After finished my study and
graduated, I had 5 months holiday before started working. I took the advice of many people who had
started before me, to take the time off as long as I needed because once you
started working, they will be never time off. If you asked me how long is
enough, I don’t know.
Newbie
When I first came reporting for
duty, I was alone. There was no other houseman. My first posting was Medical. I
was told it was the scariest place. It
is kind of made me nervous actually, but some people said something positive to
me, “If
you can survive Medical as your first posting, you will have no problem with
other departments.”
When I first went reporting to
medical department, the HOD (head of department) was nice, simple but that’s
not what I heard of him. Then, I reported to the MO and HO in charge at the
medical ward. Damn, the ward is full. As expected, they want to know where I
was graduated from. I met with other fellow housemen, and those who are not
very busy explained to me a little about housemanship and how the department
run. I was told to start my tagging the next day, for 2 weeks.
Tagging
In medical,
tagging period was from 7 am to 10 pm. All housemen were assigned and divided
into 3 medical wards and intensive units. At 5 pm, taggers are expected to
clerk new patients at the active ward (where new admissions will be admitted).
At first, adapting to the
working experience itself was difficult, and then I had to deal with the
computer system (which I was not given the course before like everyone else,
because I came alone). I tried to do many common procedures as possible, such
as inserting iv line, taking blood, and deal with other ward work such as patient’s
review, request for imaging from radiology department, doing referral to other
departments and many more. I rarely got the chance to go
back by 10 pm. Usually with it was very late around 1 am, and sometimes even at
3 am! Imagine I had to wake up early the
next day to start working at 7 am, and the cycles go on. I was
like a zombie! Went for work in exhaustion, unable to rest well, did not
have time to eat decently, and sometimes don’t even get the chance to pee.
Tagging during medical posting
was the worst for me, maybe because it was my first posting and I was still
adapting. After that, tagging in other departments get easier. In most
departments, taggers are working just about the same, since 7 am to 9 or 10 pm.
Second posting onwards, I only tagged for one week, except for paediatrics where
we were required to tag for 2 weeks (1 week at SCN/NICU and 1 week at general
ward). The final posting (Emergency), did not require tagging because you were
expected to be competent already. During
tagging period, if you get lucky, your fellow housemen let you go back earlier
if nothing much to be done. If your luck not with you, and your fellow housemen
are not considerate with you, or you are too considerate to others then you are
going back let than you are supposed to. Even though tagging is tough, it is
important to you can survive
and not make it difficult for others.
Struggle
Yes, housemanship was a struggle.
For me, at the end of the day, I just wish I survived the day. After finishing
your tagging period, you are expected to know how things are run in the
department already. Initially it was hard for me in the first posting, because
I did things slower that others and still
catching up with how to deal with time. Sometimes, I felt like I was a burden to my colleagues if I didn’t
do anything properly. Lucky for me, most of them were understanding
and we supported each
other.
During my earlier time at
medical, I remembered once I suddenly burst into tears in front of one of my MO
during rounds. It is not like I was getting scolded, but it just happened
because I feel so exhausted physically and emotionally. During that time, my MO
was very concerned and we had some talk and she tried to calm me down. She gave
some words of advice and asked me to get some rest. Blood taking during medical
posting were the one I hate the most, especially for coming morning bloods. I
remember my first night shift at medical. Usually only one houseman was assigned to each ward and they were
responsible to take care of the ward of 40 patients, and taking blood of most
of the patient for morning rounds. My time management was suck initially, and I
was not an expert yet with blood taking, and believe me the blood ordered was a
lot in medical ward! Even when my colleagues had come for morning review, I was
still struggling with blood taking which were still a lot left. . Since I took
the blood too late, I got scolded by my specialist because blood results were
not available during his rounds. I only finished my blood taking later that day,
around 2 pm and then went back to hostel in stress and exhaustion because I did
not get any sleep overnight and thinking I had to come to work again later at
7pm. Yes, I struggled the most during my
medical posting because it was my first. I was lucky enough that my specialists
and MOs during medical posting were very kind, rational and good teachers, far
from what I heard about my friends’ superiors at other hospitals.
In other departments, the situation
is pretty much the same. Those positive words of “If you can survive in
medical, you can survive in any department” is indeed true. Other departments following
that were less struggle, and you also learnt a few tricks to survive as time
went by. Do reviews and follow rounds, settle ward work, got scolded by your
superiors and patients, less time for yourself, deal with
know-it-all-I-am-the-best fellow housemen, housemen always be the ones to be
blamed; you will experience it all in most departments. This is housemanship.
This is a the job.
If I want to share all my bad experience during
housemanship, it was endless.
However, as time went by, I got through each day and survived. I started to learn
to manage my time well with the ward work and myself. It is important you
cooperate well with your fellow housemen, and work well with the nurses. Later,
I learn to manage my time well and my goal every day was just to get home on
time. I came to work, do my work as a sense of responsibility to my colleagues
and my family, and then go home. At home, I get some rest, and then go to work
again with same goal; to survive and to get home on time! I did not do my job
because I love it, I just do it because I have to, and because I can. I
successfully finished all 6 postings without extension and became an MO.
Alhamdulillah.......
**This is from my own personal
experience. Please do not compare with other people’s experience because what
we feel towards the job is different and different hospital might have
different environment.
== any inquiry can email me at nukezonne@gmail.com ==