March -April 1995
Coming back from a holiday, however brief, is always slightly depressing.
Our Kodai trip, like class trips tend to be, was a make or break trip for some and I saw some "pairs" being firmed up during the bus ride to and fro, cemented by long periods of togetherness while there. Kodai itself was beautiful, but getting there was a 12 hour pain. There was plenty to do-rowing on the lake, walking around the quaint town, mustering courage to go down Guna Caves and soaking in the many waterfalls. Condom and Vinay managed to have a huge fight over breakfast when one of them threw a glass of water at the other over an occupied chair. There were emergency loo breaks in filthy loos, awesome guitar solos and not so awesome singing on the bus rides and breathtaking sights of the Nilgiris. The weather was cool, cold even, and the air was crisp enough to make me not want to smoke in it. And I did not-for the two days we were there.
But now we are back in Jipmer and are faced with upcoming realities of class tests, records, lectures to attend, clinics to troop into and attendance to make up.
My Paeds posting is over in a blur and I have a new found respect for the Pediatricians who manage to examine these sick, often understandably irritable kids with supreme patience. There is more than just that, however, as they need to know dosages of drugs that keep changing as their patient grows older, milestones in a child's development, vaccines...etc etc.
I am appalled at the numbers of kids we see with dehydration and diarrhea, with malnutrition and skin disease and am depressed at the sight of kids with heart defects and cerebral palsy. We need to learn how to diagnose all of this and if you thought hearing heart murmurs in an adult was tough, try a kid's chest.
In the meantime, the slog continues.
Microbiology has a unique system of Internal Assessment, one that I have not seen in my 1st year and, I am assured by seniors, I shall not see again after I pass Micro.
This system is called "Tutorials". Just as a recap, each subject holds class tests throughout the year (about 4-5) and just before the Univ Exam there is a full scale dress rehearsal called Send-Ups. Out of all these, the best 3 are counted towards Internal Assessment and the marks divided so that one gets a result out of 30.
In Micro, the tutorials are like a small group viva and they happen throughout the year too. So this year, we will have about 4-5 of these. The average of these will make up one test towards Internal Assessment. It stands to reason therefore, that one must attend all the tutorial sessions to make it count since an abscence is marked a zero.
It also stands to reason that if one misses a tutorial, it might make sense to just skip the remaining ones totally. So I think " Why bother? Why not just skip it entirely?"......And so, starting with the first, I make it a point to skip all the tutorials valiantly resisting all exhortations to "just go bugger, it's the going that counts".
Our Medicine posting is up next. Located on the top floor (3rd) of the hospital, it has 4 units, each manned by Heads with contrasting styles and personalities. The Head is a short guy, a Professor and always wears a tie which is reddish or marron more often than not. He has a reputation of being very fair in exams and is thus a popular man. He speaks fast, holds marathon ward rounds and I make it a point to wish him at every opportunity.
The 2nd Unit is manned by a serious looking Prof who wears thick glasses and is considered by many to be the best clinician in the Department. He is apparently very fair in exams also and if he thinks you should pass then you will. Also vice versa- a philosophy I would agree with unless I were the one being examined. He's written a small yellow book on Ethics and Clinical Skills in Medicine and we duly troop over to the Co-operative Stores to pick it up.
Then there is Dr PR. A smooth talker, even if most of the talk is in Tamil. He thinks Medicine is Maths.
"So Doctor, this patient has a one leg and a big spleen. Diagnosis Doctor!!!!" He says this with a flourish. And according to him, there is only one answer. Which in this case turns out to be Polycythemia.
The posting is an Introduction to Medicine and it is here that our stethoscopes are actually put to good use. We are constantly told that the stethoscope is actually just the end point of a well taken history and a thoroughly performed examination, but who's listening when there are heart murmurs to be heard and stomach gurgles to be identified? I quickly learn that Medicine is a game, where each piece of information may or may not add up to something at the end. It's a tough game, made tougher by my incompetent Tamil.
There are subtle signs like pallor and even more subtle ones like clubbing. Needless to say, this is the point where we all turn into hypochondriacs to varying degrees.
The posting ends with me just marginally more aware of the subject than before. We are all expected to read the bible of medicine, a book called "Harrison's" and this is a more than a mountain for me. 2 volumes of double column small print with no photos and crammed with facts. It's a brilliant book I'm sure and one that Vikrant swears by, but even though we need to read the first few chapters, I give up after duly underlining a few pages. There is enough time for that in the next 2 years.
There are some rumours going around about Vikrant and someone he's met in Ramanathpuram. I don't ask however, and he doesn't volunteer so it remains a rumour. He will going back home in a few days and asks if he can get anything from home, but since I will be following him soon after for my Summer Vacations, there isn't really.
Shom and Rahul are still separated by silence and I am the mediator.
With Osho sessions and Maggi noodles, beer and Old Monk, clinics and class tests, falling attendance and Snappy meetings, the days tick by. Just a normal routine that was soon going to get a massive jolt.
Coming back from a holiday, however brief, is always slightly depressing.
Our Kodai trip, like class trips tend to be, was a make or break trip for some and I saw some "pairs" being firmed up during the bus ride to and fro, cemented by long periods of togetherness while there. Kodai itself was beautiful, but getting there was a 12 hour pain. There was plenty to do-rowing on the lake, walking around the quaint town, mustering courage to go down Guna Caves and soaking in the many waterfalls. Condom and Vinay managed to have a huge fight over breakfast when one of them threw a glass of water at the other over an occupied chair. There were emergency loo breaks in filthy loos, awesome guitar solos and not so awesome singing on the bus rides and breathtaking sights of the Nilgiris. The weather was cool, cold even, and the air was crisp enough to make me not want to smoke in it. And I did not-for the two days we were there.
But now we are back in Jipmer and are faced with upcoming realities of class tests, records, lectures to attend, clinics to troop into and attendance to make up.
My Paeds posting is over in a blur and I have a new found respect for the Pediatricians who manage to examine these sick, often understandably irritable kids with supreme patience. There is more than just that, however, as they need to know dosages of drugs that keep changing as their patient grows older, milestones in a child's development, vaccines...etc etc.
I am appalled at the numbers of kids we see with dehydration and diarrhea, with malnutrition and skin disease and am depressed at the sight of kids with heart defects and cerebral palsy. We need to learn how to diagnose all of this and if you thought hearing heart murmurs in an adult was tough, try a kid's chest.
In the meantime, the slog continues.
Microbiology has a unique system of Internal Assessment, one that I have not seen in my 1st year and, I am assured by seniors, I shall not see again after I pass Micro.
This system is called "Tutorials". Just as a recap, each subject holds class tests throughout the year (about 4-5) and just before the Univ Exam there is a full scale dress rehearsal called Send-Ups. Out of all these, the best 3 are counted towards Internal Assessment and the marks divided so that one gets a result out of 30.
In Micro, the tutorials are like a small group viva and they happen throughout the year too. So this year, we will have about 4-5 of these. The average of these will make up one test towards Internal Assessment. It stands to reason therefore, that one must attend all the tutorial sessions to make it count since an abscence is marked a zero.
It also stands to reason that if one misses a tutorial, it might make sense to just skip the remaining ones totally. So I think " Why bother? Why not just skip it entirely?"......And so, starting with the first, I make it a point to skip all the tutorials valiantly resisting all exhortations to "just go bugger, it's the going that counts".
Our Medicine posting is up next. Located on the top floor (3rd) of the hospital, it has 4 units, each manned by Heads with contrasting styles and personalities. The Head is a short guy, a Professor and always wears a tie which is reddish or marron more often than not. He has a reputation of being very fair in exams and is thus a popular man. He speaks fast, holds marathon ward rounds and I make it a point to wish him at every opportunity.
The 2nd Unit is manned by a serious looking Prof who wears thick glasses and is considered by many to be the best clinician in the Department. He is apparently very fair in exams also and if he thinks you should pass then you will. Also vice versa- a philosophy I would agree with unless I were the one being examined. He's written a small yellow book on Ethics and Clinical Skills in Medicine and we duly troop over to the Co-operative Stores to pick it up.
Then there is Dr PR. A smooth talker, even if most of the talk is in Tamil. He thinks Medicine is Maths.
"So Doctor, this patient has a one leg and a big spleen. Diagnosis Doctor!!!!" He says this with a flourish. And according to him, there is only one answer. Which in this case turns out to be Polycythemia.
The posting is an Introduction to Medicine and it is here that our stethoscopes are actually put to good use. We are constantly told that the stethoscope is actually just the end point of a well taken history and a thoroughly performed examination, but who's listening when there are heart murmurs to be heard and stomach gurgles to be identified? I quickly learn that Medicine is a game, where each piece of information may or may not add up to something at the end. It's a tough game, made tougher by my incompetent Tamil.
There are subtle signs like pallor and even more subtle ones like clubbing. Needless to say, this is the point where we all turn into hypochondriacs to varying degrees.
The posting ends with me just marginally more aware of the subject than before. We are all expected to read the bible of medicine, a book called "Harrison's" and this is a more than a mountain for me. 2 volumes of double column small print with no photos and crammed with facts. It's a brilliant book I'm sure and one that Vikrant swears by, but even though we need to read the first few chapters, I give up after duly underlining a few pages. There is enough time for that in the next 2 years.
There are some rumours going around about Vikrant and someone he's met in Ramanathpuram. I don't ask however, and he doesn't volunteer so it remains a rumour. He will going back home in a few days and asks if he can get anything from home, but since I will be following him soon after for my Summer Vacations, there isn't really.
Shom and Rahul are still separated by silence and I am the mediator.
There are enough 'RPism's to make a pocket book of humor if collected from the memories of various batches that passed through medicine...
ReplyDeleteonce he said he 'stepped back' when a student answered a tough question.. what he meant was that he was taken aback. Another time he wanted to congratulate one Mrs.A , who is a medicine consultant, on the decoration work she had got done in Banting hall for grad day...so he just walks up to her and says with flourish, "terrible work,Madam, terrible!" He meant 'terrific'. Apparently he literally stepped back when he was taking a serious class on taking a pulse on a patient when Anurag asks.. 'what do you do when he doesn't have arms'?.
You know the one about his 'comment' on Cissy of-course...har har.
Haha..yeah! I think he actually said "Get Aback"....?
ReplyDeletekeep it up nishi........
ReplyDelete