I've got the most wonderful tutors one can ask for during this 1st wk of geri posting. esp my consultant dr T. He's very inspiring, very pro-teaching, very kind to all his patients and he really made me see the beauty of geri medicine.

I love the way my team docs will bend/squat down to speak to the patients who are lying on very low beds (so as to prevent them from falling from a height in the event they acidentally fall/jump off).
they'll hold the patient's hand, talking clearly n loudly into the ears of the hearing impaired patients, make sure that they are comfortable, try to tend to their complaints and relieve their sufffering. those uncommunicative ones, w time we might just forget that they are living, feeling human beings, not just a piece of meat that we try to treat. I like the way my team will look at so many aspects of care for our patients, the details of medical conditions n their treatment, the functional rehab, the psychosocial issues and discharge plans. not every old person get to go home when they leave the hosp.

Then there is the cofm-ish/communications kinda issues. when we were younger, sometimes it feels q dreary to keep talking about this kinda vague things, nothing like real concrete hard science that we need to cure diseases. but at the end of the day, our duty as docs is to heal, to comfort and not always to cure and prolong life. death is certain. the mortality of mankind is 100%. it's dying that is uncertain. it's dying that old people may fear. my con told us that if we're HOs next time and a pt is DNR, DIL who is getting hypotensive and desaturating, when we get called by nurses in the middle of the night, our job is not only to go do admin stuff like certifying death when it's a flat line. we need to ask if the patient is symptomatic cause we can relieve pain/breathlessness. we need to ask if family is around, cause we may need to reassure them that they patient is not suffering ++ in this last bit of the journey. end of life issues are very real and very relevant and it always feel very close to my heart.

the most difficult patient spits at u because he's being restrained and that's his only defence mechanism. he can't punch you when he wants. but all he ever wanted was malay-speaking people ard so that this elderly malay gentleman who can only speak malay feels more reassured. and the only other thing he wanted was... kopi-o.

haha old people are really cute.
another uncle said my con is a reporter and we med students are photographers. some grandiose huh. but he said my con is cute, macam like a kid, and that made us so tickled haaa...