Clinical Attachment III: HTAR Klang

Upon entering the first semester of my final year, me and my coursemates were briefed on our clinical requirements. For the first time ever in the history of audiology in Malaysia (so the drama queen :P) final years will be sent for external clinic in selected hospitals: Putrajaya, Sungai Buloh, Klang, Kuala Terengganu, Seremban and Melaka.
Lucky for me, I was designated to Hospital Tuanku Ampuan Rahimah, Klang, together with Chun Suan, Umar and si penyibuk Luqman, under the supervision of Cik Siti Aminah.

I must say, it was the best clinical placement yet.
Firstly, the setting. It's quite nice although not completely equipped. I felt at ease working there and they're going to have MyHINT (a speech test) soon. Great! The only thing lacking (in my opinion) is they don't have enough chairs in the room. However, my supervisor did clarify that she doesn't want unnecessary people to overcrowd the room, which I accept as a solid reason even as my legs were giving out on me. (27/8/08: I went back on 25/8 and there were two green bar stools, which were supercool! So no lacking point anymore for HTAR Klang then. It's all goo0oo0od :P)
Talking about supervisors, Cik Siti is definitely a good one. I am all thumbs-up for her. She's patient, helpful, efficient, easy-going and really committed to her profession. I learned a lot from her and seriously, am more confident doing clinic under her supervision than anyone else. Other supervisors simply made me kancheong with their presence or trying-to-be-helpful-but-not interruptions.

I got to observe an ENT operation, tympanoplasty to be exact. It is a surgical procedure of repairing the eardrum. While changing out of the surgical gear, overheard the surgeons saying something like 'I shouldn't have blablabla...' followed by a 'Never mind, you learn by mistake...'. Excuse me? Did I hear her right? Mistake in the operation theatre?? Those sentences only confirmed my doubtfulness on doctors. I hope I don't have to experience situations where my life or my loved ones' lives are at the hands of the doctors. The movie 'Awake' is forever etched in my brain, thanks again to Mas.
Other plus points of doing the placement in Klang include staying at the Nurses Hostel which is just a less-than-10-minutes walk to the hospital and charged at the cheapest rate ever of RM1.00. Was a bit freaked out by the crows' nest in the room initially, but when cleaned, it was an okay room. Besides, on the weekends I didn't stay there as I went back home which is possible for me unless I was placed for example, in Kuala Terengganu. So yeah, quite enjoying myself during the three weeks.
One other important thing is, it's just a 10 minutes drive to the biggest Jusco in Malaysia (I think), Jusco Bukit Tinggi! I don't mind being placed anywhere; as long as there is a decent shopping complex, I'm a happy girl :)
Nothing but good reviews from me for HTAR Klang. Definitely a good place for clinical placement!

Clinical Attachment II: Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia

After a week in SunMed, I did my time in HUSM, Kubang Kerian for five weeks, or to be exact, 20 days of clinic (due to public hols, got sickie, and attended a wedding).
Was very excited to go there, as I have heard rave reviews from other clinical supervisors who were positively encouraging for us students to go there.
I must say, things were quite different in HUSM.
Firstly, the working days are from Sunday to Thurday. Honestly, I thought the time just flew by with starting the week on Sundays and Thursday being the last day of work for the week. I guess it has something to do with my mindset of the Monday blues and not having to go through that in HUSM.
Then there was the set-up and the supervisors.
For the set-up there were five audiological rooms. Each room being more specific for a particular testing, e..g.: room 5 for ABR and ASSR; room 4 for AABR and DPOAE screening.
There are 4 supervisors: Cik Su, Cik Roza, Cik Ninda and En. Khary, all of whom are UKM graduates of 1st, 2nd, 8th and 2nd batch respectively. And then there was Kak Sar, a technologist who knows the ORL department inside out; En. Adnan, also a technologist whom is just starting his degree in Audiology this very semester!; En. Yus of unknown origin but acts as the technologist at times; and Kak Lin who's the attendant of the clinic.
Anyway it was truly an experience doing my attachment there in HUSM. I learned some things I may not learn in UKM, but then that was the purpose of having us scattered all over the country in the first place right? And I also had my ears suctioned by an ENT doctor for free!
One thing for sure is: am I thankful and glad that I study in UKM and not in UIA or USM. Not that I'm insulting or anything, but those universities are still new in Audiology while the UKM students are blessed with experienced and excellent lecturers and supervisors.
Nevertheless, thank you to everyone in Audiology Clinic of HUSM for having me there. May we meet again, which I am sure we will! :)

Clinical Attachment I: Sunway Medical Centre

One of our requirements for graduation is to do 360 hours of clinic. With 4 semesters to do so, I would have to deal with patients for 90 hours each semester, which is not possible due to (usually) public holidays and insufficient patients at the clinic. Therefore, we are sent all over the country's medical centres and hospitals to do our clinical attachment. This is to 'top-up' our clinical hours, in simpler terms.
So living in PJ, I automatically chose Sunway Medical Centre as my training centre. I applied since February this year and fortunately for me, the good people of SunMed accepted! However, I can only come for a week as they are preparing to move to a new area.
With only 12 days of break after my final paper, I started my attachment on the 12th of May 2008. It took me only about 10 minutes by car to get there, and I parked at the visitors' parking area. (Actually, 4 days before that I came to SunMed to check out the place, where to park, etc, and I thought of getting staff's sticker or something, but apparently, the accounts people think one week of attachment is not significant enough for a sticker and asked me to park at the visitors' parking. Cruelty to newbie I must say).
I was supposed to register at the HR Dept. at 9am, but I reached there at 8.15am. Yeah, I know, 'very the semangat wan'. I thought I'd be stuck in traffic but then it was smooth sailing all the way. So I just went to the HR straight away and waited there. When I got there, there were already several other students waiting to register. I noted that I was the only Malay there.
So all of us trainees/interns/whatever you may call it were briefed by the HR guy Mr Ken and he disposed us to our departments respectively. I was sent to the Department of Speech & Hearing up at the 6th floor, but somehow the Audiology Clinic is at the 1st floor. I was introduced to the speechies there before Ms Tye (Head of DSH & also KKA lecturer when I was in first year) took me to the Audiology Clinic.
I was greeted by Ms Mazwin (Head of Audio Clinic & KKK lecturer when I was in 3rd year) who somehow forgot that I was coming that day (pardon her, she’s a super busy, multi-tasker woman). Nevertheless she let me observe for the first hour before disposing me to Dr Liza at the nursery.
Dr Liza is the first Malaysian audiologist that I met who pursued audiology as her first degree in the US. And she continued on doing her masters and PhD there as well. A very pleasant woman, the best supervisor I have yet to have! Dr Liza took me under her reign for the rest of the week almost 24/7. (I think she was super glad when I finished on Saturday, haha).
We started at the nursery, where I also met Rosemary, who's actually not working there anymore as she's moving to England. I saw how they do UNHS using the Automated ABR. Very good stuff for assessment; it's fast and simple but very costly and can be very tiring, especially when waiting for the babies to lay still and be quiet.
After the nursery, we went back to the clinic and I observed Dr Liza doing hearing assessments. Initially, I thought there would not be many patients, but then on that day, it was really busy, and I was quite overwhelmed. There were patients every hour and I only had a break for one hour before another patient came in. I have to say, the 9-5pm work time was utilized to the most. That night, I slept early as I was exhausted!
The 2nd day wasn’t so bad as the patients were not as many. I get to meet another audiologist, Mr. Saravanan, a UKM-graduate. He shared his experiences with me and showed some assistive listening devices that I have yet to see in the clinics I have been to so far. I intended to attend a talk by a nurse of the nursery on G6PD, but they postponed the talk. I did get an article about it though. Very informative.
Third day onwards I began to get the hang around things. In the mornings I would go straight to the nursery and do hearing screenings. Depending on how many babies are there, I would normally finish at around 11 am. Then I would go down to the clinic and observe/assist Dr Liza.
I noticed the approach in the private setting is far more different than the government setting. The private setting really prioritizes the patients first. They give their best service and they don’t push the patients. Yes, they’re profit-based, but somehow what truly concerns them is what the patients want, regardless if it does not benefit them much in return. The most important thing is patients’ satisfaction. No wonder the clinic is packed with patients, they’re all satisfied customers; and when they’re happy, they promote SunMed.
However, there are patients who think that since they’re paying so much money, they should get first class treatment. Come on, we are all humans, and we have our imperfections. Some of the mothers there can be real bitches to the nurses at the nursery (I heard them gossiping, of course). But other than the dirt on bad mothers, it can be quite fun to hear the nurses tell on first-time mothers’ experiences. Fun and scary, making me think twice about having my own, haha. Looking at the face of the babies though, always made me change my mind. They’re so adorable, how could I not want them?
The attachment ended on Saturday (yes, they work on Saturdays! half day, that is), 17th of May 2008. I must say I learned a lot throughout my attachment there. And it was only for a week! I wonder how much more I could learn if I have completed 5 weeks (as suggested by my dept.) of attachment. I may have developed excellent skills and be super-competent! I wish. Looking forward to doing more attachments there before graduation :).