The Impromptu talkIt’s the 2nd last day of our posting in Pekan. Today we followed unit BAKAS of PKD to Kg Cengkeroh and Kg Pandan to look at the toilets and proper sewage disposal they provide for the poor villagers who cannot afford to make proper ones themselves. The health inspector in-charge was very nice and answered all our petty questions. Most of the needy people were Cambodians and Kedahans who settled here years ago.
In the afternoon, my group had to go to program Doktor Muda at Casuarina Resort. It’s a school prog jointly organized by unit sekolah PKD and kementerian pelajaran. We had to go because it was our turn to follow unit sekolah. So at 2pm we waited at PKD. We weren’t really sure what activity we were to follow until the officer explained on the way that we had to give a motivational talk to the participants. All 4 of us gulped. Since there was no way out of it, we had to brainstorm on what to say to the standard 4, 5 &6 kids.
My very, very dear friends all graciously gave the task to me. I was quite nervous. The last time I addressed standard 4 children was after SPM and I had time to prepare back then. What could I prepare in barely 10 minutes? I just made an outline of what to say and then began.
Since my outline was so rough, I just said whatever came to mind. I started by getting to know the kids and asking them about their role as ‘doktor muda’ at school. Then I asked about their purpose in life, why they studied etc. keluar lah dalil ibadah, our role as khalifah and amar ma’ruf nahi mungkar. Nganga2 these kids dengar.
Ok, ok, mebe I went a bit over my head in my explanations and should have simplified the concepts but I just wanted to introduce the concepts to them so that at least it would trigger them in future when they hear about them again. Then for practical purposes, I asked them how would they advice their friends who smoked. I guess I may have overemphasized this part because when I asked the kids to give a conclusion of what they got from my talk, half of them said “merokok membahayakan kesihatan”. Hehe, at least they got something rite, although it wasn’t the main point. And they didn’t sleep throughout my talk so that does say something doesn’t it…hehe.
I’m so out of touch with kids nowadays. Gotta get more practice. U just never know when u’r gonna have to give a talk.
8/8/07, 11.30pm RETROSPECTIVE DIAGNOSISSometimes life goes so fast and you are kept busy with plenty of activities and responsibilities that you hardly have time to breath.
When u do have time for a breather, only then can u take the time to evaluate and ponder upon the happenings of the recent past.
Like in labour, the doctor cannot be certain whether a woman will undergo normal labour or a complicated one until she actually goes through all the stages involved. Anything can happen along the way, thus normal labour is a retrospective diagnosis rather than a provisional one.
It’s only been 6 weeks since i entered year 4 but a lot has happened.
We started off with 2 weeks of gruesome forensics followed by 2 weeks of mind-boggling psychiatry. Both fields are very interesting, though the former slightly more than the latter.
Whether i slept in a lecture or not shouldn't be an indicator of the boringness of the lecture because my attention span is very, very limited. If I was younger I could be diagnosed as having ADHD I think.
During the forensics part, we had a mock trial where our very own forensics pathologist acted as the judge. We had 2 real lawyers to examine and cross-examine the witnesses who consisted of my selected classmates. We had to act like in a real court and were not allowed to move our legs or cross them in respect for the court. That was certainly hard to do.
The psychiatric lectures were rather interesting because we learn about what happens when human behaviour or nature goes to the extremes of a spectrum. Take for example the mood; we can be happy but when too happy there is the possibility of becoming manic and whilst it’s okay to feel sad due to an appropriate trigger, being too sad all the time may indicate depression. The alarming thing is that I could identify with a lot of psychiatric symptoms being taught. Good thing those symptoms do not interfere with my daily functioning otherwise a consult with Dr Nora would be indicated.
Another interesting fact is that there are three culture-bound syndromes in which the names originate from bahasa or Malaysian culture such as ‘AMUK’, ‘LATAH, and ‘KORO’. The first two are definitely known to everyone but I doubt that many know about the last disease. Cari lah sendiri. It’s quite funny.
At the end of the 2 weeks we had a test which contributes 10% to our final marks in our actual psychiatry posting in 5th year. Throughout the 2 weeks we were reminded constantly that only about 10% of our seniors actually passed the test. Alhamdulillah, when the results came out, half of the class passed. The most surprising thing was that I got the highest mark. It was terribly surprising indeed. I’ve never ever gotten highest for anything since my matriculation days. It just had to be psychiatry eh. So I’m like the most psychotic student la kan. My effort was just the same as before. Only Allah knows why I scored this time. Maybe I’m destined to become a psychiatrist. Haha, on the other hand, most probably not.
I remember the last lecture of the intro to psychi posting where the guest lecturer started off the class by asking who was the cleverest student of our batch. Of course the sisters said it was a sister but no one admitted to it. The brothers were unresponsive as usual. The lecturer asked a few more provocative questions and the sisters responded accordingly. And then the lecture went on as usual. At the end of it, one brother raised his hand and said he disagreed with the way the lecturer kept on and on about who was the cleverest student and also the sisters opinion that sisters are clever just because they get the highest mark or get distinction. He said that everyone is clever and even the person who would get the highest mark on the psychi test may not be the cleverest of us all. Sian plak lecturer tu. He never intended to make it sound like that. This guy je yg way too sensitive and defensive. Biasalah sisters suka respond to the lecturer’s questions compared to brothers yang senyap je all the time. Kena jemput baru nak cakap or give opinion. Mesti la kitorang nak menangkan sisters all the time even when we’re wrong. The argument itself is interesting for us. Habis2an I ngumpat dia sebab geram.
What I find remarkable is the fact that I was actually the one who became what he said. Of course I agree. I am certainly not the brainiest. Possibly the craziest but definitely not the cleverest. It was just the way he said it that I disapprove of.
(written sometime in July)
hehe...
