Christmas is over, Chinese New Year is coming, halfway through Family Medicine.
Time is passing so fast I feel like I'm letting it slip past my fingers.
Fam Med has been a welcome breather. I really appreciate the regular hours from 8-4.30 everyday, the time to go home when the sky is still bright, the time to spend with family and friends, the time to rethink my priorities. Really ought to be starting revision for Pros but I'm so reluctant to give up this time.
Primary care is very different from the hospital. They're part of the same healthcare system, and work synergistically to provide holistic healthcare. But juxtaposed together, the working lifestyle, profiles of patients and diseases that are seen in each setting are so different. There are many elderly patients with chronic diseases who are regularly reviewed in primary care, and the emphasis on the social circumstances of the patient is very great because it affects how the patient copes with his/her disease. There are so many financially estranged patients who are non-compliant to their follow-ups and their medications because they simply can't afford it. It's an eye-opening experience to see how different patients in different social settings are managed and counseled. There are a different set of skills to master.
Communication skills are something that we'll take a long time yet to learn. Technically it's something that can't be taught verbally, but picked up through learning from seniors, and from experience. During my case clerking, I encountered an elderly lady who could only speak Malay, and the best I could manage was asking her "ada kenching manis, dara tinggi?". I really regret not taking up Malay classes in secondary school haha.
I guess it's the soft touch that makes healthcare so challenging.
Excited to start our palliative care attachment, I think it'll bring a very different perspective to life and death. I'm rather sensitive when it comes to these issues, but it's a part of medicine that we all have to deal with.
Happy New Year friends!
The rumours that the world is ending in 2012 only serve to remind us that life is short and transient.
In this new year, I hope to re-explore my relationship with God, and become a better person.
