Diary of A Small Doctor

"What??!!!" The Senior Consultant shouted and in that moment of anger he waved his hands wildly. He may have forgotten he had a cup of hot coffee in his hand. My poor clinical group (CG) mate had jumped out of the way but still got his lab coat stained with hot coffee. At least he wasn't burnt.

Why was he so angry? All we did was to give a wrong answer. Now we know that the most common cause of liver cirrhosis in the local population is Hep B and not alcoholism. I am sure the whole CG will remember that for life.

" Wah, your lab coat like that how to see case?" I asked my friend. He wasn't keen at all to go home.

He told me, "No big deal....."

Yup. Its really no big deal. This was the first time coffee was poured (not delibrately) on us but we get scolded almost everyday. I remember my very first day in clinical posting as a third year medical student. The tutor said blatantly to the whole group of us, "You all don't look like you can make it. Why don't you transfer to Science."

Thanks, after two years of intensive theoretical studies, they tell us we are not doctor material.

Soon we realise that the hospital is just one big hostile mine field. You offend the nurses by taking the casenotes when they are passing report, they complain to your clinical teacher. You cannot use the photocopying machine in the office or they complain to your clinical teacher. You do nothing so as to not offend anyone, your clinical teacher complains to the dean.

You beg for the chance to examine the gravid abdomen, you plead for the chance to PR an enlarged prostate and you go down on your knees for a chance to clerk a case of Wilson's disease which despite its rarity is a favourite exam case.

But think about it. Maybe, just maybe, all these humbling experiences instilled some humility into would be doctors whose ego would otherwise be unmanageable. As students we were constantly at the mercies of the nurses, administrative staff, doctors and clinical teachers. As doctors we are at the mercies of illnesses, disorders and uncurable diseases. We learn that we are not TUA LOKUN......

...... but xiao yi shen.

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Dear Australian Med Student, I hope the above can answer some of your questions with regards to why local HOs tend to adjust better to their new identity than Australian grads that come back. We are trained here and we know the idiosyncracies of the system. Whether you like it or not, local grads do show more respect to their seniors. On the other hand, they may sometimes present with less confidence. But what we want in HOs is not to yaya think he knows everything and treat wrongly but to look to senior drs for advice and guidance.