30 Jun 2011

Remedial

Shortly after the examination, I was asked to take care of several students who had failed. The remedial attachment provided an opportunity for them to learn more clinical medicine. Tutors had to decide whether the students need to repeat the year of study afterwards. I personally did not have any negative feelings against those young people, but Warren and a few colleagues kept urging me to fail them.

Following their feedback, I observed the students more closely. The time they spent in the ward was reasonable. But one thing was weird. The only place they stayed at was the nursing station. They opened the case records, flipped through the pages and jotted notes here and there. They looked more like the girl with the dragon tattoo than doctors.

That reminded me of a story that many from my generation knew.

Boss was a hard-working person. He conducted ward round every day at 08:30, sometimes earlier. When Y was his trainee, he went to work at 08:25 and had to finish seeing 10 to 15 patients before Boss arrived. To his credit, he managed to write one full page of medical notes for each patient.

But when the old ladies tried to describe their symptoms, Y always made his famous reply, “Don’t disturb. The doctor is conducting ward round.”

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