cities okay. For me, I live in small town where I need to use a car to get to places. There are no apartments, flats, condominiums here. Most houses are terrace houses or something in between. Even to buy groceries, I need to drive at least 1-2km.
Suddenly I miss my flat in Czech where Tesco is just 5 minutes walking distance. HAHA.
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| Finally! Allah knew my feeling when I saw AEON from far. :p |
But, all these challenges give me some good points.
- I know more about people's lifestyle, attitude.
- I know the locations of most government & non-government organisations. I've passed through TNB, TM, Jabatan Pengairan & Saliran, Pejabat Pendidikan Daerah (PPD) yada yada. Not to forget, shops and mosques. Oh, pasar malam as well.
- I can exercise. HAHA. I've been eating so much these past few weeks, so this is a good way to lose some calories.
- I can save money. Told ya, I spent lots on food.
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| Diet ke laut. Bye. |
Gerik, Perak, Malaysia
161216
My Random Experiences with Blood
December 8, 2016
School History With Blood.
1. I think most girls have experiences with blood when we encountered our first period. So do I. But, I am not going to talk much about menstruation here. Haha.
2. At first, I never thought to be in my position today, hmm I mean, on my way to be your doctor. I thought I will not have good time with blood. Well, some people can't see blood otherwise they may collapse. Surprisingly, that's not the case for me. So far, alhamdulillah.
3. I started playing with blood during high school for biology class. If I'm not mistaken, my classmates and I were instructed to perform some experiments with blood. Few of my friends fainted. Although I didn't fancy Science or Biology much before, experiments were what I was looking forward to.
4. No, I didn't have experience with any frogs, mice for experiments. I feel more comfortable to cut human beings compared to all those animals. And I tried slaughtering before, but nope nope I just can't.
* do you know that mice is a plural form of mouse?
No Meat For Me, Before.
5. I stopped eating meat since primary school when I witnessed cow slaughtering for my aunt's wedding's food preparation. But, I return as meat lover when I was in first year in Czech. Wanna know the reason why?
Learning How to do Blood Taking.
6. The smell of blood is irritating some time. With a good face mask, I am doing good insyaAllah.
7. I learned more about taking blood during my second year. I had Physiology classes and during Hematology lessons we need to use our own blood for all those experiments - erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), full blood count (FBC) yada yada. Hehe, I am not sure if you understand these but if you are interested to know more, I would love to explain.
* hematology = hemato- (blood), -logy (study of)
* ESR = how long the red blood cells take to sediment in one hour (to measure inflammation)
* FBC = to know amount of blood contents
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| Example of blood results. |
8. In Czech, venipunctures are tasks for nurses. Venipuncture simply means to puncture a vein to withdraw blood or insert drugs/fluid into the veins. Some patients there allow students to do venipuncture, but usually we do it among each others. :)
Blood and Surgery.
9. The most bloody surgery I've observed was the one involving bone marrow. I don't remember which procedure it was. But, just for our general knowledge, surgeons will cut open our body with the help of electrosurgery, this equipment actually looks like a pen but with ability to cut, coagulation our tissues. So, you may expect clean floor of operation room / theater in most cases :)
In some operation, you just can't avoid blood everywhere.
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| Like a pencil. |
10. Blood, for me is like our identity. Blood can be used to trace lost family members and even for police investigations. In health sector, so many things you can discover in the blood. From red blood cell, you may know if you are anemic. From white blood cells, you may confirm any infections that cause you to be febrile (fever). You can check why you may have high tendency to bleed from the platelets.
11. You may suspect something wrong with your organs as well from the blood - heart, liver, kidney etc. There are markers for them.
Blood Donation.
12. Please donate your blood if you are eligible. Your blood cells will be fully replaced in a very short time, at least 8-12 weeks. But, no worries, most of your donated blood is plasma (fluid) which will recover within 24 hours, faster if you maintain your hydration - drink a lot before and after donation.
13. Malaysians living overseas for certain countries within certain period of time are not allowed to donate blood. Yes, that's me. It is so frustrating to know. Refer HERE for the criteria to be a donor.
Blood Taking in Hospital.
14. I feel guilty to ask patients "May I withdraw your blood?" in the middle of the night. But, that's doctors' job to keep track the progression of patients by checking blood regularly.
15. It is easier to find good veins on male patients, just they complained about the pain more compared to female patients.
16. It's hard to withdraw blood for patients with kidney disease and after chemotherapy, especially old patients - tiny veins. Not to forget, patients with peripheral edema - swollen limbs, so hard to find good veins.
17. You are in trouble if you prick yourself with a needle used for other person, even though he / she may not have any general disease . Who knows they may have one - the not-yet-manifested?
p/s - I am going home tonight for few days break. :D Pray for my 6 hours bus journey crossing Banjaran Titiwangsa :D
HUSM, Kelantan, Malaysia
161208
What Are Your Study Habits?
December 6, 2016
I just returned to my room after few hours ward round + meeting patients + reading files + long case class with final year students here. I'm done for today. Oh, maybe I would consider to join the on call students tonight, let's see. :)
Hmm, I am not sure how to describe what am I doing right now. For me, this is my practical lesson, but people may think that I'm doing practical after finishing my studies. No, I haven't finished my undergraduate yet, let alone graduation (insyAllah soon next year). Then, when I said I'm doing elective (which is usually done during holidays), people here keep saying why are you so hardworking to spend your holidays in the hospital?
Adoi. Haha, saya taklah rajin sangat camtu.
I was a very, very, very hardworking student when I was in school. But, I don't think so, now. After realizing so many things I haven't explore yet, I still put my study as top priority but I will never abandon my time for other stuffs. Travel, hiking, eating, yada yada.
Okay! Let's proceed.
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#1 What time you start studying and how long?
Depends. I am a morning person, I go to sleep around 10-12 am and wake up at 5-6 am. So, I prefer daytime to study. I kinda having love hate relationship with winter, one of the reason is because of this.
#2 Do you stay up all nights for study?
Sometimes. When I need to push myself more. But, I don't like it, as I will be exhausted the next morning.
#3 Any favorite place or port while you study?
On the bed, but with table. Hmm I mean, I put a small table on the bed. Otherwise, I will go to the library or any cafes.
#4 Do you listen to music or not?
Yep, instrumental musics.
Masa study, study betul betul.
Masa main, main betul betul.
Masa cuti, cuti betul betul.
#5 Do you start from front page or back page of book?
Jumble up a lot. Medicine for me is not about reading lines by lines but to suddenly turn to another page related to what I am reading to understand more. I use the back page (index) as page references.
#6 Do you study all of section or just the important section?
Used to read all sections when I was in lower year. But now, nope.
#7 Do you highlight your textbooks?
I love colorful notes. T__T But then, I will get confused which one is important and which one is not.
#8 Prefer studying with a book or you like making small notes which can be carried everywhere?
I usually first study with books / Google / Medscape / WebMD / lecture notes / Merck Manual. Then, I try to come out with mind maps. But, now it's really hard to carry papers everywhere, so offline short notes will be nicer.
#9 Will you memorize all chapters or not?
I've passed my age to memorize things. Now, it's more about how to relate the facts. What should I do with this patient and why? Why I need to do this and not that? Why this drug and not the other one? It was really hard for me as I used to memorize a lot but it's getting easier with time, practice and exposure.
I am still learning and on my way there.
#10 What method you have for a smart study?
Mind maps and a good small study group. I agree with most doctors here when they said explaining to other people is more effective than to study on my own.
#11 How you got your motivation to study?
My parents who are getting older but they are still enthusiastic to teach their students.
#12 Do you decorate your study table? If do, how?
Not much. I don't even use my study table most of the time.
#13 What most important things you must have on it?
For me, on bed I guess?
- Study lamp
- Laptop (for easy reference)
- Notes
- Stationery
Tagged by Siqah
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Obviously, different people have different ways to study.
You can simply say your way is the best one and others should use that particular style. But it might be only working for you, but not others. Some people can study with vocal musics, some simply get irritated with a sound of dropped pen. Some may remember more with pictures, some prefer words and some may need only YouTube to study.
What can I say is, if you are a student, find the best way for you. You can try this study habits quiz to know more about yourself.
Life is all about try and error. :)
Pray for me, haha I need to study now.
HUSM, Kelantan, Malaysia
161206
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