Fifth year a.k.a Postgraduate Internship

You survived senior clerkship! (4th year)

Congratulations! You’ve graduated and earned your Diploma. You now bear the title of a doctor.

…and yay, you still have a loooong way to go!

The 5th year of Medicine is the Post-Graduate Internship year, as most Philippine Medical schools give their diplomas at the end of the 4th year. This is the year you’re no longer a student per se. You will become the Post-Graduate Intern, the “apprentice doctor”.

This is the year you will rotate one last time in all the different fields of medicine – you will be a surgeon, internist, a pediatrician, an obstetrician-gynecologist and a community doctor.

A GLIMPSE OF PGI LIFE:

Every postgraduate interns’ responsibility: Updating the Census

Updating the census means doing patient rounds during and before shift ends

Obligatory picture in the operating room 😂

Milestone: Performing a Spinal Anesthesia Block

My favorite day of the week is having to wear a comfortable pair of sneakers

From clerkship to internship, I have always loved apposing and suturing wounds. I am thankful for our surgical residents for allowing us to suture wounds on our own.

Medical student feels

“The more I read, the more I feel so inadequate. I’m not good enough. I’m not smart enough. Can I still do this for the next years to come?”

Yet despite this internal battle I face daily while learning in medlical school, almost always when the tears just barely begin to well up in my eyes, a feeling of peace overwhelms me. Maybe I’m inadequate. Maybe I’m not good or smart enough and maybe I can’t do this…

BUT..

With my God, nothing is impossible. And with Him, all things are possible. The things that were only asked of me to do is to just take up my cross daily, follow and love Him, which right now, as much as I don’t like some of the things that I am doing- missing important events, staying up late to complete paperworks and read tons of chapters, getting stressed out with clinics, etc., means I need to do my part and try my hardest to learn this material to the best of my ability. All I can ask of myself is my best effort, and God will take care of the rest.

In a world and a life with so much uncertainty and unexpected challenges, I find comfort that my worries are irrational in light of a God that will see me through any and all circumstances and will never abandon me.

And so, I press on, trying to replace my worries with God’s love and grace, which, no matter what happens, will protect and carry me wherever this crazy life should take me.

Thank God for Your neurons

Lord Jesus,

I thank You for my neurons. For my well functioning dendrites and axons.

You created my brain for the purpose of bringing glory to Your name. I do not want my brain to be conformed to the patterns of this world, instead I ask You to enter all areas of my brain that You might give me the ability to process academic and spiritual wisdom from your Holy Spirit.

I believe that you created my inner most being and that my brain is fearfully and wonderfully made by your hand.

Lord I repent of all the times I have not regarded my brain and my learning abilities as a gift from You. I ask you to forgive me for the negative thoughts and words that I have spoken against my own brain and learning abilities.

I repent of trying to solve my learning problems through my own efforts rather than turning to receive your love, grace and healing touch first.

I pray that I will not have a Spirit of fear about learning new things. I accept your gift of the spirit of power, love and self-discipline into my brain.

Give me the Spirit of wisdom and revelation that I might succeed in school and to know You better.

Thank you, Lord, for using me. For choosing me.

Thank you for blessing me with Your bounty. Your favor. Your love.

I feel more peaceful and fulfilled than I ever have in my entire life.

I am learning so much. Growing so much.

You are so good to me, Lord Jesus.

I don’t deserve Your love, Your grace, Your favor nor Your blessing.

Yet, you still love me.

Your little doctor in the making,

Delbeth

I’m going to be like him someday!

 

Dad,

I could start this letter by thanking you for many things but I would like to say first that there are no words to actually describe how much I love you and how thankful I am for your life. I am so blessed to have you as my role model, hero and father.

Thank you papa for providing shelter to cover our heads, food to feed us, things we actually need and for allowing us to have good education. Thank you for loving, leading and guiding us. Thank you also for loving mom because from you, I’ve learned what it means to love your spouse. Thank you for sacrificing for us-waking up in the middle of the night to respond to emergency calls, making rounds, going home late and for always waiting patiently for your seven daughters plus wife to get finish from dressing up every occassion. Even until now, dad, you chraracter amazes me and that’s the reason why I respect and look up to you.

Even though you are a busy man, you still never as in ever fail to give time for us, you ALWAYS give time for us like how you also give time for treating your patients. Papa, I can never fully express my gratitude to you. You will always be the first man I will ever love. I would be completely lost in this world without you and Mama. God knew exactly what He was doing when He chose you to be my father!

(Don’t mind my stressed face, please. Haha.)

Mondays get me down

If you are like me, you probably start the week a bit slow. I used to hum a song that says Mondays get me down. Perhaps it’s because of the hangover from the weekend’s gimiks with friends, activities you joined from church or school or probably, your past time at your house. I had to force myself out of bed and take a shower. Mondays find me lazily preparing for school in the morning and yawning through the professor’s lectures the rest of the day. I usually can’t concentrate. No brilliant ideas surfaced, and my schoolwork was so-so. I’d finally get perked up in the afternooon but, by then, the day had practically gone by. One cup of coffee from the nearest coffee shop should do the trick.

Later, I realized that it’s not Mondays that get me down. It’s my attitude. If I truly wanted to honor God with my studies, then I would pursue excellence no matter what. I won’t write term papers, answer exams or listen to the professor just so I would pass the course. I would do all these because I am serving the Lord.

And here’s what’s encouraging. Even if we should not expect something in return, God promises us a reward for serving Him. To get the highest grade or a teacher’s commendation or our classmates’ admiration or an exemption from the finals are perhaps some of those rewards. But the joy that our accomplishments bring to our parents and the honor it gives God are the best returns for our hard work.

Do your work willingly, as though you were serving the Lord himself. In fact, the Lord Christ is the one you are really serving, and you know He will reward you. Colossians 3:23, 24

(Devotion: Real time)

The Life of a Medical Student

Before I started medical school I really had no idea what a typical day would it be like for a medical student. Other than going to school, how many hours of class do I attend to?What else is there to do other than studying? All I knew is that I was enrolled to a medical school with a problem-based learning approach. Who would have known that medicine would really change my life. Well, for the good. Of course.

1. Change of lifestyle

During the first day, we were welcomed with a message, “your life will be over for four years.” I am not going to sugarcoat things but the first whole year will be hard. You’re bound to spend more time studying than you did in your undergraduate studies.

I was having difficulty in adjusting with the problem based approach, in managing my time with studies, and maintaining a good study habit. The year did not only taught me about medicine and disease, it taught me about myself, my strengths and weaknesses. It helped me reevaluate my priorities and find meaningful ways how to cope up with stress and insecurities.

Problem Based Learning

Do we really have to be less social in medical school?  As human beings, we strive to thrive so our initial instinct is to shy away from the crowd in order to maintain focus. However, it is important to look after our mental health or else we’ll end up burned out in no time. We can continue to socialize and build community with peers and also have a life outside of medical school. So, don’t be afraid to have fun and de-stress with people. Go to the movies after that difficult and draining exam, go and drink coffee with non-medical people or just stay at home and spend time with your family.

2. As you build self-discipline, you build time management.

In Medicine, you are given a bulk of chapters to read and if you don’t finish reading the set of chapters given to you, trust me, you’ll be in misery. Why? Another set of chapters are given to you the next day and you’ll be left behind. When you do not have control over your own self, how can you control time? So, time management is important though it can become an overwhelming task.

It was all sweat, tears, and blood in order to finish bulk of chapters consisting hundred or more pages just to pass the exam. It was hard to stay optimistic despite countless of failed exams, absorbing and cramming the whole concept in order to be able to participate the small group discussion. But it developed my character on how to discipline myself. It helped me create new habits of actions toward improving myself and reaching my goal.