O&G

It is the end of the O&G posting! Overall I must say that it was the most structured posting I have ever done, and I truly appreciate all the effort that went into planning and executing the curriculum. The tutors were very willing to teach despite their hectic schedules. Sometimes they even had to forgo their own lunch time to give us tutorials! To all the tutors, administrators and whoever else involved in making this posting such a fruitful and pleasant experience, THANK YOU!

Of course, the most exciting part of this posting must be the time I spent in the delivery suite 'catching' babies =) Witnessing the arrival of new lives into this world was a wonderfully magical experience. After enduring through a long and painful delivery, the mother's happiness at first sight of her newborn was simply indescribable. It was as though no form of pain, distraction, or anything else in this world, can take away the immense joy of holding the baby within her own arms for the first time. In a few instances, the experience was made much sweeter by mothers who kindly allowed me to assist in the delivery together with the doctors and midwives. To hear me join in the chorus of voices shouting 'Push! Push!' at 4am in the morning must have been quite a laughable scene. Thankfully before my hoarse voice could make any significant imprint in the mothers' memory, the first cries of the babies would ensure that my embarrassment was short-lived and perhaps, well worth it.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, there were the teenagers requesting for termination of pregnancies, and babies born out of the wedlock, for which their O&G issues were often secondary to much deeper problems. These not-so-pleasant encounters exposed a darker side of society that are often kept out of our sight. When they surface through the system every now and then, often irreparable damage has already been done.

From knowing close to nothing before this posting, to where I am now at the end of 6 weeks, I am amazed at myself for surviving through this posting, having coped with the extremely steep learning curve and grew my pool of knowledge and skills by enourmous amounts within such a short period of time. I believe my consistent work throughout the posting was crucial. Compared to the last-minute cramming for several postings last year, I felt much well-prepared and confident going into the end-of-posting test this time. I understood the concepts much better, and I had time to prepare my own notes for future revision. I hope to do the same for my future postings.

Now time to take a good 2-day break before the next posting begins!

P.S. So weird that Blogger doesn't allow the character '&' in the labels! )=