a little background to begin with:
ward assessment - Definition: an assessment of a student’s wardwork based on their knowledge regarding the patients in their cubicle which in real fact, is a weekly ‘review’ designed by the paediatric department to test medical students’ threshold for stress, where there does not appear to be clear benchmark for marking, and where the tutor may appear to want to ‘get it over and done with quickly’.
mon: still early… good, many patients discharged… empty cubicle… yay!
tues: oh, call tutor up to plan for ward assessment… argh, patients coming in! one, two, three… preparing for ward assessments… yours truly had a super complicated case, which caused me to hibernate in the dark and eerily chilly MO room (which is medical-student-unfriendly, because it has the HUGE font sized 200+ words: NO MEDICAL STUDENTS plastered on the door) for ONE hour… diligently reading and scribbling frantically from FIVE stacks of casesheets…
wed: patients getting discharged… students panicking, because that means… we have less than a day to get familiarised with the new admissions!
thurs: 2 more patients discharged! BUT… AAAAHHHHHHHHHH! THREE new admissions! holy! clerk clerk clerk clerk clerk… after lunch… ONE more new admission, luckily not in a shape for us to clerk… then just 30min before the assessment, ONE more new admission!
pengz…
now comes the assessment proper…
R: patient has blah blah blah… (presenting hx like a good medical student ought to do)
Dr: (cuts him off) ok, tell me how would u assess for the severity in clinic and what u would do?
R: blah blah blah
Dr: ok, who’s next?
(all in 6 min or so)
Me: ok.
Dr: (cuts me off) just tell me her problem.
Me: (good, cuz she got super duper long hx) blah blah blah…
Dr: what’s the WBC in her urine?
Me: eh, i dunno (WA LAOOOO I HATE MYSELF! i spent some time looking for the UFEME results but cannot find! i think i must be blind, cuz right after the humiliating assessment, i went to look into the file, and my dear not-so-blind groupmates instantly spotted the results slip stuck on reverse side of the main cover!) ARGH ARGH ARGH. so idiotic me!
But this, this was the creme de la creme…
Dr: who’s next?
student: me (hands over marking sheet to doc)
Dr: (looks at student, looks at form, scribbles a mark in)
then proceeds to say: ok, tell me about the patient’s problem.
us: -_-
