Hospital Postings

*dressed in our white lab coats, pen torch clipped to our pocket, stethoscope placed neatly around our neck, holding our clipboards, walking towards the wards* Wait a minute! We are dental student no?

“What you dental students doing in hospital, in Surgical ward some more?” A common question we get from the patients. Yes, we have hospital posting like the MBBS student every Thursday morning. However, we will only be rotating between General surgery and General Medicine; it changes every block. This will only last throughout our 3^rd year of BDS course.

We are expected to clerk the cases, examine the patient, both general and local examination and then come out with a provisional diagnosis. Sounds easy? It’s not! Throughout our 1^st and 2^nd year of BDS, we only learn in detail about the head and neck region. It’s quite tough for us when the area with examine involve the parts from the abdomen and limbs. It’s hard to understand when the lecturer is explaining about certain anatomical site, it sounds all Greek and Latin to us. *Blank face*

Though we are struggling, most of us are slowly catching up. We are trying our best, getting help for some of our MBBS friends too. For asking history and examination part we still are able to tackle, but when it boils down to analyzing the facts and coming up with a diagnosis and treatment plan, everything just seems so dark and lost.

Our routine will start off with getting a patient which is relevant to the cases we are expected to see that day. We normally crowd around the census book to check which patient is having the disease we will discuss that day. After that, we will move towards the patient bed, ask for his/her consent and then proceed with history taking. After that, we will examine the patient. Some patient are reluctant to talk to us; some welcome us with open arm *well, not literally to hug you* Once the lecturer arrived, we have to get ready to present the case to them.

Honestly, many of us think that going to the hospital is like a waste of time. For me, I find it very interesting to meet and talk to the patients there. You can meet people from all walks of life. From a farmer to even ex-soldiers, from a young boy to an old man.

It’s always mix of emotion whenever I visit the hospital. It kind of builds up my feeling of empathy toward the patients. Just last posting, I remember seeing a terminally ill patient. His eyes were open wide, red and protruding out. They weren’t blinking. He must be in so much pain.

 Sometimes after seeing the patients, I just don’t know how to feel. I often think, all these patients sleeping in the bed, are they really relieved of their sufferings or they are just trying to hang in there. Wearing a poker face would be the best. I know it sounds depressing but I think we should be exposed to this part of life. Our patient won’t always be healthy, we must learn to react and direct them. It’s our job. We don’t just carry a “Dr.” title in from of our name for no reason.

Shall cherish my few hospitals posting days left.