The very kind doctor

It was only last week when I was bugging a GP in a local clinic near my house. Before the posting, I thought that it was going to be awkward, and that the doctor would ignore me at times, busy attending to her patients. But I was wrong. Maybe everyone else was lucky like me, still, I must say that the whole week I spent in that clinic was quite an experience. Despite the fact that there were times when there will be no patients for about an hour, I still learned a lot from the whole time in the posting. The doctor was very kind. Too kind at times I suppose, especially when she ‘belanja’ me burger-daging-special’ and ‘air kotak’. But those were not the reason why I enjoyed the posting (only partly, maybe). More importantly, after each and every patient, she would explain to me what was happening, what she suspects and what were the drugs she prescribed to the patient. Of course, at times she would get those patients who would complain of general illness (diarrhoea, fever, flu etc) only to get an MC for the day. It would be obvious though, especially as the doctor could easily browse through the patient’s previous records. We had a laugh every time these kind of patients come. Like I said, when there were no patients we talked about studying medicine and we compared the conventional method of studying back in her days at medical school and that of mine in IMU. She didn’t believe in IMU’s system by system approach but later on convinced by my explanation. The best part was when she showed me her collection of medical books she used for her studies, as she kept some of them in her clinic. To my surprise she also used Snell’s Anatomy book, the older version of what I’m using now. Overall, my assumption that the doctor would reluctantly accept me as a student in her office is absolutely wrong. Not only did I got to observe and discuss the cases with her, she also gave me the chance to practice some physical examination skills on the patients. The only regret would be when I was not able to see SAKTI brass band perform in Johor Marching Band Competition last week as I was attached to this posting. Nevertheless, the experience I gained during the past one week in that clinic should justify my absence for sure.