A new start

Yes, I have been awfully neglectful of this blog.
There have been so many changes in my life that I failed to document electronically. Which is sad, because, reading back on all my old posts, I realise that the process of becoming a doctor (and just plain growing up) is one worth remembering.

Anyway, I am currently thinking of revamping this blog, and maybe putting a new spin to it.
Maybe making it more medical? Or making it more of a creative outlet.
I haven't figured it out yet.

Before I do that, though, I need to study...

And speaking of new starts:
http://www.osoyoostimes.com/pMOT/more.php?id=923_0_1_10_M14
http://www.osoyoostimes.com/pMOT/more.php?id=918_0_1_10_M14

A medical career

An article in today's Philippine Daily Inquirer features President Arroyo extolling disillusioned Pinoy doctors and med students to consider staying in 1) in Manila and 2) in the medical field. The proposed solution to their perceived woes? Become a medical transcriptionist. To quote GMA: “So there are opportunities ... so those studying in medical schools shouldn’t lose heart.”

My reaction? "What the ****?!"

Not that I'm belittling medical transcriptionists. Heaven knows they work hard at what they do and it's not easy, given the international world we live in and all our accents. Not to mention the fact that medical words can be pronounced differently depending on where one practices. Which brings me to a point -- medical transcriptionism is a skill in itself. There are courses that deal specifically with medical transcription. Medical school DOES NOT teach medical transcription. It doesn't even teach typing skills.

The fact of the matter is that medical graduates expect to be doctors when they finish. They expect to be directly involved in patient care. Yes, the medical working environment, especially for junior doctors, is not ideal. And, yes, the pay sucks. The exodus of Filipino doctors is not for lack of job opportunity, it's despair at the conditions a medical student graduates into.

A lot of junior doctors move overseas and find jobs as doctors. There are 10 new doctors in the Royal Adelaide Emergency Department practicing as DOCTORS. And being paid at least 5 times their previous salary. I know a few people from my INTARMED class who have moved to the US and are practicing DOCTORS. Yes, there are the ones who choose to change careers and do nursing so they get better opportunities overseas. International medical boards are very protective of their posts and are strict with international medical graduates (IMG). They offer the posts to their own graduates, then expand to invite the IMGs.

What GMA is offering Philippine medical graduates is, in truth, an insult. She is saying that our own country cannot provide for her own graduates. GMA's message is: "work your a** off in medical school, but don't expect to be a doctor here. Instead, there are opportunities for you to be a secretary, and be taken away from patient care. You don't need medicals skills, you already know the words. You can do the job that is ALREADY BEING OFFERED TO HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATES."

Why would anyone want to go to med school?

Read the Inquirer article here:
http://globalnation.inq7.net/news/news/view_article.php?article_id=19561

The Wikipedia entry on medical transcriptionists:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_transcription

150 hour fortnights

I’m back. I haven’t disappeared off the face of the earth, I just disappeared into the bowels of the hospital. Thus I have an excuse for my hiatus from blogging – I was overworked and exhausted. It is the cry of trainee medical officers (TMOs) everywhere.

I had thought that when I got the energy back for blogging, it was going to be because I was going to write about Vancouver. Or about the fact that a good friend of mine from school was coming down to Adelaide. Or about the fact that another good friend of mine has had his 2nd, much beloved and wanted, child. No, what fired me up to write was the very thing that stopped me from writing in the first place.

Today I attended an emergency crisis meeting for TMOs. The RMO lounge was filled with exhausted doctors from all over the hospital – interns, RMOs (resident medical officers), and registrars alike – as well was representatives from medical administration, the AMA, and the union. The RMO society did well in brainstorming 10 issues facing today’s junior doctors and possible solutions for these. After half an hour, another 6 issues were raised. At the end of this, we all left with ambivalent feelings. We had raised issues that confronted us all, some of which we had accepted as “that’s how it goes”, without realising that it was our right to not have these happen. I won’t go into the details of the discussion, suffice to say, the junior doctors of South Australia have too much on their plate. And, yes, we did come up with some solutions, which we feel would alleviate our burden. But are they enough? More importantly, will they actually implement these strategies? And if they do, will it be in time, before we lose all our junior staff? And what will it do for the already overworked nursing staff?

In the end, the consensus was that the junior doctors of today are overworked and exhausted. We are also disillusioned with the system -- our fatigue jeopardises patient safety, and we're told to grin and bear it. In other industries, disillusioned workers go on strike to have their demands met. Morally, ethically, and legally, doctors just cannot do that. I sympathise with medical administration and everyone else charged with ensuring our working conditions are safe and satisfactory. But, really, it shouldn't be the doctors coming up with solutions. We don't have time.

Ultimately, the problem stems from not enough doctors. Not enough doctors = 1 doctor does the load of 1.5 or 2 or even 3 doctors. Not enough doctors = junior staff being asked to fill senior positions. Both combined = poor working conditions. Poor working conditions = unhappy doctors. Unhappy doctors = resignations.

Resignations = even less doctors.

Something needs to be done. But I need to answer my pager, and just can't tackle the big picture. I'm too tired.

Why I haven't been writing

Real blog entry to follow.

For now, follow the links to:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200608/s1705719.htm
and
http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,20000516-5006301,00.html
and
http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,20006019-5006301,00.html

Adelaide on show

Adelaide has come alive this month. People have come out of the woodwork to celebrate that SA is the Festival State.

Every 2 years, South Australia puts on a massive show -- the Adelaide Festival of the Arts and its companions, the Adelaide Fringe Festival, Adelaide Writers Week and Womadelaide (a music festival). It's a period that satisfies my need for creativity -- you know, a couple of plays here and there, sprinkled with an afternoon of jazz, a couple of nights of comedy, a day on the banks of the river watching Il Cielo che Danza (dancers and balloons suspended over Adelaide). Not to mention afternoons spent listening to world-renowned authors sharing their thoughts about writing, politics, and the world around us.


The only real disappointing thing about this month is that it's over so soon. This weekend marks, not only the state elections, but the closing of both the Fringe and the Festival. And there are still so many shows that I either want to see or wish I had seen. Oh well, there's always next time.

Oh, and let's not forget the Cabaret Festival! My sentimental favourite because it was at this festval 3 years ago that I got to see a concert performance of Songs For a New World -- the first complete performance of Songs for a New World scored for an orchestra. I also got to meet composer Jason Robert Brown and watch him in a performance of The Last Five Years! I can't wait to see what this year's festival has to offer...

Viva la vie boheme!

In 1997, Marc (a fellow med-student/Broadway freak) lent me the soundtrack of the newest musical to hit B'way. He cautioned me to put aside all my "straight-laced Woodrose ideals" (his words, not mine) and to appreciate the musical for what it was -- a celebration of life. At this point, I was an avowed Les Mis/Miss Saigon/Phantom/Secret Garden fan, and was skeptical that I would embrace a rock-opera-musical. But I was eager to find a new favourite musical, so took the CD. I listened to it once. Then again. And once more. I was hooked. I made a tape, and wore it out while I scoured the music stores of Manila looking for my own copy, eventually asking my parents to get it for me on their next overseas trip. When I saw the musical on Broadway a few years later, I became an avowed RENT-HEAD.

Fast forward to 2002. Chicago the musical had just been made into a movie. The underground was buzzing about "Rent the movie". I was worried. Sure Chicago was great, the experience of Evita still scarred me and I didn't want one of my favourite musicals to be ruined by celluloid. Especially since there had been rumours of casting Britney Spears as Mimi and Justin Timberlake as Roger. (I still shudder at the thought.) Eventually, those rumours died, and I forgot about the RENT movie.

And then, last year, I saw the trailer. The opening bars of Seasons of Love had me grabbing my boyfriend's arm "Oh my god! I have to see this movie!!!" I was even more ecstatic when I realised that, not only had they NOT cast Britney Spears, but they had gotten back most of the original cast. I just HAD to watch this movie.

RENT opened in Australia on March 2, 2006. The next day, I found myself in an empty cinema, eagerly anticipating those opening bars. Being alone in a cinema was a bit eerie, but the film was not well promoted in Australia. Never mind, as soon as the music started, I was with an old friend.

Yes, director Chris Columbus tweaked it a bit. Songs were cut, some were spoken. Some were put in different settings -- Mimi's Out Tonight goes from being an invitation to Roger for a night on the town to the background for a strip-tease. Also, time passed differently -- rather than occurring on Christmas Eve, the first act extended into the days past Christmas. Tracie Thoms, the new Joanne, has less venom than the original, which disturbed me slightly. I was annoyed that Joanne's and Maureen's relationship was made less pertinent, making Take Me or Leave Me seem like an out-of-the-blue temper tantrum.

But the film still manages to capture the spirit and energy of the play. Another truly enjoyable aspect of the movie is seeing how the characters evolved over the last 10 years and what the actors have brought to the role. Check out what Jesse Martin does with I'll Cover You (Reprise) -- you'd have to have a heart of stone to not tear up during this scene.

All in all, go see RENT. RENT-HEADS, don't go in expecting it to be the same as the play, go in expecting a twist to an old favourite. And for everyone else, enjoy a movie that celebrates life.

NO DAY BUT TODAY!!!

False Starts

I made a conscious decision this year that I would update my blog more frequently. After all, I had started blogging to make a conscious break from the monotony of working in medicine and to stimulate the creative side of my brain. Yes, I am aware that a lot of my posts have focused on my life in medicine, but at least I get to a) write in complete sentences; and b) put my own outlook in focus. Basically, a change from "Pt well. Nil complaints. Afeb. Obs stable. D1 post-op. Clear fluids. IDC out. Drain out. R/V in am."

However, no matter how many times I tried to write this month, I kept getting stuck. And it's not as if I didn't have anything to talk about. How being an RMO compares to being an intern (more pay, a tad more respect, a bit more confidence) The debate about RU-486. The overseas-trained-doctors brouhaha over at Modbury. My inability to make it to the kickboxing class in the gym (not for lack of want, just lack of fitness). French class and the fact that after 4 lessons this is the limit of my French:
"Bon jour. Je m'appelle Anna. Je suis Philippin/Chinoise/Espagnole. Je suis femme medecin. Je ne parle pas francais. Vous comprenez Karly? Elle est Australienne/Polonaise/Hollandaise. Elle n'est parle pas francais. Voici, c'est la musee Louvre." (And I wrote all of that without cheating!)

I think the problem was I that every time I started to write, I got distracted by work, or hunger, or friends, or exhaustion, or, more often than not, I'd get distracted by another idea that would come along. All this invariably meant that I'd abandon the computer and just sit on the couch and watch the Winter Olympics. Ningas cogon, anyone?

My March resolution, therefore, is to set aside time for writing. To not get distracted, and put away all the false starts and stimulate my creative juices. I refuse to be bogged down by the everyday distractions of daily living.