Insight into ZhaoMing

A 12-year-old student died after the recent Ujian Pencapaian Sekolah Rendah results.
Not too long ago, a student of a university took her own life for a similar reason, but after a while, the attention faded.
What's going on with the Asians? Since when do we learn the Japanese suicidal style...? Is the way of reducing stress really constructed on the correct basis, rightfully and lawfully? Or it is just a game of mere ill mental health among students...?
Certainly, now is not the time to point fingers at anyone. However, if the blame game did start, the first one to be hit should well be the education system itself.
Our education system has become too examination-orientated. I can understand how stressful it is because one's future depends on how well one performs during the examination though I personally doubt both are closely related. Should one fall sick, one may not perform well even though one may have had ample preparation.
Should we use examination results as the sole yardstick to measure a student's success in life? Why are we so wedded or disillusioned to the idea that everyone has to achieve something to be someone?
Every child is special in his or her own way. He or she may not be the smartest student in his school or the most talented sportsman,but if the child has an excellent character, that is by itself worth much more than any number of distinctions. There is no need to compare or compete.
There just needs to be a change in perspective in the way we view success and failure.
As the saying goes, "the difference between a stumbling block and a stepping stone is the way we view it".
More importantly, we need to realise that it is the process, not the result, that matters most. How much a child learns and grows from his educational experiences is far more important than what he gets in examinations.

This is the last day of my attachment. No hard feelings or anything... Just mere enlightenment into the career as a medical practitioner.

1. went to a lecture on diabetic retinopathy in the auditorium
2. the lecture was attended by most of the MO's and specialists
3. learned that laser treatment can never improve one's vision, but it serves to retard the deterioration of the eye due to this disease. (in some cases, the patient's vision deteriorated after undergoing treatment with laser - [50/50 chances of successful treatment])
4. got an introduction to the wireless monitoring system which has just been implemented in the hospital. It will ease the work of the hospital staffs whereby they do not have to go bed-to-bed to collect the patients' data. There is a centralised wireless system in every ward. Guess the people have begun to make good use of technology. A good sign....
5. spent the whole morning in the A&E (Accident and Emergency) ward
6. learnt from one of the MO's about certain medical terms.... such as ORTHOPNOEA ( Thanks 'anonymous' for that piece of info. Appreciate it very much. :-) ) which is a term used to describe a patient having difficulties to sleep while lying flat. For instance, this term is applied when the patient complains that he or she can only sleep with 3 or more pillows
   
7. the MO also told us that in history taking, we will record what a patient says in a layman-style of writing, such as shortness of breath or its abbreviation, "SOB". However, in the examination report, we should use the medical term to discribe this symptom... The medical term starts with a "T"... (haha, should anyone know what the real term is, please do tell me yah.. Couldn't catch properly what the doc had said) - [Now, I have the answer thanks to Joo Ken. It is tachypnoea.]
8. feeling tired after doing some work is termed as decreased in effort tolerance
   
9. I also learned how to stitch up a wound. It's easy really... just three knots will do, but we need to make sure the wound is really clean first to avoid possible infections and to have good stitching skills, sufficient practice is a must
   
10. something struck me real deep today... When I was standing at the entrance of the hospital, an old man suddenly approached me and asked me why was I so relaxed... Shouldn't I be working? I replied that I was going back. Then, I noticed that my white cloak was in my hand... It was the cloak which deceived the man's eyes. And again, the man asked what time am I going to start working tomorrow. Haha, my white lab cloak is certainly a perfect deception... Do I really look so much like a doc? There had been patients who approached and asked me questions... Come on lah... I really don't have any decent knowledge in the medical field. My look can really con people, but it is really a good thing that people tend to think that I am a qualified and registered MO :P

A boring day....
Went to Ward 8
Practically, it caters for aged women.. So, not much of learning could be made, but the need for patience was dire.

• met Christine Tan at the Terengganu airport... Didn't see her around since graduating from high school. She is currently studying in SEDAYA college, majoring in piano and minoring in guitar. A musician she will be. :-)
  
• went to the pharmacy department beside the pathology sector
• visited the various satellites at different floors
  
• learnt that generally, the med from the internal store can last for 9 months, whilst med from external store can last for 6 months only although the separate pure products can last for years before mixing
• that is the main place where private clinics shop for certain drugs
  
• they are short of pharmacists to prepare and mix the drugs
• we were told that the pharmacists' usual field of job consists of monitoring the drug in the patients' blood (using centrifugation technique), preparing specific cancer drugs (using precise aseptic techniques under the laminar flow) and aiding the nutritionists in preparing food for the premature infants which are short of certain nutrients
  
• had a casual talk with the Head of Department of Pharmacy on several issues... The recognition of higher institution of learnings in Japan, Taiwan, Russia and India by Lembaga Akreditasi Negara and Lembaga Farmasi and also the approval of certain drugs, which are still not in the Health Ministry list, by Dato' Dr. Ismail Merican, the Director-General of Malaysian Medical Council, were some of the important topics mentioned by her
• she said that drugs which are not in the list usually need 1 month for approval by the Ministry of Health
• there was a instance where a Terengganu girl was prescribed a drug containing the ingredients of Viagra by IJN (Institut Jantung Negara) as a pharmacological treatment for heart
• the girl subsequently tried to ask for supply from the Terengganu hospital, but they did not have it as it is not in the drug list approved by the Ministry. The hospital requested approval from the Ministry, but was turned down as according to the authority, the drug was not specified for treating heart diseases. Fortunately, there was an undisclosed source of med for the poor girl, who was in dire need for the drug. The hospital management then told the girl to inform IJN to supply the drug to her directly in the future. Again, unnecessary red tape or bureaucracy had almost caused a life. This phenomenon is certainly all too common nowadays
• met many International Medical University (IMU) seniors
• learn about the "Grading System" in government sectors. According to the officers, MO's nowadays will start off with the grade of UD41, whilst pharmacists start off with U41
• a lecturer (Dr. Lua) from Universiti Darul Iman, who was formerly teaching in UiTM, came to promote postgraduate studies for pharmacists. The catch? The university is just across the road...just a walking distance from the hospital. In front of your door it is, according to Dr. Lua. Thus, it will be of very much convenience for the pharmacists to further their postgraduate studies
  
• attended the "Erectile Dysfunction" and "Smoking Cessation" presentation by two of the housemen. The "ED" thingie was not as interesting as expected due to the lack of a good command of English and presenting skills by the housemen. Honestly, Joash or anyone from INTEC with a sound command of English can do a whole lot better than them
• however, the presentation did catch my attention during a heated question-bombarding sessions from 3 fellow Chinese pharmacists. Well, they certainly asked good questions and criticised cleverly with some ingredients of sarcasm
• learnt about Prostaglandin E (ALPROSTADIL) inhibitor and recalled back on phosphodiesterase and cytochrome
  
• "Penile Implant", which is still a new treatment for ED, is not available in Malaysia yet due to its astronomical cost and the lack of surgeons with necessary surgery skills to implant the device
  
• it is also worth noting that one of the pharmacists asked the presenter why Viagra (sildenafil), Levitra (vardenafil) and Cialis (tadalafil) should not be used with alpha blockers
  
• all in all, I had a better insight into the career as pharmacists and the way they work behind the stage though it has little relation with my future occupation

-ZhaoMing-

My 4-day hospital attachment (or rather exposure programme) started yesterday...
The location : Hospital Sultanah Nur Zahirah [HSNZ]

1st day

• went to the admin department
• waited for one hour plus before the officer from Unit Latihan posted us to our respective wards
• found out that the officer-in-charge is my former maths teacher's husband
• also found out that he is related to Zulfadli, a coursemate of mine in INTEC
• this is such a small world :-)
  
• basically, we had spent our entire morning at the paediatric ward and eventually called it a day
• lessons learnt :
1. medical officers (MO) are not rich as informed and reminded by Dr. Rahsdan [that was the first thing he told us when we first met :P]
2. preclinical years are both stressful and hectic
3. the ward is like a chess board. MO's and nurses are the chess pieces; the specialists are the players who move the chess pieces on the board to their likings
   
4. MO's work hard around the clock....going from one bed to another of the entire ward, asking the patients questions, referring to their medical history and diagnosing them with possible illnesses
5. and guess what? The diagnosis is a premature one. They will then have to follow the specialist for another round around the ward, explaining to the specialist about the patients' various conditions
6. the specialist listened briefly to the MO's, asked a few questions to the patients. And there and then, the MO's stand to be either harshly corrected or given a comforting nod by the specialist
   
7. TADA...!And the job of a specialist is officially done after that. The specialist reached for her handbag, gave us a quick glance and said, "My job is done here. But the MO's still have obligations to fulfill. They need to complete their report, do an overall review and carry out every single thing which was instructed by me." OMG, doc slavery will be an issue in decades to come... yeah...considering my personal opinion that the newer generations of docs might be pampered to an even greater extent
8. Dr. Rahsdan told us to learn to categorise things in our medical studies later.... for instance, pharmocological and non-pharmacological. This can be applied too in answering the questions later. According to him, techniques of answering questions are utmost important
   
9. though tired of his job, Dr. Rahsdan, a medical graduate from University of Malaya (UM),still put great efforts in cracking cold jokes (really cold) and convincing us to continue pursuing our far-reached dream to become a doctor... The evil reason behind his encouragement? We can help to lessen his workload. *swt* zzzZ...
   
10. to a certain degree, I think MO's need to have durable legs and strong backs if we consider the hours spent beside the patients' beds. FIY, I had almost broken mine. Thanks god my femurs and backbone are still intact
11. oh yeah, and another thing... one of the housemen, who seemed very anxious, revealed to us that what she learned in Russia is totally different from what is required in the local hospital and that she needs to really struggle now
12. wonder whether Malaysian Medical Council had looked into this issue thoroughly... Really pity the houseman for this. Imagine studying overseas for years and come back with nothing, but the must to start everything for all over again
13. paediatric ward is different from other wards in terms of the time spent on attending to the youngr patients. Blood-taking, for instance, is much easier with adults than children. And, the questioning is directed towards the parents, which sometimes becomes extremely troublesome as they might be unsure of their own child's conditions
    

Okay... Guess that's all for the 1st day. FYI, we are stationed in the pharmacy department on the 2nd day, medical on the 3rd and emergency on the 4th.

-ZhaoMing-

!!!
I actually got all five A's for my Semester II (Jan - Jun 2007).....
Getting an "A" for my PAL201 a.k.a. English is indeed miraculous. (if you take into account of the hassle and stress every student went through in the End of Semester II examination for English)
The letter just arrived at my house today...., the first day of my Mid Semester III holidays... Well, that's certainly another miracle whish is worth cherishing. In fact, I was taken aback when I first viewed my results.
Now, I am practically hunting for a decent camera or rather scanner to show you all my result slip.
If the results are indeed true and not some meretricious tricks which mind can play on one, then I would like to extend my humblest 'thank you' and appreciation to my previous English lecturer for it and give myself a pat on my shoulder. It had really made my day.
However, if the results are some sort of mistakes which are caused by the fragile standardised online system implemented in INTEC, namely the CMS system which is still in its infant stage, then surely, I curse it though it does not agitate me as much as what is experienced by Mrs. Yap.
Anyway, just hope that my future, real IELTS band will turn out to be a good one.
Will post the result slip soon.... But if it is a confirmed fake result, then I shall just keep it in my shelf for years to come....well..., as a reminiscence. :-)

And this is Johnson...! Haha. Sorry dude, don't want to waste any pics... Probably next time I will do a 'before' and 'after' ya. Then, we help the cosmetic company to promote their product. :-)

Huh.... What the heck!!! Study means study? No toilet???

Messy Mess......

Ever Heard of CHICKEN FRENZY???

bet you don't....

I don't understand what it is about either... Just know this "unholy" and unhygienic frenzy involves processing and cooking of chicken....erm... beside the drain!

I REPEAT.... It was done beside the D-R-A-I-N !!!

This RM2000++ proposal was suprisingly approved by INTEC

HAHA... And it was held in Cendana!

Ewh.... There's no other place to do the washing and processing???!

The rest is left to all readers to imagine and elaborate. I didn't even dare to take one piece of chicken that day although I had paid for it.

^_^"

My second semester seemed to be quite a swift one due to numerous festive holidays. Guess I will not be that fortunate in the coming third semester (Joo Ken said that semester 3 is slightly more hectic than semester 2), but I still keep my fingers crossed. Though semester 2 was very short, there were many unforgettable experience, unlike semester 1. Semester 2 was a real good one as it enabled me to identify friends and foes plus all the current backstabbers and potential backstabbers. This is of dire importance because I will certainly know when there is a need to watch out my back from these masked assassins. Just like the culture of “defensive medicine” which is hotly debated, most of the time, I believe that it is better to be ‘safe than sorry’. Johnson, for instance, had experienced a sharp, piercing pain from the words of a backstabber who is supposedly to be his friend. Well, there is nothing for sure in this world and this is a life-long journey of learning.

The classes, which were taught by Puan Mimi, got involved in a fantastic biology presentation, namely “MSS presentation”. :P It was indeed memorable to see future doctors and pharmacists debating. And not to mention, Charles who shot out schematic questions to Johnson which did not fail to stun almost everyone in the hall. Imagine having to answer questions such as “Can you give me four reasons why …….” in a bio presentation? Four reasons translate to four marks. This seemed crystal clear to me. Fuyoh…! Once a scholar, always a scholar I would say. At this point, it’s the time to reveal something about my roles in the presentation. I was in-charged of explaining the methods of male contraceptive method and above all, free condom samples were given out to the badge of excited students in the hall. zzzzZZZZZ… Alright, I know that was unorthodox, but I strongly believed that it would bring better understanding about sex to the audience…. (Well, at least Suhaila did believe so. It was her idea after all.) This yearly presentation was successfully ended with Kien Seng’s melodious vocal armed with his loyal guitar. Opps…. Yah.., Johnson and Charles did sing too. Hehz…. And it followed by a wonderful birthday song for our all-favourite Puan Mimi! I would like also to thank Puan Mimi for her cute Patrick (Spongbob’s best friend) doll… haha… or rather her children. Puan Mimi, I will definitely remember "Structure and Function" in my future medicine studies. Copyright reserved to Puan Mimi!

I was down with fever for almost a week. The doctor diagnosed me with suspected dengue. I had missed many important lessons due to that. Luckily, my blood report turned out to be dengue negative. No significant drop in platelet counts… Ya, the number of platelets is one of the solid indicator for dengue. However, that doctor in Subang charged me RM112.00 for that. Erhem…. Quite reasonable la… That’s the money to earn for someone who has studied laboriously for five long years plus years of housemanship. In addition to another hole in my pocket, I broke my iPod charger wire and it was not warranted. It costed me another RM100++. :S

The first part of the Engliah Speaking Test was fabulous. I talked about the Seven Wonders of the World. But the second was T-E-R-R-I-B-L-E. I was still having fever when I was interviewed by the lecturer. At first, it turned out to be fine. She just asked simple questions which made me feel very at ease. Then, out of a sudden, a tough and complicated question, which required serious thinking, was bombarded to me. My mind spinned 360° at the speed of 360km/h. Time was ticking fast and there was a deep silence. Not wanting her to wait any longer, I managed to provide a simple answer in that kind of desperate situation. As simple as it was, it saved my neck. However, I was definitely penalized for the inevitable pause. Listening test was wonderful as the radio was positioned right on my desk… Could perfectly grasp every word in the conversation. :-) Just got one wrong.

In INTEC, I was very much attracted to a plastic plate with the printed saying of “Procrastination is the thief of time.” Attracted to this wise saying is one thing….adhering to it is another. That’s the problem with me. I realised that I was in deep trouble when the study leave week started. Seven days to go, yet there were tonnes of notes to cover. In addition to my misery, my flight back to Kuala Terengganu was cancelled due to an unforeseen blackout at the KT airport. Duh…. That was the first time the situation put me in such excruciating despair. I had never experienced something as absurd as that before. Well, as the attendants at the counter were not sure whether there would be any available flight back early next morning, I decided that enough risk had been taken and therefore, bought a bus ticket back to my hometown. And guess what….. It was the last ticket!!! I should consider myself lucky in such misfortune condition huh.. There gone one day of my study leave.

Back at home, I became almost insane with my books. I was in total indulgence (drowned!!!) with the river of knowledge flowing from Biology to Chemistry. No time for Mathematics and Statistics lah.. Haha… But manage to cover those during my exam period. The End of Semester 2 exam was D-I-S-A-S-T-R-O-U-S!!! Imagine having six solid papers in one day. It was certainly fast and furious. I don’t know why, but the exam this time seemed extremely packed. Last time, in their second semester exam, our seniors had the privilege to sit the papers for a duration of two-week time. However, much to our animosity, we had to complete all those papers, with an addition of a topic about kidney, in four days time. “FULAMAK!” said Melven. “What the hell?!” said Zhao Ming. “真的是太赶了啦(Zhen De Shi Tai Gan Le La),” said Sun Quan. “神经了(Shen Jing Liao),” said Jane. “我要疯了(Wo Yao Feng Le)!!!” Johnson gave an abnormal grin. “Must control myself already. No more DOTA for one week,” said Andrew. As predicted, hahaha… these were some of the scholars’ expression.

I felt that Semester 2 was my most take-for-granted sem. The common topic tests, especially for Biology, was much taken for granted. Vow not to repeat this in my third and fourth semester. In Sem 2, all my Bio papers were marked by Puan Rita, our A-Level Medicine Core Person. My papers in that semester were certainly destined to be marked by Puan Rita. Hope she would have mercy on my End of Sem papers, Unit 5 particularly, because I knew I did rather badly for that unit. Erhem!!! My excuse, this time, is having not enough time to be fully prepared. :P Sad to say, through historical data (previous papers marked by her) and conversation with her students did not seem promising for me to secure an ‘A’ for my Bio. How ever it is going to be, wish there’s still a fragile ‘A’ for my Core Mathematics and Statistics. Approximately three weeks ago, Yan Ning a.k.a Johnson texted me, saying that my Bio marks was the same as his. He also said that Radzi got perfect score for his Biology Unit 1. (the questions were totally adapted from EDEXCEL Biology January Paper 2007 punya pasal lah… :-( Huhuhu, should have got hold of the papers). An ‘A’ for Biology seems not quite right.. I really did screw up the papers, didn’t I? Anyway, I am still looking forward to seeing my result slip with my bare eyes before I were to believe it. I think I did quite well for my ethics though had a last minute study and studies were hampered by idiotic tasks. This would not have happened if I were a little bit more of a bad guy. I think I have had enough of disappointment. So, in the near future, Zhao Ming will not be the uttermost kind soul who is willing to do all things for his buddy. Heard I got an ‘A’ for Chemistry too, but a not-too-extraordinary ‘B’ for my English. Lucky me that English was not counted for the scoring system of 15. So, basically, if nothing goes wrong, I got a perfect score of 15 for my Semester 2, hopefully.

Semester 2 was also not poor with numerous achievements, though not academically. Hehe.. Managed to win dota matches with Andrew. This brilliant guy had indeed turned into a dota fanatic. Kudos to Andrew! I went shopping in Midvalley, Sunway Pyramid and Pusat Kompleks Negeri Selangor (PKNS) as usual. Jane, Jeremy and I met a taxi driver, who is a hardcore “Bah Kut Teh” lover like us, and he eventually becomes our private driver. Hehz….. Erm.. Sun Quan found his true love.. Oppss… Sorry, this should be my own review. Hehe. Stayed in Petaling Jaya (PJ) for my Wesak holidays.. (Special thanks to Uncle Bee Kuan and his family who were kind enough to put me up in their house for a few days :-) ) I did learn new things from Uncle Bee Kuan, such as the so-called “salesman talk” and the history of PJ.

O yea…, before I forget, on the last day of examination, I were so stressed out that I decided to go to Bintang Walk with my friends (Zhi Hui, PC, Hooi Li, Johnson, Jing How and Charles). Yeah, I was totally wrecked and had really forgotten about Jayvian and Gim Hui's birthday and their presents. Sorry ya Gim Hui! Sorry ya Jayvian! We spent the whole night there, experiencing the night life in Bukit Bintang. I didn’t sleep for 30 hours because I slept at 12am at the previous night. However, it was worth it as I took my first Irish coffee that night. Its taste was simply fabulous. Pure-blended coffee with an irresistible taste of alcohol. :P Don’t be jealous ya.. We watched Spiderman 3 at the cinema that night. Hooi Li and Zhi Hui were so darn enthusiastic to go clubbing. Haha…. Well, along Sem 2, I watched “The Three Hundred”, “Spirits of the Victims” and “Spiderman 3” in cinema. They were all worth a watch. Besides that, I watched “SAW”, “Borat”, “Jackass”, “Lord of the Rings”, “Curse of the Ring”, “I know what you did last summer”, “I still know what you did last summer”, “I always know what u did last summer” and the all freakingly disgusting “Hostel”! Mark my words,“Hostel” was certainly inhumane and bizarre. I hadn’t seen anything like it.

That’s all I think for Semester 2. A wonderful post on Pesta Pantai coming soon.. Be patient ya. Miss you all.