Day 1 in Neurology Attachment

Few things to take note from first day of electives for future reference :)

1. Let's learn and practice our Malay medical vocab ! New vocabs of the day are words like:

• Libang libu=anxiety neurosis



• Badan rasa Ceren ceren =i dunno..badan does not feel so good?



• Perut sebu

Plus a few exchanged with friends also doing elective in Msia:

• Kaki rasa asam2 = kaki kebas2

I'll add more each day so I won't forget, and by the end of this few weeks attachment, I'll be a pro at this inshaAllah ^_^

2. Gotta be a multilingual doctor if you are in this country!

The consultant that I was attached to amazed me when he started to speak very fluent Cantonese with one of the Chinese patients. And I was left wondering what on earth were they talking about! Even in UK, I never really have that much difficulty in understanding language (alhamdulillah) and then hey-ho, suddenly in my own country I can't understand a single thing of what they were talking about!

And then the next patient who came in was an Indian, and then he started to speak Hindi with him. My jaw dropped again.

I think he's a really good doctor, with excellent communication skills. He really knows how to win his patients' hearts, like for example when he is with the elderly it really shows that he respects them; with some patient he uses 'loghat utara', with some he uses 'perak slang' etc etc.

And as a result, all the patients love him! You can see how they totally open up to him, and would tell them all their problems without worrying that he would judge them etc..

OK, I think those are really good tips for future doctors. And I guess that's why the medical school keep on hammering on us "communication skill , communication skills, communication skills!!". Because it is really very very important!

3. Plan your career and life!

The consultant is a Malay doctor who had completed his degree in Malaysia and then went over to the UK to specialise in his specialty. You can see that he is very much determined with his career and life and knows what he wants in life.

He told me that he planned his career well in advance, knows which examination he is going to take and what time, and wala-by 1990 he is already a Specialist. Like for example, he was even studying when he was doing houseman to sit for the exams while his other friends have not yet had any plan in mind.

OK, I'll start planning my career then too.. MRCPCH ? InshaAllah..

4. A few things to share that I saw yesterday include:

• another man with expressive and receptive dysphasia!




• a man with raccoon eyes!!




• a kid with 'sakit buah pinggang' and ''darah tinggi'..He actually has nephrotic syndrome

and other usual things like stroke, epilepsy, neuropathy etc .

That's all to share today! Congrats to my consultant cos..he's going to get the Dato' title today from the Sultan! (It's the Sultan's bday today and he gives all those awards every year during his birthday)

Salamm