wa laooo… dunno why so shag!

GP posting is sapping away my energy as if it were O&G… and we all know that was one helluva posting (which i enjoyed immensely by the way. heh heh)

GP posting is NOT a posting to learn about diseases, drugs, sophisticated drug-drug interactions or how to calculate yr DMARD dosage for the patient…

it’s about
^ how to build up trust and good relationships with all your patients (and boy oh boy! my GP is really good at it!)
^ how to be a shrewd but humane businessman
^ how to find out yr patient’s ‘hidden agenda’, which is almost one of the fundamental characteristics of a successful GP
^ knowing about all kinds of conditions… and being fast in detecting them. in a way, you’re the first person an ill person seeks help from and you have quite a big responsibility, especially with regards to referring urgent cases to the hospital in the right way

i think being a GP is tough, and the public and medical fields ought to give them more respect and credit for the tough job.
being a GP is not as simple as many pple might think… and not everyone will be a successful GP!!!

first you’ve got to deal with junkies… yes there ARE drug addicts coming to you to get all kinds of drugs!
ooooh and i heard from my friends… some even look like yr typical shopping-at-NTUC-aunties!!! omg!

then you’ve got over anxious parents who bring their kids to you for the slightest hint of a cough and start demanding a whole truckload full of drugs! heh.

you’ve also got those who come complaining of diarrhoea, vomitting, nausea, headache, bodyache, bloating… blah blah blah when actually they are totally fine and merely want an MC.

and of course apart from that there are drug reps to deal with…. all the 讨价还价…

and then….
today…. A PATIENT PUNCHED ME!!! aiyo… that kid was soooo naughty! he had chicken pox and was still running around the clinic banging doors and kicking chairs… boo-ed at me as well. so rude! i dun blame him, i blame his mother. i hope he’s getting treatment for hyperactivity, or getting a good whipping from his dad… he even tried to attack the gp… clawing for his stethy… tsk tsk…

now for praising my gp… lolz… (i’m sure he’s not reading this blog, so it’s not sa-ka-ing la)
He let me interview one of his patients for my second case report today… he has Parkinson’s disease and a complicated psychosocial and financial background. it was a lovely touch when the GP told the patient that he would not be charging him for the consult and meds!

hmmm my gp let me do CME questions today… hehe… and went through how to cope during emergencies… taught me how to refer patients and demonstrated how he communicated with various specialists and other GPs… hmmm apart from that, he’d show us all kinds of non-medical stuff… and tell us all about life as a GP… his family, his children… made me feel very welcome in his clinic. he also enjoys a very good relationship with all his staff, even though he nags and scolds them once in a while… he even gives them exams!

but unfortunately, he has this liking for making us try or do things we’ve never done before…
like, he wanted reema to try liang teh… if she weren’t fasting these few days, i bet he’d make her try kiam chai, kiam neng and kiam hur! today, i was made to try liver (which i know how it tastes and absolutely do not like it! especially in huge chunks like today… eeeeek!) and lung (urgh…) and kidney (omg… luckily it didn’t taste uraemic)… and he treated a whole meal at this famous bak kut teh place….

today, he was rather thoughtful… the first thing he asked me when i got into the clinic was whether i felt better. (i’ve been having a rather persistent cough, for which chlorpheniramine, terbutaline and other drugs did not work) so he took a look at my throat and gave me other drugs to try. i hope it’ll all work out… i wanna be ok by next week cuz he said he wants to give us vaccine.. (FOC somemore… hehe so nice ah rite?)

anyway, tomorrow is an off-day for him. which means free for me too!

hmmm must start thinking of something nice to get him… i think it has to be FOOD… FOOD FOOD FOOD FOOD FOOD!!!
maybe dabao bak kut teh from adam road. lolz…