Thursday, March 23, 2006

akawakalakaboom--sorry no idea for a title right now..try to read the 1st word real fast out loud..doesnt it feel great to say that?hehe..

yo there
hawayu guys?did i miss much?somehow the days just whizzed by before i had a chance to notice..i feel like the Russian weather forgetting that it was spring, snowing withouit noticing that on the calendar it's already nearly april!what am i saying?dunno..but the Russian weather doesnt follow human calendars..snow today..a heat wave the next..or maybe in the afternoons..and the nights are still quite cold..how would i know that?read on..
i just finished my surgery cycle..now it's 2 weeks of medical informatics in russian..it's something about collecting, analyzing and maybe later knowing information,like the epidemiology of diseases, birth rates,fetal mortality rates and so on..
good news-it's in the main building, starts at 9am,finishes a bit earlier than 12..yeay!
not so good news- nothing about diseases here..just researching..or maybe there is but i dont know yet..and it's going to be included in our gosekzamen (state exams) on our 6th course/year..looks simple n irrelevent to some of us..but at least we should watch out..the 1st home task wasnt helping..a seemingly impossible-looking task of reading a whole booklet in russian( about 30! pages of Russian) in one night..the outlook seems bleak for me..it seems as if the world had faded..i was suffocating,and suddenly a single ray of light shone on my face..and i was looking up and asking "why?..why?"

hehe..yeah right..other than that, i'm still doing my practicals..have i said before that we have 3 subjects with practicals?- surgery,therapy and obstetrics..
for therapy we need at least 15 patients' cases..for surgery we need about 12 signs(less if you could do 12 hours on sundays etc) from the doctor on duty..and for obstetrics..well..i havent done it yet..but about 6-8 times,can be done during our cycle(which is last)..all of it is formally from 3-9..but usually we get there at 5 because of classes,and there's nothing much to do anyway..it's quite nice,we get tod do real life case studies..we get to see the patients with their signs and symptoms...the most informative part for me was when we followed the doctor on rounds...the palpable gall bladder on this patient,the high blood pressure on that one,the systolic cardiac murmurs on another..etc etc all signs of the diseases sometimes missed when we checked them..i've been there 4 times..and every time-though exhausting and really late- i think i got at least something from it..now i dont really feel like practicals is all about injecting drugs..i did those the 2nd time i went..though it did feel good-a feeling of accomplishment,maybe- when i did each injection...maybe later i'll have a chance of doing it more often..or maybe i could help in the bandaging room..but there might be little chance of that as the dressings are usually done in the morning or afternoon(on the timtable),and last time i checked,it was mostly done by the surgeons themselves,or maybe half of it..
but the most important part of our practicals are actually the patients..we need to know how to write their cases,analyse their data,(ok,sometimes we just copy them,but we learn all the same right?)..i and my friends,n our lecturer agreed that the best way to do it was to see the patient and their data..to see the signs n symptoms for ourselves(sorry if this sounds like Im repeating myself here).one lecturer even suggested us to see the same patients a few times..to see the course of the disease n treatment(for surgery)..
i've done 5 sessions today,i'll need 12..but maybe i wont make it*
since the surgical practicals exam is on the 5th of april- just around the corner..so expect me to be very busy after this..hehe..insyaAllah

*PS:(i dont think they mind...i've done only nearly half but i felt like i've done a lot..and other students have done less before this..but still..i hope i'll do 12 since i like it anyway)....

2 comments:

ifos said...

Practicals sound fun... heh. Can't wait for my turn!

zyryx said...

u will soon enough..hehe..
i just finished my surgery..now i was going to do therapy..but man..i'm just tired n lazy..
meanwhile enjoy that 1st course while u can..
the basics: easier,but essential