oncology

Last week was posted to oncology ward. Nothing seems interesting to me except meeting some really enthusiastic oncology consultants. They are really into this field and keep encourage us to specialize as oncologist but this is just not my cup of tea hahaha.

The ward is pretty sad and pathetic. Not many patients in the ward. If there are any, they are not that well to be examined by us. For that reason, I have tutorial for the whole week, not really have any patient contact. Technically we are posted to the teaching room of oncology ward rather than the ward room. But for the sake of assessment, the consultant allocates us some patients.

I got a patient with an advance stage of colon cancer. During the interview, I was trying so hard to get a full history from him, because he keeps telling me about his feeling and worries. I do recognize his psychosocial issues but my main concern at that moment was the case writing for assessment. So I was not really dealing with his feeling, I think he must be mad at me, haih see how bad is my professionalism and communication skills!

Yes, I do know that as a doctor we have to see the patient in a holistic way. We must treat the patient as a whole. But how to deal with so many issues in such a short interview? I think I need a lot of training for this. The patient really need someone to talk and listen to them, they really have a lot of worries in their mind especially in cancer patient. Some of my friend’s patient just started to cry when they talk about their condition. They know that they can’t live for long and no one can assure them about their prognosis. Basically, they are just lying there waiting for the miracle to happen. This is really bothering me.

As a doctor we are always wanted to help and heal the patient, but sometimes there are a lot of limitations for us to complete the tasks. I had realized and accepted this fact before I entered medical school, but when I face it now I still feel sad and helpless about it. Respect all the consultants and other staffs who deal with this everyday. Luckily, there are a lot of social workers and support group around to counsel and help them. they even have specialist cancer nurse to take care of the cancer patient. Compare to Malaysia this is much more advance and better. At least there have much more info and support. Back in Malaysia the burden mostly go to the family members, so the quality of life will be definitely different from the patient in UK.

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Hope you all are not bored by reading my post which is all about medical stuffs. My life is so routine here, besides my studies nothing much happen. So bare with me k hahaha. Next week will be even worse because i am in palliative care block. May be there will be more sad story to tell.

Next week is also our 4^th and 5^th year senior’s final exam. So after 1 week, there will be another batch of doctors coming out to serve the community. All the best and good luck people!