it’s finally the end of family medicine posting (in short, fammed)!
so… um… well…. as usual, time for feedback. haha… or in my case, some self-reflection.
- lesson no. 1
i remember that at the beginning of the posting, i wasn’t very happy with the family medicine timetable and the way things were done in the polyclinic. not that i’m totally happy with everything now, but fammed has taught me to view things from a different perspective. i could tell that all the docs were very happy to take us for consultation sessions, because for once, they could spend as long as they liked with their patients. and they really did seem to enjoy the patient contact. but reality hits hard… and it’s really of no one’s fault (but the healthcare system) and ya.. 6 min per patient…
remember how when we were all kids, adults/teachers/parents would ask you:
irritating adult: girl ah, what you want to be when you grow up?
me: i want to be an astronaut…
now it’s…
chonghei doc: so, what do you want to specialise in?
me: blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah…
at the end of the posting…
me: i should want to do policy work in MOH to improve primary healthcare…
woohoo!
- lesson no. 2
i still think role plays are useless, but up till now, i can’t think of a better replacement for it, so i guess we’ll have to make do. urgh.
it’s taught me this: don’t just complain, find a solution or an alternative to the problem you’re complaining about. if got no solution, then shut up.
- lesson no. 3
the polyclinic is actually a darn good place for management of chronic problems. take for example, a diabetic… at the polyclinic, in just one visit, you can complete the following:
- see the doctor
- see the health counsellor: that’s the nurse practitioner who’ll give you advice on diet, exercise, footcare, medication, injection technique, teach you about diabetes, how to manage hypoglycaemic attacks…
- get yr foot screening done
- get yr diabetic retinal photography taken
- get your blood tests, urine tests done
- you pay: 8 bux for consultation, 1.40 per wk per type of medication, cheaper insulin, subsidised syringes, and your blood/urine investigations are capped at a max of er i can’t rem how much… but yr consultation ($8 and your tests cost do not exceed 15/25 dollars… cool rite?
you can either go one wk before your scheduled appt with the doc to get yr tests done (so that results will be available on the day of your clinic visit) or you can choose to review your results at your next follow-up appointment.
this is compared to the management at the hospital.
1. you have a separate appointment with the health counsellor
2. you have a separate day appointment for your retinal photography (usu 1 wk before your clinic visit)
3. you have to go one wk earlier to do your blood tests
4. you pay so much more! (abt 60bux for f/u with the doc, 10bux or so for medicine, and more if u’re on insulin… 12bux for retinal photography and 70 over to 100bux for your lipid/blood tests…
yeah and i would also like to express my appreciation towards all the docs of Bt. Merah Polyclinic for their enthusiasm in teaching us, their creative approaches (they tried to make their 5-hr long tutorials as interesting and interactive as possible) as well as their understanding. :D
