Spring Clean

I couldn't believe the amount of junks I have accumulated over the last seven and a half years I had been at UM. With Friday being a public holiday - Malaysia Day - I managed to get plenty of cleaning done, and put the rubbish into black rubbish bags. Unfortunately, there were no cleaners until Monday. So, the junks had to stay in the room until then.

Stuffs I need to go through to clear my roomIn the end, the stuffs needed to be carried home fit into this box.And the rubbish went here. And I was only halfway when I snapped this ....I realised that most of the junks were papers. Plenty were also freebies from the pharmaceuticals. Some of them were not even opened since they were handed to me many moons ago. We really could do with the paperless concept and save a lot on space and resources. Most of the documents and papers were used only once.

Time to get things organisedBefore I head home ......I put together the still useful stuff into a box to take back home. And true to the American movies where you'd bring with you a boxful of personal stiff - plus a plant or a bowl of goldfish - I brought the box all the way to the car at the Faculty. Since it was a public holiday, nobody was lurking. That was the plan …..

Working Saturday

I left some documents at the office which I needed for the weekend. So I ended up heading back to the office, which brought back the memories of working on a Saturday.

I remember at the beginning of working in Malaysia of working on every Saturday. A fee months Ayer reporting to work, the then Prime Minister, Pak Lah announced that Government Servants only needed to work on every alternate Saturdays, followed by a year also later, the ruling that Saturday ws now off.

Working on Saturdays were actually useful for my Unit as the headache of organizing the weekend rounds were a lot less, the Saturday Day Care gave us opportunity to see sick patients, and scans and other tests could be organize a lot faster.

I also remembered the dress code. It was batik, but I prefer short sleeves and no tie myself. Usually we had sessions with the Medical Students and usually it was full I banter. The only problem was the traffic to get home after that, that I ended up usually leaving after 2 pm as we tended to get stuck along Federal Highways.

To be honest, I do not really mind working on Saturdays as long as other people does the same as well. I could still get a lie in on Sundays.

Welcome to the Department

It was June and every year at this point we welcome the new batch of MMed students to our Faculty. This afternoon, the candidates for our Department came over. I was asked to give a quick presentation of our Department, the structure of the MMed program, the exam format, as well as the rather confusing on call roster we employ at the Department. All together, we had a total of more than 30, but only 10 would be staying on for the next couple of years as in campus candidates.

Both the Head of Department and the Course Coordinator were away on this School Holiday week. So we had a couple of Professors as well as one of our SLAB Masters student to give a lowdown on the on calls and the running of the Department. That was about it for the Department but I heard that they had a full three days of form filling, registration as well as orientation. Most of the work was done at both the Faculty and Chancellory level. We just had a few hours with them for the time being.

Walking around the Faculty, welcoming the new students seemed to be a big thing. I said this judging from the number of banners we had about the place. They were practically everywhere. I hope they recycle them for the next years as I was sure it would have cost the Faculty a bomb printing them new.

The signs were everywhereSo, for the new MMed students, both in Internal Medicine and to other Departments, a warm come to all of you to the Faculty. The next four years or so would be a busy time for you lot. A lot of new things to learn, as well as a whole new culture we have here in UMMC. See you guys around!

Heavy Rain

The SMART Tunnel has been closed for the last 3 days and there was no sign of it being opened. It has been consistently raining heavily by late afternoon and today, the heavy downpour hit me hard while driving home from my lecture in Kelang. I thought of ex aping early, by leaving the hospital before 4. By the time I reached Puchong, it started to rain and I made the mistake of driving into town rather than endure the carpark that was MRR2.

Halfway in, I saw the message that the SMART tunnel was closed for flood mitigation operation. Oh dear! I only managed to reach home just after six. A solid couple of hours in the car. Certainly not good for my sanity I would've thought!

Sunday Morning Meeting

Sunday. Meeting. Almost a crime to string them words on the same sentence, hence the full stop in between. But today it was different. We were gathered to discuss the conduct of the coming MMed exams scheduled for next week. Since UM was not one of the hosts - Part I would be in UKM and Part II in Kubang Kerian - we hosted this calibration exercise. And it was a very important one.

MMed is one of those exams where the exact conduct at times were mysterious. There was no real syllabus to talk about, just a guide as to how the program should be run and how were the candidates should be assessed. The actual experiences between each individual candidates could be quite different as the program emphasis was in the experience, akin to being an apprentice.

Looks like I need a new Moleskine

Having difference in ways the journey the candidates go trough is one thing, but it was a priority for us to make sure that at the very least there was some uniformity in terms of assessment, hence the purpose for meeting this morning. We went through how the format would be, and run a few scenarios and see how the differences of opinion in the assessing examiners can be kept to a minimum and everybody would be singing from the same hymn sheet. To a certain extend, that object was achieved this morning.

As for me personally, the exam would start tomorrow with me invigilating the Final Year viva. I would also like to take this opportunity to wish all the MMed candidates the best of luck.