Well well well - housemen all over the nation must be jumping for joy at this piece of news - Day off after 24 hour duty - and I am just waiting for the barrage of doctor bloggers who will definitely be airing their opinions on this. No need betting on what the housemen would say, lah, I think!
I do, however agree with Dr eAy-Lalle that hopefully this isn't just one of the so many knee-jerk responses that our politicians just love to give. Child dies after being hit by lorry on busy highway - build a pedestrian bridge! I remember one knee-jerk response a few years ago about lorries not allowed to be on the road during peak periods - whatever happened to that? Standard of english dropping - let's teach Science and Maths in English! What about more good quality english programmes on TV or lowering the price of english books?
In the hospital where I did my housemanship, there was one time when there were only 5 housemen in the department due to the poor coordination of posting rotation. Suppose there were 3 or maybe 4 wards, not including the peripheral patients in ICU or the first and second class wards - and at each time, 2 housemen would be oncall. If they were to get the day off, imagine the chaos this would cause.
I'm all for human rights and what nots - and I have had my share of nightmare oncalls and postings - but a drastic change like this isn't the answer.
Far from putting myself on a pedestal and awarding myself Houseman of the Year, I do find that some future doctors and current housemen lacking work ethics, integrity and inner strength. Perhaps they were pressured into doing Medicine by parents or simply because they were straight A students - I seriously think we Malaysians still have a conventional way of thinking when it comes to our children's future - but most of them ended up having the shock of their lives when faced with the work load. Perhaps made worst after comparing themselves with friends who end up with regular 9-5 jobs with a RM2500 starting salary and 4-month bonuses.
This is how I look at it. Ever seen those Karate Kid movies or those cantonese Kungfu movies like the Drunken Master starring Jacky Chan? Karate Kid had to wash cars and paint fences before he could learn to execute his one legged kick, right?
Yes, I suffered during my housemanship period and yes it was horrible and yes I have fallen asleep on the nurses' counter as I was clerking cases but no I never wanted to quit and yes I think it made me a better MO. and I think a lot of MOs look back to their housemanship and think, "Man, that was mad but I enjoyed it!"
and Yes, I thoroughly agree that the system needs a make over - AS A WHOLE - should we try the shift system as some hospitals overseas are doing? Maybe we should think about training phlebotomists to take over the tedious blood-taking work? (Sheesh, QID and sometimes 5 sessions perday of taking blood!?) Faster and paperless ways discharging patients? (Discharge summary, discharge notes, MC, medication slips and 'surat pengesahan menemani pesakit' and updating patient's TCA books and after ALL that, summaries for feedbacks to referring centres! I went through a pen a week!)
Times have changed - we don't need more speeches of "Oh, when I was houseman back in the 1940s I had to do EVERYTHING" translating as "Oh, I went through hell and so should you all - mwahahaha!".
1 comment:
I doubt the move would work. It was a knee-jerk response as usual of the government. Try imagining that if you have 4 people on call per day, then you would lose 4 people the next day at work. The remaining housemen would have to do extra. So at the end of the day, it will be the same.
If I were to be a houseman now, I would obviously request for EOD oncalls. Why? I work for 15 days, get paid for 30 days and I can still claim RM1500 plus 15 days of holiday! SHOW ME THE MONEY!
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