Wednesday, May 31, 2006
Today wus utterly superb! ok, for me it is. i wus attached to Dr Claire today. she wus doing home doctoring that morning.n unlyk clara, i had transport! took our rides in her mpv to 3 houses, one at jurong, den bt batok n finally at west coast. N of course, all the patients had different stories to tell.
At 1st i wus pretty nervous being in the same car with dr claire. a doctor! thought it wud be pretty intimidationg being with sum1 hus of much superior knowledge n experience den me.. but hey, she wus cool n nvr forgot to explain things about her patients to me..
the 1st patient wus an old woman hu lives at jurong. n wen i say old, i mean old. shes a hundred n 3 to be exact. wayy cool. but her condition wus abit sad. she had lost her appetite for sumtym n wus down to her skin n bones. she also had bed sores n all. dr claire let me listen to her lungs with her stethoscope. n yeah, the check up went on for awhile. n guess how old her caregiver is. her daughter is 72! gosh. n shes all strong n all. they were speaking dialects n all, so i cuden relli understand. but hey, one does not nid to understand wad dr calire wus talking to be impressed wif her skills. she wus very professional, always taking not of wad the patient, family member n even the maid has to say.
we went to the nxt 2 houses at bt batok n west coast aft that. i learnt alot of things, tho i wish i cud understand dialects to better learn frm the attachment. nonetheless, it wus a priceless experience. n several common terms came up.lyk dementia, which means a degenration of the brain causing memory loss, odd behaviours n etc.
one thing that struck me wus how utterly impt language is. dr claire was able to speak dialects to her elderly patients, as well as malay to the indon maids. it wus very impressive. n she did it all without making anyone feel uncomfortable for having to speak in their native tongue. n yeah this is one perfect example of a scenario where good english does not matter, cos hardly anyone speaks it. except for me n dr claire to communicate, of cors.hehes.
den it made me think jus how effective i wud be if i wer to choose to go into the healthcare line in terms of being a doctor or nurse. i dont know any dialects. would that put me at a disadvantage? i shud think so. or perhaps if i wer to be a doctor, i wud prolly stay clear of the field which requires me to. yet, i think its nvr gut to just avoid things lyk that. wad more wif our ageing population n all.ohwells. im dun relli have much time left to make a proper career choice. but im definitely narrowing my choices wif my subject combi n all..ohwells. thats for another time for me to ponder. as for now, off to bed. i've got work tmr!
