Day 3200: Treatment room

This morning, the adorable old wise dermatologist I was supposed to work with was out sick. So instead of tagging along with another doctor/resident, I decided to go to the treatment room. I had the best morning.

The treatment room is comprised of injecting steroids to minimize scars (or keloids, which is an elevated discolored scar), increase hair growth (for alopecia), etc. There is also suture removal, opening and draining of infections (a dilation and curettage), and other things! I got to inject steroids in to gobs of people this morning. I also removed some sutures. Like I said, it was a great morning. 

Day 3199: A smattering of pictures so far

The hospital where I work most mornings

Perfecting my suture skills

My classmate and I at Zhinan Temple

One of the prayer sites at Zhinan Temple

Taipei 101 -- the tallest building in Taiwan

Guanqian Road near Shin Kong Mitsukoshi (a department store)

Day 3194: Medical education, a comparison.

USA: In the United States, teaching students is a priority. Medical students have a lot of autonomy to learn and do. The first two years typically have minimal opportunities to work clinically (seeing patients). If there are opportunities, they are usually shadowing (what it sounds like; following doctors around and staying quiet). Once third year hits, we are in the hospital all day every day. We deliver babies on ob/gyn, we suture on surgery, we see patients on our own on family medicine and internal medicine, there are a lot of responsibilities in being a medical student. The system requires that a student does, in order to learn. There are a lot of questions asked towards medical students in order to gauge their knowledge so that a physician/attending may teach.

Taiwan: There is very little teaching that I can appreciate. The clerkships look a lot like shadowing, at least here on dermatology. Students sit away from the patient, and as a result, they rarely get to see the problems the patients come in with. If students wish to see the patient's presenting problem, they have to stand up, stay out of the attending and resident's way, and try to catch a glimpse of the problem. Attendings rarely teach students, nor is there an exerted effort to show the students any of the pathologies seen on patients. "Any questions?" is a query often asked by the teachers, but very few of the students here ask questions. In dermatology, at least, there is at least a half-day of student "autonomy." Meaning, students see patients on their own, staff with/report back to an attending physician, and then they see the patient together where the attending diagnoses and treats the patient. I can't believe it's only a half day! We do that all day every day starting day one of third year!

Obviously, this system is disparate from what I learned in the states. Nevertheless, there are probably pros that I have yet to realize or discuss. Anyway, just wanted to jot down some thoughts I've had so far.

Talk soon.

Day 3191: Bonjour Fevrier!

Okay, so, I still suck at blogging so far in 2015. But. I hope to blog between work days because (drumroll please) I am in Taiwan! I am on a dermatology rotation this month. My first day so far has been quite crazy. My classmate and I showed up to orientation at 9am, we signed a bunch of forms, received our IDs, and then were thrown in to derm clinic. Honestly, thrown in. We walk in to this clinic room and it is stuffed with white coats; another visiting student from New York, a current Taiwanese medical student, two residents, an attending, oh, and the patient. The two most pressing observations are as follows:

1) The patient could care less that there are six white coats in the room. In America, the patient is already annoyed at having to meet more than one white coat in sequence. You better believe a patient would abhor a room full of white coats. Especially a room full of white coats where half of them are not even participating in the discussion with the patient.

2) Doctor versus patient location. In Taiwan, the doctor stays in the room and the patient is called in, one at a time. It is a revolving door of patients. Compare this to the US, where each patient is roomed separately and a doctor runs among his/her different rooms to see each patient. In Taiwan, it is more efficient to see each patient as s/he comes in. 

After a full morning of clinic, my classmate and I finally have our orientation with our resident/contact person for the month. It's a diverse mix of inpatient dermatology, outpatient/clinic, and surgery/procedures

It has been a full first day! Clinic, orientation, consults. And LOTS of Mandarin!

More tomorrow!

(Note: The titles (Day xxxx: ...) for this month are a little off! I am writing based on Taiwan date and time so it is 2/2/15 as I write this! The future!)

Day 2097: Life moves on with some good news.

Today, I felt very ready for my pharmacology exam. Granted, there were still about 7-points-worth of things (out of 50.5) I wasn't 100% on, but the amount of information you have to learn for this class (in three weeks, no less, for his horrific block) is just too much to ask for. So. I felt good overall! Let's see if the exam score reflects that.

Also! The pathology department secretary-helper-lady emailed us today to tell us that two of the answers were mismarked on the exam so I, at least, got two points back! Excellent! My current score is a closer match to what I wanted! :)

I also bought this sweater (for $15!) as a little treat for myself. Yay!

In about an hour (at 5pm), I will be shadowing a doctor I work with (for my research, oh my gosh! I haven't told you about my research! Future blog post in the making) in the pediatric emergency department. It's actually perfect this way. I don't have any TV to watch until later tonight and even though I would rather be sewing/hemming/tailoring, I'm still glad to be learning a little something (and working with a really fun(ny) guy).

No word from the Popsicles since he left for Taiwan Friday night. My Mom and sister leave on Wednesday and then I will be the only one of our foursome here in the States. The lone cheese.

Day 1072: Taiwan Pictures, Part 1

 I knew my stay in Taiwan was going to be ab fab because

this Taiwanese pop group (I have no idea who they are)

were welcoming me to Taiwan. Yes.

 A view of Kaohsiung (a city in the south of Taiwan where

my mom is from!) from the High Speed Rail station

 A view from the car on the way to my Dad's parents house

in Ping Tung (a village also in the south of Taiwan)

 The view of some Chinese named mountain that I climbed

with my dad and my aunt whilst in Ping Tung

 A city street in Taipei (the capital of Taiwan)
(using my Hipstamatic app on my ipHone)

 The beginning (from one of the many "ends") of

Shilin Night Market in Taipei

(using Hipstamatic)

 Shilin Night Market

Taipei 101 (the infamous skyscraper in Taiwan)

 The entrance to the Imperial Palace in Taipei, Taiwan

 Getting closer to the actual palace

 

The outside of the Flora Expo in Taipei, Taiwan

(my dad was too lazy to buy tickets/enter, and my
cousin told us it was actual somewhat boring)