Thursday, August 03, 2006
Haha, odd eh. Quite the opposite of what I used to feel towards the end. I was supposed to follow a personal tutor around, and to get my tutor to sign my logbook and write comments around this time. HOWEVER, my first experience in clinics proved to be such a disaster that I refused to go for any more if I could help it. Things learnt = 0. Silent tutor. Had to force myself to ask questions (the answers to which I jolly well knew I could easily find in a textbook) . Too many patients. I didn't get any chance to take any histories, or do examinations. So, do I just go and waste my time there? I didn't think so. But this means tutor has only seen me ONCE during these 2 weeks. Uh oh. Most groupmates are taking a break today; I'm going for clinics now just this last time, just to let tutor sign my book. Hmmmmmmmm. I can guess what the comments will be. "Need to see more cases and attend more (useless) clinics."
Just my luck. Such a stark contrast to other groupmates' tutors, who opened an adjacent room for them and ushered patients to them. And me? I sit in a corner like an overgrown carbuncle - a space-occupying lesion, as a groupmate so aptly named it - and behave like a piece of plain wallpaper that occasionally asks questions.
My tutor is ABSOLUTELY NICE, don't get me wrong. I'm just sick and tired of pretending to be enthusiastic when I was in clinics that day - every time a patient comes along, I jump out of my seat, look at the patient's knee/X ray/MRI, but that sweet invitation of "take a look at his/her knee and tell me what you see" never comes. Should I have offered? I'd like to see anyone try that on a grouchy tutor with 30 patients in 3 hours. I end up trying so hard to start discussions by asking stupid things like "I think that is a meniscus cyst?" or "Is Synvis indicated in this patient?"Alas. And BTW, the replies are almost always in single sentences. No such thing as "Yah, meniscus cyst. Do you have any other differential?" or "What are the treatment modalities you know for osteoarthritis?" In Glasgow, such enthusiasm would have earned a distinction in attitude, with the reward being the tutor becoming even more enthusiastic about imparting knowledge; and there I was, trying in vain to engage my tutor. And I learnt from my tutor's previous student that I am not the only one (good. So tutor doesn't hate me) - previous student described the experience as being treated like a ghost in clinics. Bleargh.
Wenky
7:09 AM
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