This Weekend's Walk

I was on call last Friday, which usually meant that my whole weekend would be occupied. I was somewhat lucky this time around that even though there were many admissions, things settled down pretty well by this morning.

I ended up discharging half of my workload on the Sunday morning.

That meant that I could have a relatively quiet afternoon, catch up with some some sleep, or maybe walk around.

I decided to head to Low Yat Plaza. The missions was to have a look at the soon-to-be-released Galaxy S6 Edge. Great phone, but shame about the the skin which Samsung put on on top of the Android standard OS. Minimal this time but noticeable.

Fantastic screen. Much smaller than I thought - after all, I was carrying the iPhone 6 Plus in my pocket.

But it rained while I was browsing and I spend a good half an hour at Starbucks waiting for it to subside. And then, the sun came out unexpectedly, allowing me to take a few more snaps.

Not much else was going on after that. I was thinking about watching a movie but the timings were a bit off.

Back home then for some afternoon tea with the boys and Anita.

Grow & Share Together

Being a good citizen that I was, my first ever physical contribution to the GST happened this morning. Right after my ward round, I went to my favourite breakfast place and duly contributed.

The had a new till machine install to capture the GST portion of the bills which I was sure would help with the Customs payment later. Took a bit longer than usual but the staff finally figured out what to do. I lost my receipt though. Damn!

Where's everybody?Back to the lounge during lunchtime, I wondered what was going on. The room was practically empty? Are there some makan thing going on which I didn't know. Or was it that the clinics were all cancelled and everybody were on leave?‎

The GST is Here

It looked like everything at the hospital had been geared up towards the GST implementation. It was not without apprehension judging by the number of times the Customs Department had been changing their kind as far as Doctor's GST status was concerned.

Our main fear was the public perception as we were now obliged to collect GST from them without the actual GST phrase appearing on their receipt. Devious to be quite honest but that was the directive. The public then would be able to asked for a more detailed bill with the GST clearly stated should they wish.

The law was pretty strict as far as the collection was concerned. And because of this, I had to agree with the hospital system of invoicing. They would handle the paperwork and the collection - plus most importantly the public outcry and complaints when it came to that. I don't want to spend the time explaining to the patients about their charges.

So, the big change started later at midnight. Hoping that there won't be any glitch. ‎

Cake at Jaslyn's

I had to do some errands around Bangsar Village after work on Friday, and after that was done we went straight for a spot of tea. Walking back from the bank, we passed by a cute little cafe called Jaslyn Cakes along Jalan Telawi.

Just a small little shop, mainly selling cakes and coffee as the name suggested. Small seating area but cosy enough.

Not many seats inside

Not many items on the menu, variety of coffee but when it came to food, only what was on the counter was available.

The tea was served in nice little teapots. And the cake was nice enough. But to be honest, it wasn't as nice as I was hoping for. Pretty basic and the price - more than RM30 for a pot of tea, a cup of latte and a slice of cake, it was certainly excessive. I could understand it if the coffee blew my mind, but not this time.

Not coming to visit anytime soon unfortunately. ‎

MasterPACES 2015

I was invited to take part in the MRCP teaching session at Sungai Buloh. I had to give it a miss last year due to other commitments but was more than happy to help out again this year.

The format of the exam remained the same although the organisation appeared better compared to yesteryear. The course also appeared to be very popular, being oversubscribed despite running at full swing for a couple of days.

I didn't attend the first day of the course since I had clinic yesterday. The Sunday program was purely a mock exam, two sessions running in the morning before lunch, and another one after. That meant I had to start early, after sorting out my ward round.

Left really early to get the rounds doneLuckily I didn't have that many to see, being able to stop by at Ara Damansara as well on the way there, reaching Hospital Sungai Buloh before 8.

Got my cases sorted out and calibrated, starting the first run before 9. Time flies as we go through the motion, me handling the abdominal and respiratory station in the morning.

It was great to catch up with a few other examiners during lunch before starting the afternoon station. That was a bit more relaxing as it was about Communications. That meant that I get to sit down while grilling the candidates.

The course went through the carousel similar to the real PACES examination with the exact timing and marking system. The candidates would then be offered feedback both by the examiners in writing as well as verbally during debriefing. That itself was worth the course fee. They also get to hear what a more junior specialist who had been tagging them throughout their stations had to say. Those tended to be more personal and intimate. Maybe their bad habits could be pointed out for future remedy.

Would definitely be attending next year if invited although I had to sort out my schedule first as things could be unpredictable at times. ‎

Going down memory lane, here are the entries from 2011 and 2012.