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Tuesday, October 5, 2010

“Beauty and Madness”

First day notes.

First day on the job…

Well, not really, because although it's the first day, we were not at all pressured, and we didn't have official "jobs" yet.

It was as "physiologic" as possible, perhaps one of the best orientations I've ever had.

J

Ok, so I've recently been accepted into the pre-residency program of a training institution here in Manila. It's a coveted job, and being so, it's going to be a heartbreaker, because there are 5 of us doing pre-residency, but only 4 will be accepted for the real thing. (It's a bit unfair, but hey, life's like that they say.) We were told that since this was the case, every little thing we do counts (e.g. we're "evaluated" in everything we do, starting with the exam we took two weeks ago), and we will all be graded according to how we perform. ß Which means, top 4 people in the list get in, number 5 gets to go home a la Survivor, although not as ruthlessly, of course.

The chief resident was really cool. She was, "physiologic", but really busy. She seemed to have a lot of things happening, but she still managed to make everything flow smoothly, and effortlessly. Apart from all the macro-management she has to do regarding the schedules of the undergrad (she arranges schedules with the medical students), the consultants, and us, pre-residents. On top of that, she is also organizing the post-graduate conference that's happening next week.

…where, we were told, the motif was Aqua Blue (perhaps this is the only pressure on us for week, to find an aqua blue outfit, because everyone in the organizing team has to wear aqua blue. haha:-p)

(Like I always say…it's, "No Biggie". J)

The title for this entry was copied off Fra Lippo Lippi's song of the same title. I got the idea from the post-graduate conference poster, which was going to focus on "beauty and the mind", psychosocial aspects of aesthetics, mostly. One of my group mates asked if Vicky Belo was going to give one of the lectures. Hehe, no, she wasn't, but hey, it was interesting enough anyway.

She gave us our schedules (arranged down to hourly activities, of course J) and gave us a tour around the hospital, to places where we'd be frequenting. The ER, the OPD, the Ambulatory Unit, other wards. When we were there, the ER was quite the bedlam (as to be expected, with everything happening all at once), and it was quite hot inside (especially at the Surgery section). It reminded me of my year as a clinical clerk, when you had "first touch" in everything. Well, this was pretty much the same thing, but then what I saw seemed 3x more busy. It looked like a tough job.

(Anyway, she said that most of the referrals from the surgery section usually were of patients who ingested toxic substances, most common being silver jewelry cleaner (according to Mer, one of my groupmates).)

Quick thoughts ('cause it's almost 2AM, and I'm sleepy..):

  1. As part of the evaluation, we have to do didactics on common psych topics, with a time limit of 1 hour (30 slides), which would show how we were able to conceptualize and present certain topics. Mine (she drew lots in advance) was Psychotic Disorders. I like it.J
  2. I can't speak Tagalog (it's my…"fourth" language, hehe )well. Which is precisely the reason why I have to have my Mental Status Exam translated to Tagalog…and memorized. Or something to that effect.
  3. I'm glad my old school friend Chamie is also applying. It's a comfort.
  4. I have a feeling the competition is going to be on the fierce side. :-p
  5. One of us, is 41 and has an 18 year-old daughter. And has had years in Addiction Psychiatry.
  6. I love my current place. It's so close to where I work. I so love it.
  7. No duties until next week.
  8. We have to present a case presentation at the end of the month before we're done with pre-residency training.
  9. I do my laundry. Well, some of it.
  10. Happy Birthday JoeJoe! Super fun party earlier. Yey! J


     


     

    (I'm hungry. :-p)

Have a nice day. J


 

 

1 comment:

  1. I like that song. I'm surprised you know Fra Lippo Lippi, Sonia. Then again, you knew that old ballad, too.

    Cute post. I could feel the giddy excitement and a dash of anxiety.

    Here's to the start of your new adventure!

    ReplyDelete

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