Tan Choong Shen, 2013098

Self Reflection
Lectures: More or less what one would expect from surgical lectures. I learned the basics of
what to look out for when a certain bodily system is involved. I learned what signs and
symptoms were associated with each other and to enquire about them even if the patient does
not seem to exhibit them or does not mention them. I learned about the common and serious
diseases associated with the bodily systems and their relevant signs and symptoms, as well as
how to differentiate them, either by history, examination or test results. I also learned of the
common general practices in surgery. Pre, mid and post operative protocols and
complications. The long term problems and the things that needed to be investigated before a
patient is even prepped for surgery. While my knowledge of all these subjects, especially the
differentiating between disease that share several signs and symptoms as well as the more
secondary effects are still a bit patchy, its nothing going through the notes again wouldnt
fix.
In the hospital rotations, I re-learned the various techniques of physical examination and
history taking. It turned out the skills I had were woefully lacking and that there was much I
didnt know or was flat out doing wrong. I have made an effort to fix my shortcomings and
though I believe my history taking has improved significantly, I think I might still be lacking
a bit with regards to examination and recognising of less common signs and symptoms.
Theres really nothing to do for this than to keep on practicing patients and presenting to
mentors and colleagues. My case presentation skills are still a bit clunky, though it might be
out of paranoia of leaving a relevant detail out, but I feel they have significantly improved
with all the practice and examples throughout the rotation. Although, that might just mean
that my skills prior to this rotation were horrible.
As for my plans for improvement, I think I mostly require more studying and research and
general reading. I feel like my practical skills have improved better than my theoretical ones.
This might be because I envisioned surgery as a more physical practice of finesse, technique
and blood. I was not expecting all the book learning that had to be done and might have
approached this module with the wrong mindset. I see myself having to go through notes and
doing internet research a lot more next semester and continuing to practice the techniques of
history taking and examination.
I felt like the Surgery rotation turned out to be another book learning subject with a few
practical skills thrown in as a side. Maybe thats what it meant to be but I thought that it
would have more practical focus than family medicine, not less. Also, the sheer
haphazardness of scheduling was confusing and demoralizing at times, especially the weeks
when we had more postponed/cancelled/rescheduled classes than ones that were actually on
time. While I understand that the lecturers were also working hospital shifts, I think the
students would have preferred classes that were later in the day and consistently on schedule
than earlier but subject to utter randomness. Also, pulling the doctors away while the still
have to look after their patients seemed to me like a dangerous thing to do.