The Throat Killing Me

I'm pretty certain that the problem with me at the moment is in the throat. It was red. And painful. The voice is OK but obviously talking caused strain and raising my voice was excruciating. And I had to examine earlier this afternoon.

The pain improved after some paracetamol. And some fluids. The antibiotics certainly took it's time to kick in. Since the air con in the exam hall was in full blast, I was shivering halfway through. I was sure I was still shaking on the drive home.

A shower and a quick nap later, I was ready to settle in for the evening, but jot after my boys wanted to climb all over me. Better sleep in the study room I think for tonight.

Short Cases

I have just completed a three-day stint, assessing my Medical Students through short case examinations as part of their end-of-posting assessments. 44 students, 3 days. 15 students per session on average, when you have to locate the patients and material for discussion. It was hard work. The main issue was the venue. It was a general third class ward, and there were no proper place to conduct a proper assessment or engage in discussion. It was too noisy and loud. Patients, doctors and relatives were everywhere. Patients were hot and grumpy. Getting through the 15 students at 10 minutes each, even if we stick to the time, will set me back 2 and a half hour.

By noon, everyone was grumpy and the lunch trolley have already started its rounds. So planning was the key.

Planning .... and planningThe main obstacle I had was actually something very different. As I can’t bar the student from entering the ward, they were practically hovering around me, spying while I was performing assessment. Worst still, they had been practicing on the patients I planned to use, and by the time I got around to use them, they were already tired and irritated. Sigh! So, the students were smart after all. Smart enough to make my life miserable! And I was sure you won’t like a miserable examiner, or do you?

More Exams

Finally heading home after such a long but fruitful day. Disappointed that some of the candidates did not fare as well as expected, but I suppose in any exams, there will be some party left with bad news.

So, the part II MMed Exam was wrapped up. Off to HUKM tomorrow for the MMed I clinicals. Will have to be there early to beat the traffic and calibrate the cases. Hopefully it won't be as long a day as today was.

The candidates will only learn their fate on Friday morning after individual marks were tabulated and discussed. Since it will be on a Friday, I will not be able to attend the meeting but will be present when the news about the results were broken. I shall just leave it at that for the time being.

During the deliberation at the end, the External Examiners did remark abou the long day and the element of examiner fatique creeping in. It will not be fair if that were to affect the assessments of the candidates. However there will never be a totally fair exams although some exams were fairer than others. In terms of organisation, yes, there were a few hairy moments with patients not turning up. One of the patient was drowsy with a drug he has taken and was snoring away while another had a weak bladder and we had to call the cleaners in to mop up the floor! There was also this classic picture of one of my invigilating colleague using a cow bell to alert the candidates that time was up. It was a sight!

Exams Ahoy!

A big week this for the MMed students in Internal Medicine. Those who were successful in their written paper will be sitting for their clinical this week. The Final Years also were involved. They defended their thesis this morning and all five of them from my program made it through. Alhamdulillah. Some of them came up with pretty dicey statements however during the presentation, but were able to defend them when pressed. Well done.

I was as usual heavily involved in the exams either coordinating, invigilating or examining. I can only be specific after the exams were completed however - it was Monday today. The big issue we had today was the shift of venue. Over the years, we used the Department Conference Room for the thesis presentation. However, there were construction going on, around the department and the noise level can at times drown the conversation. We thought it would not be fair to the candidate. Therefore, we moved the venue to the Faculty, in one of their makeshift room. The room was still under construction with the furnitures and fittings were still being installed but it got the job done.

Our external examiner is a gentleman from London. A very nice chap and has been here a few times in the past either visiting or examining. He was in general happy with the presentation, but made a comment which struck a chord with me. He made it clear that there are abundance of research to be made here, especially in Tropical Medicine, putting dengue as an obvious example. Made me blush, as at the moment, even to set aside time for myself during working hours were never easy, such was the demand of my job.

I took a few photographs with my phone during the day, which I will eventually post. The candidates will have more exams in the next few days, the important ones being the long and short cases on Wednesday and Thursday. Wishing them the best of luck

Results

I had the pleasure and displeasure earlier today to be present during the announcement of the results for the MMed Part I and II written exams taking place earlier this week. The majority of the candidates passed, and were looking forward to the Clinical Paper next months. Unfortunately there were casualties. A number of them I really did not expect to fail and I really was disappointed.

My colleague and I will be mulling through their marks and will try to make an objective recommendation when I meet them again next week for a post-mortem discussions. The implication of failing such exam was quite big, in the sense that, it forms a delay in their graduation by six months. It can result loss of seniority and income, not to mention denting one’s confidence. I hope those who did not make it this time to be objective, take the weekend off to chill. We shall meet again next week to see how we can assist them to pass in the very next seating. For those who have passed, you may still chill, but remember, the clinicals will be around soon. Before start working for that!