Workshadowing In SGH-Mel :)

(Melissa Tan-09S06)

Firstly,I would like to warn everyone that I have no pictures as all pictures are with my other SGH buddy,Arif. I'm really thankful for the school providing us with this wonderful 3 days of experience in SGH which provides me enough information to help me make decisions for the future.

Day 1:Occupational Therapy and Radiology

I was firstly attached to ZiXian, an occupational therapist(OT). Despite the early hours in the morning,she has already attended to no less than 8 patients. Most patients come into the clinic with work injuries and are undergoing occupational thereapy to be able to regain their regular living and even going back to their old jobs. There was a patient who didn't regularly exercise his fingers as he was suppose to and hence got a earful from ZiXian. I was also taught the basic exercises to do for a hand injury and had to make sure that patient was consistently doing it for 30mins. There are also various machines which plays a part in recovery(eg Fluidotherapy). There are also some patients which have mental barriers and the OT have to be creative and flexible to remove this barrier.
The second OT is a senior OT specializing in renal and respiratory departments. What I have experienced was an eye opener. Moving through the wards, I realised how difficult a simple action,such as moving from a bed to a chair. The OT has to regularly check on these patients and provide useful advices.

Its was really fascinating on how the radiographers operate the 2 machines. The program was really sophisticated and the radiographers were kind enough to explain what the numbers and figures were. Moving onto the MRI scan, it was a different story. Instead of using xray, magnetism is used. As there were no patients then,I got to experienced how strong the magnetism was and even had the opportunity to go into the machine. It was really enclosed and very compressing. Fortunately I'm not claustrophobic.

Day 2: Institute Of Medical Simulation And Education

We had a briefing by Dr.Fatimah from the Emergency Medicine. She gave an overview on the various situations that happen in the ER and how mind boggling, think-on-your-toes each situation has to be. Its a matter of life or death.One wrong move may result in the death of an individual.
Next,we were brought around to view state of the art mannequins which can be used for doctors to train and update their surgical skills. We were able to also bombard Dr. Fatimah on medical questions and what to specialize in if we were to enter the medical field.

Day 3: Internal Medicine and Wounds

Arif and I had made our way to Ward 57-Internal Medicine. While we were at it, Prof Surrun (HOD of Internal Medicine) was teaching a group of medical freshmen. What struck me the most was the high expectations which the Prof placed to his students. He expects every answer to be given immediately and more proactiveness. I was also impressed on how he was able to draw diagnosis on a patient just by looking at her. This shows how knowledgable and insightful he is in his field. The doctors there were also warm towards us and even invited us back to visit all of them again.

Next we were also given the opportunity to follow a senior nurse clinician to various wards to change the wounds and check on the patients. due to the biohazardous nature, we had to suit up first. It was really eye opening and stomach-churning. The wound was badly infected till the bone and muscles were exposed. the bacteria had to be removed. As the wound was covered up for 2 weeks,there was a terrible smell.

Indeed,it was not all smooth flowing to be a doctor. Everyone knows how difficult it is to enter med school,how prestigious it is to become a doctor. But it requires alot of commitments,compassion and you must really be passionate about it. As each and every doctor has mentioned to me -

" A lawyer or a broker is just a normal person out on the street,
But a doctor will always be a doctor everywhere he goes.
To be a doctor is not a job,
It is a commitment "

Thank You.