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Emperor’s New Clothes
29 January 2007General medicine started today, and it seems like this semester is not going to be as laid back as the previous one. The general impression is that this rotation is a lot better organised that its surgical counterpart… and a lot more demanding too! *gulp*
There was an X-ray meeting today, that we were “encouraged to attend”. Since there was free food (we’re cheapskate students) and the doctor who “encouraged” us to attend also assured us that she would be attending, we skipped lunch break and found ourselves in a room of people that spoke a language we can barely understand, who were seeing things that we cannot see.
Someone would bring out something interesting that they would talk about it… and while everyone oo-ed and ah-ed over a particular x-ray, throwing in their thoughts and discussing about management plans, the 7 of us were nudging each other and going “do you see anything?”. After the first 2 patients, I was struck by how similar this is to The Emperor’s New Clothes, only the smart ones can see! Only thing is, this time ’round, it wasn’t a lie for the emperor, it was the truth… and we’re the ones who couldn’t see.
I have gotten to the stage where I try not to think of myself as incompetent, or be upset about my lack of knowledge, since I may have to check myself into a mental institution if I let it all get to me. Right now, the attitude I’m assuming is, “they know because they have seen more, if I know, good for me, more often than not, I don’t. Nevermind, I’ll just have to learn as I go along.” Or you can say I have grown thicker skin. :P
On other news, results are out, I got through alright. Well, I actually don’t know whether it’s good or bad, because they are just numbers. There is absolutely no indication of how the batch did overall and therefore, no way to find out whether my results is above or below average. But well, I passed, and for now, that is the piece of information I should be satisfied with.
on January 30th, 2007 at 2:14 am
Congrats on the results. All the best in your new medical rotation! :)
on January 30th, 2007 at 8:27 am
dobbs: Thanks.
on January 31st, 2007 at 8:21 pm
Congratulations on your results. I know what you mean about not knowing - I only ever heard one diastolic murmur and that was the week before Finals. I’m still not sure if they really exist. ;-)
on January 31st, 2007 at 8:47 pm
Sandra: :) Thanks for dropping by!
on February 1st, 2007 at 11:02 am
Hahaha.. YP, don’t worry about not seeing everything at the start. Practice makes perfect.
on February 5th, 2007 at 5:16 pm
[…] The second week of general medicine has just started and with that, comes the long Monday and the lunchtime radiology meeting. After last week’s experience, I thought no one would go for the meetings this week, but somehow, everyone did. O_o No, I couldn’t understand why I went either! […]
on February 7th, 2007 at 2:37 am
Don’t worry, young jedi. Your vision shall improve as you grow older (and wiser). Meanwhile I find it best to just nod in agreement even if you have no inkling as to what the heck is going on!!!
on February 7th, 2007 at 8:39 am
Jimbo: Definitely! I’ve learnt that “nodding” is the best thing on earth!! heehee…