A journey with ordinary story

For FUTURE, PRESENT , Ex-HOUSEMAN (Including Houseman who has quit, current Medical Officer, Specialist, Consultant, Senior Consultant, Super Consultant), and THE PUBLIC to understand Recently an issue has arisen regarding our Houseman AGAIN. I noticed this because they appear on my FB Newsfeed. Two good doctors have spent their busy time to give their thoughts and opinion on this. They are quite long, but I considered both articles are worth spending your time for. They touch on similar issue, but from different perspective. If you want to see the response for this post by other people (which some I annoyed with), I attached the source as well. I like them both, and when I have the time, I will share my thoughts later. ARTICLE 1: Kerjaya doktor BUKAN untuk Si Manja anda. *********************************************************** By: Mahyuddin Mohamed (Facebook name) Viral surat komplen sekumpulan houseman yang mengatakan mereka bekerja lebih masa. Ini bukan isu b...

I am still here Not giving up Working hard (Am I?) To pursue the purpose of life, which I am still looking Trying not to live to people's expectations Trying to live up to my expectation, which is harder I am still here Trying my best (Am I?) Hope you are too We are all humans after all Make mistake, then learn the lesson Fall, then we will stand up again It's gonna be alright Even how hard I try, keep reminding myself There are greater force, in fact the Greatest He will  always be there He will always listen He of all knowing Whatever came, is coming and will come are all from Him Only He knows the best I am still here Will always be here I know You'll be here as well

When I was interviewed for new jobs and encountered with people after I resigned,  I noticed that most of them were curious about my decision. They couldn’t believe it, and some even think I might have made the wrong decision. All I can say is, you are not in my shoes. Hence I don’t think other people have the right to say whether or not I made the wrong decision. These are some of the questions frequently asked, and these are my answers to you. Why quit being a doctor? Being a doctor is not my dream, it was my parents’. During my time, when you have good SPM result, people automatically think of the professional career such as doctor, lawyer, or engineer. My family falls into that mentality, and I have taken the responsibility as being the eldest.  I had to quit my enrolment at a private university under a good scholarship, and pursued my medical degree as soon as I got the offer from JPA. It was not an easy path. I did try to drop out many times, but I continued studie...

When you plan to quit, you have to deal with people, either they are your loved ones (eg: parents, spouse, family members, friend, etc) or the people around you (your colleague, neighbours, bosses, etc).  Of course, the most challenging situation is telling your parents about your intention. I will not tell you how, because I am not an expert myself. I will jut share my personal experience about this and some tips. Parents. I think it is always challenging to tell our parents about any big decision. This will be one of them. Doctor is always a profession that people look up to and dream to be.  I bet any parents would be so proud to have at least one of their children as a doctor.  To break the news of quitting being a doctor is like breaking their heart I would say. Yes, initially it was hard for me. As I have shared before, after I have permission to take one week break, it took me three days to tell my parents about my intention. At first they keep asking me w...

FYI I quit practicing medicine when I was a medical officer. Alhamdulillah, I survived my housemanship with no extension despite the lack of passion. How? I just do it. It was hard at first, because my heart not really into it. During the third month of my first posting,  I tried to get some advice and take some time off.  Luckily, my HOD (Head of Department) at that time was very helpful and understanding. Initially, I only asked for 1 week off to think things over and to tell my parents. It took me few days to tell them because it’s really hard when you feel like you are letting them down. However, I tried to find the right time when they keep asking me, how I could have a long break? Finally I took the courage to tell them them, crying, pouring my feeling out, tell them how I felt for the past few months. They was shocked initially, didn’t know it was that bad. Yes, I am not really good at showing my negative emotion or bad side to others actually. I was used to be pe...

Assalamualaikum, Subhanallah (Glory be to Allah), it’s already another year. Yesterday (24 th October 2014), starting from sundown was the new year of Islamic calendar. Currently it was 1436 Hijrah , which means it was already 1435 years since the Hijrah of the Messenger, Muhammad S.A.W. ( Sallallahu Alaihi Wassalam )(peace be upon him). For the past week, I have been hearing stories, Quran verses  and talk about Hijrah in tazkirah at the office, on television, and on the radio. I have been asking myself a lot of questions; What does Hijrah means to me? What have I achieved last year? What have I achieved for the past 30 years of my life? What good deeds and bad deeds have I done?  However, after all of those questions running in my mind, I have realized that there was nothing more I can do about my past. I can’t change them. I can’t change all the bad memories, or undo all the wrongdoings I have done.  All I can do is focus on the present and plan w...

Housemanship was not an easy path for me, and I believe it was the same for most housemen. Yes, we have heard many have quit halfway for many reasons, in fact I was almost one of them. Housemanhip for me is about survival, thus I may have not learnt much, but hey I SURVIVED !! Here I would like to share some tips to survive housemanship J ·       Prioritize you work – Make it a habit to list down your job list for the day and prioritize work that need attention , eg: radiology imaging request, referral, important blood taking. You’ll learn by time which are important. ·       Team work – Cooperate with your colleagues, share the workload .  ·      MOs and specialists are always right – Of course their knowledge is superior to yours, and even sometimes you might not agree with them, they are still your superiors. All you have to do is nodding your head. Remember, just to survive!  J  ·     ...

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 ...

What is housemanhip?? It’s a training programme for medical graduates who wish to work in Malaysia. Currently (as far as I know), regardless from local universities or overseas, all medical graduates have to undergo at least 2 years of housemanship (Latihan Siswazah). Why “at least 2 years”?? I’ll explain later. Within the 2 years, housemen are expected to finish 6 postings; Medical, Surgical, Paediatric, Orthopaedic, Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Emergency / Anaesthesiology. Each has to go through at least 4 months for each posting. **For the 6th posting, the ministry recently (if I'm not mistaken at the end of Dec'2013) introduced houseman participation in Primary Care and Psychiatric Department, apart from Emergency or Anesthesiology Department. This is due to to overloading of medical students, Many names have been called for housemen. I have heard of many things which are not pleasant to ears, but it is the reality. Housemen are the lowest of the food chain. Wor...