The Roster Monster

The roster monster… um… manger is an important figure. He (or she, you politically correct folks) holds the ultimate power of leave, call and ward/team allocation. The roster monster is usually nominated because it is a thankless job that nobody generally wants as inevitably he (or she, damn you PC folks) becomes the most unpopular [...]

Confidentiality in the Workplace

It helps if you’re able to keep secrets.
Information:
There’s a certain professional image that healthcare workers are obliged to keep, and this image is actually essential to the job we do. It takes a huge measure of trust on the part of the patients to entrust their personal information, to be subjected to invasive and uncomfortable [...]

Biostatistics for Research

J. attended the Biostatistics for Research (Advanced) Course held by the SGH PGMI (Post-Graduate Medical Institute) and it was good. He’s had a little bit of experience playing with SPSS on the basic-intermediate scale and thought it would be useful to understand the statistics of medical research a little better.
Maybe it goes a little too [...]

Less Than Ideal Timing

Hanging around at 5.50pm one day, J. saw the HO on call (let’s call him HO5) for his ward come in. (people renamed, bed numbers renumbered, etc. for the purpose of anonymization)
“Hey man, I’ve just got one case to hand over. He’s in bed 72. Patient with myelodysplastic syndrome, sepsis with DIC (disseminated intravascular coagulation). [...]

Great Book: No Country For Old Men

Aye, this is the book that was made into a major motion picture made especially memorable by a particular atrocious haircut sported by Javier Bardem (creepy!).
No Country For Old Men by Cormac McCarth is a fantastic book with fantastic characters and a gripping plot that made J. [speed-]read it all the way through in one [...]

The Brevity of Life

[Post-dated Entry]
The hospital grapevine is an amazing thing. News spreads like wildfire. So it came to J.’s notice from pathology folks some time back that a junior (name unknown) had suddenly passed on. And that struck a nerve like no patient he’s ever had did. Here was an apparently hale and healthy man/woman who had [...]

On Call

What does it mean to be on call?
“Call” runs on the principle that people fall sick at all times, not just during the 5 day work week, and that things need to be done for patients at all times, not just during office hours but it’s difficult to have the full hospital running as per [...]

Nepal Trip Day 15: Rest Day in Pokhara

Ahh… a leisurely day. Woke up when we felt like it. Eventually, we had brunch at the entrance of Sacred Valley Inn (attached is Monsoon Cafe) which was good… but had no scones to satisfy my craving! Later on, however, H & I shared a scone from Pumpernickel Cafe that was somewhat ordinary. Ah well.
After [...]

Nepal Trek Day 12 (Trip Day 14): Birethanti – Nayapul – Pokhara

It was an easy, comfortable day. Waking up in the snuggly comfort of blankets at 0630hrs, we packed slowly, shaved (parts depending on person in question, cough cough ahem), washed up an had a leisurely breakfast, finally leaving at 0930hrs for a short but brisk walk to and then through the touristy streets of Nayapul.
We [...]

Nepal Trek 11: Ghorepani – Poon Hill – Ghorepani – Banthanti – Ulleri – Hille – Tikhedunga – Makathanti – Birethanti

Yes, as you can tell from the long post title, it was a long day. We would descend almost 2km (vertical height) inclusive of the morning descent with the final destination being Birethanti (1050km), a change from our initial target of Hille. It was the Nepalese New Year’s Day!
We woke at 4.00am and set off [...]