AnneC.

I saw this today in our institution and this is definitely one of the posters that I am very pleased to share and actually write about. Yesterday, I saw a patient's relative taking a video of my consultant and myself's interaction with a patient, of course without our permission. I asked her politely about it and I told her that is very disrespectful. Since it was taken without our consent, it must be deleted. I explained to her the concept of privacy and that how she did and what she did is wrong. I don't think she was actually sorry, but I watched her as she deleted the file. There was nothing wrong with our interaction with her patient, and she was saying that it was for their relatives abroad. BUT it is still not the right way to do it. There have been a surge of doctor shaming in social media. Often, doctors are always taken out of context. Social media has become a very powerful and dangerous tool being used by a lot of people to spread negativity or to destro...

A good friend told me that I was more mean the past 2 weeks. I can give reasons on why I was stressed out and well, being really difficult. I've been wanting to write, actually.  Since I have tried eating and sleeping to try to lift my mood, but failing miserably. And I know that the next step is to try and transform my negative thoughts into positive reflections. Unfortunately, no inspiration or drive u ntil today, when I was reminded that it was all about choices.  From the most simple decisions...  - Choosing sleep (over anything really)   - But choosing to wake up and work everyday - Choosing to eat your first and probably last meal of the day before starting rounds. - Choosing to not study (haha)   - Choosing not to read spoilers on the latest GOT - Choosing to act out because you didnt get what you want instead of not acting out  ... To life changing ones - Choosing your battles (wisely; if i may add) - Choosing how to act or...

I realized since last year that my favorite time during duty is early morning at around 2 to 4 am. Probably it's because as a first year medical resident on duty a year ago, those wee hours in the morning are the hours when I get to finish my backlogs, when I get to do the final chart rounds prior to endorsement, when I can start to calm my nerves and let out a big sigh of relief for the final duty hours (which are hopefully and mostly benign), when we are able to snag a few nap hours if we are lucky prior to starting the from duty day. Earlier this morning, as I was about to do my chart rounds prior to endorsement, I realized that one thing I greatly appreciate during these hours is the silence. For in a world where everything has been said, where everyone wants to be heard - we are only given a few moments of quiet time to enjoy. It's ironic how much I enjoy silence and become a physician who deals with people on an everyday basis. Some of my colleagues make funny comment...

It has been a while. And since I am procrastinating for the upcoming exam and I have relatively some time to do so, and I just feel like writing again, here goes whatever is crossing my mind. A year ago around this time, I wrote a blog entry for my 3rd month of 1st year MROD-ship: (see:  Putting things in perspective ) A few days after writing that blog entry, I went into what I can say was the lowest point in my first year residency - it was April 2, 2016, when I decided to suddenly stop answering calls, hid myself on a stairwell and cried my eyes out. That time when I called my parents, my boyfriend and a dear friend telling them over and over that I wanted to quit and that I was ready to quit. That was the day all the duty seniors tried to do an intervention and although I know that they mean everything good, I cannot afford to listen. I was hearing all their words of encouragement but the overwhelming fatigue and frustration on the system that was just too much that I just ...

I never thought this day would come, that I would get to write about tomorrow - my last duty as a first year Medical Resident on Duty. :) Recalling the first few months of MROD-ship, my excited self has no idea of the many many tears that I will shed for the experience that I had. Then come the halfway point where despite being halfway there and in spite of the inspiring words of my seniors and the people I work with, I still thought about and was really into the brink of quitting (which eventually and thankfully passed!). So cheers to today, where we are about to pass on the first call status to our incoming and bibo first years! (definitely mas bibo samin :P) :) So please indulge me as I recall last year's moments :) First rotation as HSP. The first two to three months when we were still 21 (for a few weeks :p) - when we were learning the ropes, getting a real grasp of the system that we joined into. My first of the many ICU transfers and OPD where we get our very own PF (...

One day I found myself crying at work. Again. For the past 7 months, I've been such a crybaby - some even call it a weakness for which I dont really care, since I never thought about having excessively sensitive lacrimal ducts as a weakness. But sometimes, one has time to think and reflect and as for me write my thoughts. That I was able to ask myself - why the tears? Was I sad? not really. Most of the time I like what I do - being a doctor has always been my choice and now that I am here, I don't think it's sadness. Was I tired? probably. And who wouldnt be? After more than 24 hours of work with very minimal sleep (if we are lucky) and the countless and never ending concerns that we need to attend to. Yes I was probably tired. But somewhere in that 6 months of letting my tear glands do an amazing job, I realized that crying when tired wont actually do me any good - it actually delays me from finishing and doing my job that I really try my best not to cry when I'm...

Ive been drafting this entry for quite a while now, I always doze off before being able to post it, hence posting it just now. Almost 6 months and in that almost half of the year, I get to say these words everyday - "Pagod na ako" and variations of it. An everyday end of the day statement, and sadly, sometimes a good morning realization as well. It's probably due to the lack of Vitamin D - thanks to the everyday airconditioned working environment (my cold intolerance has improved significantly). But mostly because, what I've been doing for the past 6 months sadly often, leave me fatigued, sleepless, hungry and frustrated. Fatigued and sleepless from the every 3 day duty schedule, from the workload and the awful load of responsibilities - we often joke about how everything in our MROD world is to be addressed and is most often blamed to the Medical Resident on Duty. Hungry, thanks to the countless of meals missed, our kidneys are also probably diseased from the d...