In his heydays, he dedicated all his time to the hospital and his practice. His patients adored him and said he was the best doctor there ever was.
He spent little time at home and his children grew up without him.
In his heydays, he was a leading researcher. He gave lectures to thousands of academic scholars. He was the authority in his field.
He had no time for his family and his wife divorced him.
In his heydays, he taught countless medical students and strike terror into them. He made men from boys and he transformed them into good doctors. He was respected by all in the hospital.
He returned to an empty home and he started drinking.
His heydays ended in the blink of an eye. In his last days he was a bitter man and all he had was a bottle of whisky. Sometimes his students would visit him but like him in his heydays, they were all too busy.
He died a lonely and depressed man.
Heiyo...
ReplyDeleteOh. I perfectly understand (ok, maybe not perfectly) this scenario. I knew this person, and we were friends, almost good friends, almost bgr. Then, one night, we chatted on the phone...
"... so, what are you going to study?"
"oh, medicine..."
"oh! medicine? like, 6 years?"
"yup..."
"but why medicine? why not IT? why not business?"
"erm, coz' i want to be useful one day... to be useful round the clock... and I can even give you MCs (oops!)"
"oh... okie..."
... and that was the last I heard from this person. Sigh...
Interesting. I received enlightenment some years back.
ReplyDeleteThe point is. Are you going to do anything about it?
sometimes alot of courage is needed to deviate from the path. Hospitals not only institutionalizes patients, it does the same to doctors.
ReplyDeletesad.
you're absolutely right! And the Singapore bond-BST-AST system is another trap that is laid so deceptively many don't see it till they are stuck somewhere between BST-AST! :)
ReplyDeletesometimes i wish I can practice medicine as a hobby rather than worry about dollars and cents as well....
ReplyDeleteBut it's an all consuming profession. What to do?
ReplyDeleteA few years back, I heard Dr Aline Wong speak these wonderful words of wisdom on a radio talk show, and I determined not to be like your good doctor.
ReplyDelete"Children are your reward. You must take time to enjoy them".
Thank you Dr Wong, wherever you are.
it's not as tragic as that, as long as the 'good doctor' is aware and is prepared to accept this fate in the service of patients. ;)
ReplyDeletehey drrw, we used to talk many many nights...
Dr Bl Og can you care to comment on the statement that drrw made about doctors getting stuck in BST-AST. Future doc here. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteBST is basic specialty traineeship and you can apply for BSTs as early as your HOship. If you are accepted, you become a MOT.
ReplyDeleteNow comes the tricky part. Being a BST does not garauntee you an AST (advance specialty training) position. So you might have done your time and passed all your exams, viola, you are still a MO.
Usually, 1-2yrs into your BST, you should already hve a feel of how things are. whether there will be AST positions available, how you stand against your peers, and most imptly does ur discipline like you.
If you think you can't make it, better to abandon ship, but often we are so caught up and had sacrifice so much, its difficulty to let go.
hmm anonymous is your initials THN?How are you man?
ReplyDeleteI see. I understand the cut-off age for traineeship is 35. Is there an unwritten rule that the older you are it is difficult to get traineeship. I'll only start my HOship when I'm 30. I started late on medical education due to some problems. Typically what is the length of specialist training? I read from MOH's website that it's 3yrs of BST and 4yrs of AST. Will it take much longer?
ReplyDeleteWould love it if you write an entry on late bloomers in medical education and if you know of any people who have started their journey late due to problems here and there.
Thanks a bunch and I love reading your blog.
that really depends on why you started late. to be just plain honest or blatant, whichever way you see it, speciality training is demanding and a stable character is necessary to bring you thru.
ReplyDeleteage is really not that much an issue.
so someone who left for 1 year to take care of her child is preferred to someone who broke down during HOship and had to take time off.
Personally, if I'm 35, i don't really want to hang around the hospital being an MO still. most that age will be AC. As you age, the night calls also become more siong.
If i were you, i will do my grand slam of necessary postings and be a GP. you can prolly complete that by 35 and start being your own boss.
just my 2 cents worth dude
I got on the wrong boat. I guess back then you needed triple science to get into NUS medicine. So I took a different route. However I would put it that my heart was not where my mind was.
ReplyDeleteIt was only a recent few yrs ago that they made changes to the system(adding of overseas schools to the list & allowing double science students a chance). That made me want to jump at the chance. So there you go.
I feel that sometimes a person is tested in life how much he/she wants a particular thing. Nothing should be impossible and I feel that the impossible will take a little long for me. I guess at the end of the day I wanted to be doing something that I loved rather than earning lots more but not having that passion in carrying out the job.
ReplyDeleteI guess it's all about the set of principles and values that a person holds that will decide his future. I'm glad that age is not a deciding factor for traineeship as you mentioned.
so.. what is a good man..?
ReplyDeleteA good man is someone who reads my blog hahahahahaha!
ReplyDelete