Heng Suay...

In every job, there are taboos that have to be observed. One can tempt fate by ignoring these practices that have been followed over many years.
In our medical profession, a few of these taboos have been passed down many generations of doctors by word of mouth. Personally I have not the courage to go against the teachings of our ancestors after hearing horror stories of those that dared to disobey. Their fates are not pretty.

Taboo 1

Never say you had a good call until you have safely reached home. This is because by Murphy's law, anything that can go wrong will go wrong. Even if your call ends in 3 mins, a lot of things can go wrong. There could be a last minute admission. There could be a collapse in the ward. These incidents can take you 30 mins to 2 hrs to settle. So for that final few minutes. Just keep your mouth shut. The difference can mean whether you can go to the canteen for a plate of char mee before the day starts or having to go hungry.

HO: wah damn good call man, sleep until shiok shiok, 3 minutes to 8 o'clock.
Nurse: Doc doc, bed 10 collapse ar!!!

HO: haha, now pass 8 o'clock liao..... damn good call man, sleep until shiooook shiooook
Reg: Call very good right? So today no post call. Me and the MO gotta go OT, you cover the ward.
HO: ...... :(
You see, sometimes suay-ness can be man made.

Taboo 2

As with all things to do with luck, personal hygiene is very important. The Chinese believe that bathing will rid us of bad luck. The poor HO has to slog through the day and barely make it to dinner before the call starts. Bathing is the last thing on the mind of the HO. Maybe hospitals should start putting satchets of "7 flowers" in the room of the on-call team so that all of them can bathe in them and wash off the bad luck.

Reg: Wah lau, before midnight already 30 admission, bad luck man! HO!! You never bath is it!!!!
HO: ....... :(

Taboo 3

As with taboo 2, you must always change your underwear before the call starts. Same principle but even more potent than not bathing. If you know your luck is down and out, wearing red undies is not such an absurd idea either!!

Reg: Wah lau, sibei suay, just now 30 cases, now 4 collapses and 3 deaths. HO!!!! You never change underwear isit!!!!!!
HO: ...... :(

Taboo 4 (The mother of all Taboo)

You might not have time to bath, you might not have time to change underwear, you might have the slip of the mouth and say that your call is good. BUT never never ever eat any form of Pau, be it char siew pau, tau sar pau, kong bak pau. This is because the word pau also means pau ke liao (Hokkien for taking care of everything). Woe betides the HO that ate pau before his call. Rumours has it that he ended up with 40+ cases of admission that night.
Some say it also means bao as in covering up. This is super bad luck coz in the hospital, only when someone dies do you cover them up. If you are not asking for more collapses, avoid bao at all cost!

Consultant (from team 2): Ok team 1 on call today!!! Lets go for dim sum breakfast and BAO them! Bwahaahahaahaha!
HO: :)

Better to believe than to disbelieve.