the summer research-fourth year collision

i am at the point in life, where on one hand i am finishing up my research paper and the other starting fourth year. now i spend all my lunch breaks finishing my paper, being the evermore antisocial than i used to be. surprise surprise. don't get me wrong, i loved every moment doing research and love being a medical student. but it's the moment they collide, suddenly i'm in a living hell.

on a happier note, had my first real patient interview and examination today, which a few hours prior to that my mind was screaming sei lo, bai ga fo (i'm so dead). partly because i meant to brush up my interview and examination skills which had gone dusty from last year, and the other part was that i only slept for 5 hours.

but all's well ends well :) had a chat with a really nice lady and got to surprise myself with some clinical skills that somehow survived the holidays. i even impressed myself by getting all the tendon reflexes on my first try *pats head* but sadly it went downhill from there haha

first was when the nurse came in with a cup of tea.

my mind was like ^&*%, first mistake. i was so stuck on interviewing and examining the patient who WAS in the middle of enjoying her afternoon snack. that was really selfish of me i guess.
end result: tea gone cold, biscuits turned soft and nurse is grumpy.
suddenly i felt as if the "textbook skills" i learned from last year didn't matter anymore. what i am currently dealing with is much more humanistic, much more patient-centred than i thought it would be. experience is definitely a brutal teacher.

next mistake was finding the apex beat and listening to lung sounds. me and this rising, unrelenting fear of breasts. wtf. i'm scaring myself. ended up doing quite a superficial examination because i really didn't want to expose the patient. gahhhhhh where are you, guts!!

now think happy thoughts. gold coast. gold coast. gold coast.

ok 12.22am. i have a patient presentation and i am supposed to hand in my revised draft tomorrow. so much for reflecting.