Mastodawn

SummerSimo Travel Troubles Notes and The Purring Page Jan 20

Chapter 1: The High-Contrast Crisis

The rain outside didn’t just fall; it “carried on like a pork chop,” hammering against the corrugated iron roof of the studio. Inside, the air smelled of burnt espresso and ozone. Liam, Dax, and Dev—the Three Best Friends—were locked in a battle against a deadline that felt like hard yakka on a Saturday arvo.

The Philosophy of the Studio

The trio didn’t just build websites; they built gateways. Their manifesto was simple: Writing for Web Accessibility wasn’t an afterthought—it was the foundation.

Liam (The Content King): He believed that for each web page, one must provide a short title that describes the page content and distinguishes it from other pages. He was currently obsessing over the “Space Teddy Inc.” homepage, ensuring the page name came before the organization name.
Dax (The Visual Architect): His monitors were filled with color wheels and luminance grids. He knew that foreground text needs to have sufficient contrast with background colors, a rule that applied to buttons and background gradients alike.
Dev (The Logic Master): Dev lived in the “code order.” He was currently ensuring that the order of elements in the code matched the logical order of the information presented. He often checked this by removing CSS styling to see if the content still made sense.

“If we don’t get this right,” Dev muttered, “we’re just pulling a swifty on every user who relies on a screen reader”.

The Arrival of Elias

When the thud came at the door, it wasn’t the sound of a visitor; it was the sound of a warning. Elias, a retiree known to the boys as a frequent tester of their designs, stood in the doorway. He was a man who lived with low vision, hand tremors, and mild short-term memory loss.

“I couldn’t get through the ‘Space Teddy’ checkout,” Elias panted, his voice shaking. “It was the Shadow of the Raven’s Wing. It’s back.”

Dax went pale. “The Shadow? That’s just a myth developers tell to scare juniors.”

“It’s no myth,” Elias said, leaning on a desk. “It’s a deliberate design to exclude. It’s when a site uses color alone to convey information, like marking required fields in red without an asterisk”. “But this was worse. It was a shroud.”

The Mystery of the Raven’s Wing

The Three Best Friends gathered around Liam’s main terminal. Elias pointed a weathered finger at a specific block of text that seemed to shimmer and fade.

The Raven’s Wing (Definition): A technique used by rogue developers to create “unnecessarily complex” content that bypasses the need for clear and concise sentences. It creates a “lack of headings,” making the document nearly impossible to edit or navigate for assistive technology.

“Look at the code,” Dev whispered. His fingers flew across the mechanical keyboard. “They haven’t just ignored the WCAG requirements. They’ve weaponized them. They’re using ambiguous link text like ‘click here’ to lead users into a loop”.

“And the images,” Dax added, his eyes narrowing. “There’s no meaningful text alternatives. For these informational images, they’ve used empty alt-text as if they were purely decorative”.

The First Clue: The “Superbear” Anomaly

As they dug deeper into the “Raven’s” source code, a name popped up that Liam recognized from a recent news article: Superbear.

“Wait,” Liam said, pulling up a local news site. “I just wrote about this. ‘Superbear saves the day… rescuing a young cat from a tree'”. He looked at the code Dev had unearthed. “The Raven is using the Superbear story as a mask. But look at how they’ve marked it up.”

Dev pointed to the screen:

They used a <h2> for the title “Superbear saves the day”.
They included a <time> tag for “7 Aug 2015”.
But hidden inside an <aside> was a list of “Related Articles” that didn’t exist in the real world.

“Fair dinkum,” Liam breathed. “These links… ‘Superbear stands for mayor’. That never happened. They’re using WAI-ARIA roles like role="search" to hide a data-mining script”.

The Friends’ Vow

The “Shadow of the Raven’s Wing” wasn’t just a technical glitch; it was a digital wall built to stop people like Lakshmi, the blind accountant, and Ian, the clerk with autism, from accessing the truth.

“We need to audit this entire city’s infrastructure,” Dax declared. “Starting with the contrast ratios of every government portal”.

“And I’ll start rewriting the instructions,” Liam said. “No more unnecessarily technical language. We need to describe input requirements, like date formats, so even someone as stressed as Elias can navigate ‘no worries'”.

“I’ll handle the keyboard accessibility,” Dev added. “I’ll ensure every custom widget, from accordions to buttons, uses tabindex="0" to stay in the navigation order”.

They looked at each other. The task was heaps big, but they were the best in the business.

The Audit Checklist

Before they could head out into the “arvo” to confront the Raven, they had to prep their toolkit.

ToolPurposeContrast CheckerTo identify “insufficient” contrast that hides text.Screen ReaderTo hear the “info and relationships” hidden in the markup.Responsive DebuggerTo see how the “Raven’s” site adapts to a “narrow mobile phone”.Aussie GritTo ensure they don’t “pull a swifty” on their mission.

“She’ll be right,” Elias whispered, watching the Three Best Friends work. “As long as you keep the content clear and concise, the shadow can’t win”.

To Be Continued…

#art #bloganuary #bloganuary202412 #bloganuary202421 #bloganuary202426 #bloganuary202429 #books #culture #curiosity #dailyprompt #dailyprompt1812 #dailyprompt1823 #dailyprompt1829 #dailyprompt1830 #dailyprompt1832 #dailyprompt1833 #dailyprompt1842 #dailyprompt1851 #dailyprompt1854 #dailyprompt1862 #dailyprompt1867 #dailyprompt1875 #dailyprompt1928 #dailyprompt1937 #dailyprompt1938 #dailyprompt1939 #dailyprompt1941 #dailyprompt1942 #dailyprompt1943 #dailyprompt1944 #dailyprompt1945 #dailyprompt1948 #dailyprompt1951 #dailyprompt1975 #dailyprompt1994 #dailyprompt1998 #dailyprompt2007 #dailyprompt2008 #dailyprompt2010 #dailyprompt2011 #dailyprompt2109 #dailyprompt2112 #dailyprompt2119 #dailyprompt2126 #dailyprompt2136 #DANCESPIRITCOLOROFPEACE #drinks #EmotionsFeelingsSundayPowerOfASmileMyLifeWithYouSOULCHEERFULNESSFEELINGSHOPETearsSometimesAKissIsAllYouNeedTheSilenceLifeSelfWords #Evernote #everyday #Facebook #facts #food #HISTORY #IFTTT #Instagram #Ireland #Irish #kitchen #language #learning #LifeAndAGIRLINTERRUPTEDFriendshipAndPoisonBULLIEDKLDONNOneDayAtOfficeESSENTIALFORSURVIVINGTheBreathOfASoulMePastPresentFutureYesUAreIGotItSome #MYCOCKTAILWORLD #noMatterHow #noMatterHowBadIsTogetherWeCanWin #photography #pictures #Pinterest #RECIPES #science #social #speechTherapy #SUMMER #summersimoBestTouristGuidesAreYourTasteBuds #SUMMERSIMOTHEUNDERWORLD #SUMMERSIMOCOMPASS #SUMMERSIMOSCOCKTAILS #SUMMERSIMOSCOMPASS #SUMMERSIMOSGLITTERWAR #SUMMERSIMOSRECIPES #technology #TheBestTouristGuidesAreYourTasteBuds #ThePurringPage #TheSoundOfSmile #travel #WithASummersimoSmile

The Theoretical Doctor Jan 15

My New Year’s Eve – 2025

Related Posts:

31st December 2025. I was NOT oncall.

It was a Wednesday and it was a normal working day. Hence, at 7:45am, I left to work as usual and was there by 8am. It was the New Year’s Eve. I thought that maybe, just maybe, there would be less patients in the clinic.

The day started off smoothly. Surprisingly, there were many patients who came for their follow up followed by additional patients (the defaulters and walk-ins) but it was manageable. We went about our day, seeing each patient and when lunch time came, we went for our lunch break.

At 2pm, we went about our work, seeing patients as usual and I was taking my time with each patient. The patient load in the afternoon shift was lower compared to the morning shift and both my colleagues were done with their patient load.

Suddenly, a staff nurse barged into my room saying that there is a massive accident that just occurred nearby, 2 patients were already brought in and 2 more were on their way. They called in all available doctors (which were only the three of us) to help out.

I told my colleagues to head out and help out first while I rushed through the consultation of my final patient. After that, I rushed to the tiny Emergency Room of the clinic. My colleague who was oncall on that day was already attending to a child. I went over to the other patient, an old lady and did my primary survey and fast scan.

She was desaturating badly under room air and needed oxygen support. She had an open skull fracture, multiple abrasion and laceration wounds over her face, upper and lower limbs as well as rib fractures and on top of that, her left leg appears shortened and she has a closed fracture over her right lower limb.

I didn’t think that we should proceed with an x-ray at our clinic even if we had the facility at that time, the best would be to send them straight away to the hospital because she could deteriorate further any time. Thankfully, her GCS (Glasgow Coma Scale) was full.

I was focused on my patient, stabilising while referring her to the specialists of various specialities as well as the emergency physician that when I finally got ready to transfer her out that I noticed the child that my other colleague was attending to. The child’s right arm was crushed and the distal limb of his right arm was pale and his right lung was obvious till mid-chest.

Just how in the world is he still awake? The poor child was crying out in pain…

Judging by the state of his and my patient’s injuries, it was definitely high impact.

The story was, the whole family were travelling back from Miri to Kuching. Both the parents were sitting in front and the father was driving whilst the two children and their grandmother were sitting at the back.

The father claimed that he was not speeding but as he was about to make a u-turn at a junction, he claimed to have hit the curb and the car turned many times into the other lane before finally stopping and the grandmother and one of the child were thrown out of the car.

It sounded like a very high impact collision. Thankfully, the parents and the other child were well and unscathed.

We had to transfer both patients in two separate ambulances to the Red Zone of the Emergency Department at Hospital Bintulu as one ambulance could only transport one patient at a time.

Upon arriving, I met my colleague and friend at the Red Zone of the hospital. After we have handed over to the medical officers and specialist in the Emergency Department, we headed back together. However, upon reaching back, there was another patient who came in who was extremely tachypnoiec.

Oh, here we go again… Another Red Zone referral…

We stabilised the patient and referred her to hospital again. The clock was already showing 10pm when we left. The journey to the hospital takes about 45 minutes to an hour for each journey and the both of us have yet to have our dinner. This time, I choose to accompany her for the referral, mainly for emotional support and also in hopes of stopping by McDonald’s to get a takeout.

Yes, we did stop by McDonalds after sending the patient safely to the hospital and yes, we used the ambulance and went through drive-through.

By the time we left, it was already 11pm. The journey takes around 45 minutes to an hour and it was raining heavily. At this point, I was wondering if we would end up celebrating New Year’s in the ambulance.

Me and my friend ate in the ambulance on the way back while we joked and exchange oncall stories. Thankfully, we reached a little before midnight. The day was completely unexpected, not to mention tiring but it was nice to have spent it with a friend.

It’s still the beginning of 2026, so if I’m not too late, Happy New Year!

If you are travelling anytime soon or in the future, do drive safely, stay within speed limits especially if it is raining. Remember to get your car and tyres checked before any long distance journey and NEVER drive under the influence.

Stay safe always!

About Me | Privacy Policy | Contact Me

#article #Articles #bintulu #Blog #blogging #clinic #collision #dailyprompt #dailyprompt1829 #dailyprompt1833 #dailyprompt1834 #dailyprompt1836 #dailyprompt1838 #dailyprompt1839 #dailyprompt1841 #dailyprompt1843 #dailyprompt1844 #dailyprompt1853 #dailyprompt1943 #dailyprompt1948 #dailyprompt1951 #dailyprompt1953 #doctor #doctorSLife #emergency #emergencyDepartment #generalPractitioner #healthcare #housemanship #Malaysia #medical #medicalOfficer #Medicine #newYearSEve #oncall #sarawak #writing

The Theoretical Doctor Jan 13

Lazy Days As A Medical Officer

Click here for more articles & daily dose.

Do lazy days make you feel rested or unproductive?

While I’m at work, I’d be looking forward to returning home or towards my off day. In contrary, while I’m at home or on my off day, I’d be thinking about returning to work.

Do you feel the same way?

Previously, as a House Officer, I’m used to the “one off day per week”. Whereas, as a Medical Officer, weekends and public holidays are granted off days, except if you’re well… oncall and that depends on your current department as well as some departments require you to put in a half day shift during weekends or public holidays.

I’d say for me, considering I live alone and I don’t even own a car here in Sarawak, I’m pretty much lazy and unproductive to the point I get restless sometimes.

That’s counter productive as rest days are meant to make you feel… rested, right?

Thus, on my off days, since I’m an early riser, I try not to disturb my circadian rhythm by getting up at the same time as usual every morning, partly because I forgot to off the alarm or somehow, my body clock just wakes me up every time.

To feel so-called “productive”, I’d do some studying with my morning coffee till I well, lose my focus, then I start wondering about lunch and start cooking, handwash my clothes because I’m too lazy to walk downstairs with a bag of clothes and finally doze off for my afternoon nap.

I’d then wake up in the evening to have dinner and pack my essentials and bag for work the following day before finally, retiring to bed early.

I really need to be more productive during my off days.

Even me writing this just sounds too depressing.

Click here for more articles & daily dose.

YouTube | Instagram | Pinterest | Facebook | Spotify

About Me | Privacy Policy | Contact Me

#article #Blog #blogging #dailyprompt #dailyprompt1823 #dailyprompt1829 #dailyprompt1834 #dailyprompt1836 #dailyprompt1838 #dailyprompt1943 #dailyprompt1945 #dailyprompt1946 #dailyprompt1947 #dailyprompt1948 #dailyprompt1949 #dailyprompt1950 #dailyprompt1952 #dailyprompt1954 #dailyprompt1956 #dailyprompt1959 #doctor #doctorSLife #hospital #hospitalUmumSarawak #housemanship #kuching #lazy #lazyDays #medical #medicalOfficer #Medicine #plasticAndReconstructiveSurgery #plasticSurgery #plastics #sarawak #sarawakGeneralHospital #surgical #writing

The Theoretical Doctor Jan 12

Reflection: 2 Months As A Floating Medical Officer

Related Posts:

At the time of writing this article, I’m on leave which I took from the 1st of October till 15th of October, which my Head of Department (HOD) was more than kind enough to allow.

I needed the break, perhaps it was an adjustment disorder on my side but I was struggling. Physically, I caught up, I showed up and I was there but mentally, I felt left behind and lost and on most days, I was low.

Perhaps, it was out of tiredness as I have just recently off-tagged and in combination with my low mood, I felt demotivated and in general, felt that I have lost my love for medicine. I decided then that clinical life in the hospital was not for me. True, we were lacking doctors in various departments and hospitals in general across Malaysia. However, during that time, even if there enough manpower, I don’t think I would still want to continue.

I tried looking on the bright side, tiny things as well as the positive aspects of things to help me to get through the day.

Firstly, I’m thankful to be in a subspeciality department instead of the bigger and more hectic departments, I think I would have broken down within the first week itself. Secondly, I was in the department with the sweetest and kindest bosses who were more than happy to teach or lend a helping hand when needed. We are small in number, yes. But it felt like being part of a family.

I was happy, the environment was good, kind and non-toxic. However, mentally, I knew that this is not my place.

This further saddens me as I have always looked forward to being part of this lovely department. Yet, I knew, it’s just a matter of time before I slip and broke down. My body knew that I wouldn’t last long here nor do I foresee myself handling the complex and complicated cases here. If my interest is not here, how would I even make it through to specialise?

Amidst the business and my mind and body trying to keep up with the steep learning curve place before me, I was unable to view my options or to consider other departments.

I was just done in general and sadly, I wouldn’t be able to fulfil my quote in my medical school yearbook, I feel myself losing my will every single day nor do I find the strength within myself to serve.

Sadly,“sometimes what we like is not necessarily what is suited for us”, a fellow colleague told me and that hit me hard. I had no interest in other departments either or practicing in general at that point. All I could think of at that point was to quit and to hand in my resignation letter. After all, I have successfully completed my 2 years of internship / housemanship training. I can still locum if I wanted to. But of course, I didn’t enjoy it either. All I was ever passionate of was to teach. Thus, I considered changing my field and entering university as a lecturer did not sound appealing either as I did not like research at all.

Thus, after much contemplation, I approached my Head of Department (HOD) to validate my 30-day-resignation letter. My HOD is another kind soul who enquired to know what prompted me to come to such a decision. She signed my papers but advised me to consider changing departments instead of quitting.

However, at that time and at that current state of mind, I was fixed on my decision. Hence, the following week on a Monday, I submitted my 30-Days-Notice of Resignation, only to have it retracted the following day. Although I have handed in my 30-Days-Notice, a part of me felt a tinge of regret and sadness. Somehow, some part of me did not want to leave but I could not see any way out of this virtual box that I appear to be caged in.

My colleague and my parents played an important role in my decision to retract my resignation. Instead, despite my limited amount of leaves left for the rest of the year, I chose to take some time of work. Perhaps it was due to tiredness that contributed to my rash and impulsive decision.

On the 1st of October 2025, I took the first flight out and then throughout my leaves, I locummed at several General Practitioners. Remember when I said that I did not like locum either? This time, I decided to give it a second try and to keep an open mind.

The first GP I locummed at was a rather chill one with only 3 cases being seen throughout the whole day. The subsequent GPs were hectic and had multiple procedures, literally from the beginning of my shift till the end. In all of those times, I was the only doctor in the clinic. In my previous experiences, I have locummed at clinics which had 2-3 resident doctors.

Honestly, I don’t know how I managed to pull it off. Despite the hecticness and the patient load, I found myself looking forward to return and I enjoyed talking, listening and consulting the patients. It was fun. Slowly, I found myself enjoying and falling back in love with medicine and practicing medicine and thinking on how I could improve myself to serve better.

Then, I realised, perhaps venturing into family medicine might not be such a bad thing. True, there is abundant of family medicine doctors now and lack of doctors practicing in the hospital but that doesn’t mean that they are still not needed. Sadly, as much as I want to force myself to carry on and stay practicing in the hospital, I knew that it is not meant for me in the long haul or for me to last for even a year.

The opportunity to specialise is there but how can I continue if I can’t even see myself as one, or even have the inspiration?

Suddenly, the plan and my pathway seems clearer and I’m more than ecstatic to embark on my next journey. It was definitely the rest that I needed. To think and to reflect. If I were to stick to this journey, how can I do so for the long haul and at the same time, enjoy it?

I hope that in months or years to come, the decision to stay is the right choice. Perhaps, I still need time to discover my interest in this vast field. At times, I wish that it can be simple and that I would know what or which department I’m fitted to or destined to specialise in.

About Me | Privacy Policy | Contact Me

#Articles #Blog #blogging #dailyprompt #dailyprompt1826 #dailyprompt1828 #dailyprompt1829 #dailyprompt1833 #dailyprompt1834 #dailyprompt1839 #dailyprompt1841 #dailyprompt1843 #dailyprompt1852 #dailyprompt1944 #dailyprompt1946 #dailyprompt1948 #dailyprompt1949 #dailyprompt1950 #dailyprompt1951 #dailyprompt1953 #doctor #doctorSLife #healthcare #hospital #hospitalLife #hospitalUmumSarawak #kuching #Malaysia #medical #medicalOfficer #Medicine #plasticAndReconstructiveSurgery #plasticSurgery #plastics #sarawak #sarawakGeneralHospital #surgery #writing

The Theoretical Doctor Jan 8

My First Tagging On-Call Shift As A Floating Medical Officer

Related Posts:

My first tagging oncall shift was on a Sunday with a fellow medical officer I knew when I was a House Officer in General Surgery. Back then, he was having his attachment in General Surgery.

Just like a House Officer, we had to undergo a period of “tagging“.

In the Department of Plastics and Reconstructive Surgery at Sarawak General Hospital, I had to undergo a tagging period of one month, every other day (EOD). This is because, I am a newborn medical officer with no previous experience in General Surgery (as a Medical Officer).

This is an advantage as I would be able to learn as much as I could within a span of 1 month. However, it was also a disadvantage as I’m afraid, I would be burnt out mentally and physically considering the on-calls were on every other day (EOD).

“I can do it. If others could, I could too.” , I repeated this mantra to myself but the learning curve is going to be an extremely steep one.

During my first tagging oncall, thankfully, it was with a fellow senior colleague who I was rather comfortable with.

We started with our morning ward rounds followed by passover and peri-rounds. After we were done, we went back to the ward to settle our pending job-lists followed by lunch.

As a tagging on-call medical officer, the first call would be to me for referrals. After which, I would discuss with my senior and proceed to see the referred patient together. After reviewing our newly electively admitted patients, pre-op rounds with surgeon and demarcating the op site and pre-op meeting, we went back home in the evening and returned at night together for our night reviews which we updated in the Department’s WhatsApp Group on the progress of certain patients. Incidentally, a patient whom we were awaiting for op was called into the operating theatre and the operation ended at 2am. Finally, we returned home for the night.

I was nervous of course as I usually get anxious easily. However, I took my shower and headed to bed.

My phone was kept beside me in case I were to receive calls or referrals. At 6am, I returned to the ward and started our morning reviews as well as prepared for our morning rounds.

Since, it was a Monday, it was morning ward rounds, handover and peri rounds as usual. However, since I was still tagging, I was expected to stay till 5pm or to join the ongoing surgeries.

Thus, my first postcall was spent in the operating theatre assisting till 6pm. However, despite the ongoing operation, I excused myself to return home and rest.

The following day will be another one, thankfully, not oncall but within office hours.

Thankfully, it was a good call with a fellow senior that I was comfortable with in terms of approaching in regards to my doubts which was undoubtedly, many.

I can only hope that I would be able to survive this whole month of tagging.

About Me | Privacy Policy | Contact Me

#article #Articles #Blog #blogging #dailyprompt #dailyprompt1828 #dailyprompt1836 #dailyprompt1853 #dailyprompt1855 #dailyprompt1857 #dailyprompt1858 #dailyprompt1861 #dailyprompt1943 #dailyprompt1944 #dailyprompt1945 #dailyprompt1946 #dailyprompt1948 #dailyprompt1949 #dailyprompt1952 #dailyprompt1954 #doctor #hospital #hospitalUmumSarawak #housemanship #kuching #Malaysia #medical #medicalOfficer #Medicine #oncall #plasticAndReconstructiveSurgery #plasticSurgery #plastics #sarawak #sarawakGeneralHospital #surgery #tagging #writing

The Theoretical Doctor Jan 6

My First Day Of Locum And As A Medical Officer

Related Posts:

A locum or locum tenens, is a person who temporarily fulfils the duties of another; the term is especially used for physicians or clergy.

– Wikipedia.

The first time I ever tasted or ventured into locum or a so-called “part-time doctor” was on the 3rd of August 2025.

At that time, I was back in my hometown and on a 3-weeks-break post housemanship / internship at a small private clinic, yet to officially begin as a Medical Officer.

While I was in medical school, I would occasionally hear this term “locum” from my fellow seniors or batch mates, lecturers, parents or even friends of my parents. However, in order to locum, one would need to be fully registered with the Malaysian Medical Council (MMC) and possess a valid Annual Practicing Certificate (APC). In short, I had to graduate medical school, finish my internship or housemanship first, then only am I able to dive into this.

Thus, upon acquiring my full MMC and APC licence, I was looking forward to locum. Looking forward to it as well as nervous to dive into this. Thankfully, I had just completed my final rotation in the Emergency and Trauma Department.

In the Emergency and Trauma Department, there are various zones in which the patients would be triaged into in terms of presenting complaints, severity and their vital signs. The least critical in severity would be triaged into Green zone. The Green zone is similar to a clinic setting, thus, it gave me some idea on the type of cases I would be expecting.

My first locum was just 3 hours long, from 7pm till 10pm. I figured that since I am just starting at that time, it would be better to start with minimal hours in order to get used to it and also.. if I would enjoy it.

The clinic was quaint and small but equipped with basic necessities and a scan machine. The only thing that it did not have, was an x-ray facility. The moment I sat down, the patients kept coming back-to-back. As soon as I was done with one, another came.

For a first-timer, I felt it was equivalent to the Green Zone in General Hospital whereby the cases were always there but the patient load was manageable.

However, I was extremely scared.

Mainly afraid that I might accidentally jeopardise the patient’s safety in terms of mismanagement. Thankfully, by 9:30 pm, the clinic assistant stopped accepting new patients and prepared to close the clinic.

For a first experience, it was a good one despite it being rather terrifying for me.

But, we all have to start somewhere and build our confidence, don’t we?

About Me | Privacy Policy | Contact Me

#article #Articles #Blog #blogging #clinic #clinicLife #dailyprompt #dailyprompt1804 #dailyprompt1828 #dailyprompt1833 #dailyprompt1839 #dailyprompt1843 #dailyprompt1853 #dailyprompt1855 #dailyprompt1861 #dailyprompt1862 #dailyprompt1942 #dailyprompt1946 #dailyprompt1947 #dailyprompt1948 #dailyprompt1951 #dailyprompt1953 #dailyprompt1959 #doctor #hospital #hospitalLife #houseOfficer #housemanship #johorBahru #locum #locumTenens #locuming #Malaysia #medical #medicalOfficer #Medicine #writing

The Theoretical Doctor Aug 18, 2025

Surviving 10 Days Of Tagging | Emergency & Trauma Department

Related Posts:

My tagging days in my sixth and final rotation, Emergency and Trauma Department, lasted for a total of 10 days which was from the 11th of April till the 23rd of April 2025. This is excluding our one “off day” for the week.

Did I manage to last throughout the tagging days?

Not quite.

I did take a sick leave during my second week of tagging. The reason was that I was just extremely tired.

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

The tagging hours in the Emergency and Trauma Department is from 7 am till 10pm, just in other postings.

The good thing about this department is that we do not need to do morning reviews. Thus, coming way early prior to our shift is unheard of. We merely come and leave on time.

However, considering that it is the Emergency Department, things are unpredictable whereby things could be quiet one moment and hectic the next.

Hence, on days which burn, it can be extremely tiring. But, completing these tagging days are a must and so on slow days where the hours seem to pass by really slowly, I make it a point to have an “hourly toilet break“. On busy days, it may be the only time that I am given a chance to sit and breathe.

On top of that, I made sure I took my lunch and dinner break. Not because I was hungry as I was used to having my meal for the day after work. It was merely my way of spending my time during my tagging days.

At 10pm, the shift is over and I leave, even if the floor is busy because the following day my shift begins at 7am again.

Finally after 10 days of “tagging“, I have finally off-tagged and shifted to “shift hours“.

Photo by Andrey Grushnikov on Pexels.com

There are no assessments in order to off-tag. as there were in other postings, which is a good thing. However, tagging in this posting felt long and seem to went on forever for me. Perhaps, this was because I was mainly tagging alone as I entered a month later than my fellow peers.

Nonetheless, I was glad to be done with this schedule and shift back to a regular 12-hours shift.

About Me | Privacy Policy | Contact Me

#article #Articles #Blog #blogging #dailyprompt #dailyprompt1826 #dailyprompt1828 #dailyprompt1833 #dailyprompt1834 #dailyprompt1836 #dailyprompt1839 #dailyprompt1841 #dailyprompt1843 #dailyprompt1855 #dailyprompt1860 #dailyprompt1861 #dailyprompt1865 #dailyprompt1948 #dailyprompt1953 #dailyprompt1954 #dailyprompt1962 #doctor #emergency #emergencyAndTrauma #hospital #hospitalLife #hospitalUmumSarawak #houseOfficer #housemanship #kuching #Malaysia #medical #Medicine #sarawakGeneralHospital #tagging #trauma #writing

The Theoretical Doctor Aug 15, 2025

Jobs That I’ve Had

Click here for more articles & daily dose.

What jobs have you had?

Teacher

Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko on Pexels.com

My first job that I’ve ever had was as a Teacher.

I had just completed my STPM which is a form of pre-university course in Malaysia, equivalent to that of the UK A-Levels and I was waiting for my results.

At that time, I was on a holiday with my parents and was perusing through Facebook when I came across an advertisement on a job offer at a nearby language centre, looking for an English Language teacher.

Without any expectations, I applied for it. At least, I’d have some exposure and regularity prior to entering Medical School in September that year.

Shortly after I returned home, I received a call and an email responding to my application. I went for the interview session and was soon called back and offered a job to which I accepted.

Barista

Photo by Barcelona Albertus on Pexels.com

My second job, I was a barista at a coffee shop as well as worked at the cash register of a store, both at the same time during my first and second year of medical school after which I stopped and subsequently used to work as a waitress for an F&B company. That was my third job. My second and third jobs were jobs mainly to earn extra cash after classes amidst my free time.

Looking back, I probably should’ve just focused on my writing.

Junior Doctor

Photo by RF._.studio _ on Pexels.com

My fourth and current job is working as a junior doctor at Sarawak General Hospital. I still am one since I started practicing in 2023 and is currently going through my sixth and final rotation (at the time of writing this article) before finally receiving my full APC or license to practice independently both in government or private sector.

Am I ready for it? Certainly not.

However, somehow I haven’t quit and I kept pushing through. I don’t know how or why and before I knew it, 2 years has flown by.

Click here for more articles & daily dose.

YouTube | Instagram | Pinterest | Facebook | Spotify

About Me | Privacy Policy | Contact Me

#article #Articles #Blog #blogging #dailyprompt #dailyprompt1819 #dailyprompt1834 #dailyprompt1838 #dailyprompt1839 #dailyprompt1841 #dailyprompt1853 #dailyprompt1854 #dailyprompt1858 #dailyprompt1863 #dailyprompt1884 #dailyprompt1948 #dailyprompt1952 #dailyprompt1953 #dailyprompt1955 #dailyprompt1957 #dailyprompt1959 #dailyprompt1971 #doctor #hospitalLife #houseOfficer #housemanship #jobs #medical #medicalOfficer #medicalSchool #Medicine #partTime #work #writing

The Theoretical Doctor Aug 14, 2025

Reflection – After Almost 2 Years Of Practicing As A Junior Doctor

Click here for more articles & daily dose.

“Would you want to return back to medical school?”

No.

I enjoyed my 5 years of medical school very much and I appreciate the memories formed throughout those years.

However, after working as a junior doctor for 2 years, I would not consider turning back time, just to go through medical school all over again. I enjoyed studying and it was equally tough and fun. Besides that, I had the best study group, “The Impostors”.

Going through the COVID-19 Pandemic season of social distancing and online classes made the journey easier. I remembered staying back in Kuala Lumpur and waking up in the morning prior to starting class just to set up my laptop and my connecting screen, sending the link earlier to the group, sharing the slides if needed and while the classes are on-going, I would go about cooking, cleaning or folding clothes.

My coffee and tea would be on standby and everything was prim and proper. Besides that, breakfast, lunch and dinner would always be prepped by me, for me or my friend who lives upstairs. After that, I would proceed to study during the wee hours.

I think the time I managed to complete reading various textbooks were during the COVID pandemic.

Then, I graduated and started my housemanship. It was extremely tough at first and it’s still difficult now at times but I’ve grown to accept the fact that there will be difficult days as well as good days.

Three months later after starting my housemanship journey, my first pay was banked in and subsequently, every month I received my monthly pay.

Eventually as I become more and more senior, things became more and more familiar and easier and some things or procedures became a reflex, even the management plans.

Thus, considering, the things that I’m doing now which I think is much easier as compared to my medical school days, would I want to turn back time?

Nope. Medical school is important and equally tough. On top of that, I’m not getting paid. Instead, my parents had to pay for my medical school fees.

So, no. I cherished those days as I said. But I certainly do not want to relieve them again.

Click here for more articles & daily dose.

YouTube | Instagram | Pinterest | Facebook | Spotify

About Me | Privacy Policy | Contact Me

#article #Articles #Blog #blogging #dailyprompt #dailyprompt1812 #dailyprompt1819 #dailyprompt1833 #dailyprompt1836 #dailyprompt1838 #dailyprompt1839 #dailyprompt1841 #dailyprompt1843 #dailyprompt1844 #dailyprompt1852 #dailyprompt1853 #dailyprompt1854 #dailyprompt1855 #dailyprompt1857 #dailyprompt1858 #dailyprompt1948 #dailyprompt1952 #dailyprompt1957 #dailyprompt1964 #doctor #houseOfficer #housemanship #juniorDoctor #medical #medicalSchool #Medicine #reflection #studying #working #workingVsStudying #writing

The Theoretical Doctor Aug 2, 2025

Surviving The Night Shift As A House Officer In Medical 3 | Housemanship Diaries

Related Posts:

The Medical 3 Ward of Hospital Umum Sarawak or “Sarawak General Hospital” is located on the 9th floor of the main building.

Thankfully, being allocated as the Night House Officer, we only had to take care of one ward, unlike being allocated in Medical 4 / Medical 5 / Infectious Disease Ward or being in the Perimedical Team whereby we were always on the go.

The Medical 3 Ward consists of three teams, which are General Medicine, Respiratory and Neuromedical.

During the daytime, we have allocated House Officers for each team. However, during the night shift, we are in charge of the whole ward.

The jobscope of the night shift House Officer in this ward is the same as in other wards and postings which are transferring in of new patients, attending to acute issues and most importantly, coming mornings.

If you have read my previous article on Surviving The Night Shift In The Medical Posting In General, I mentioned that in this posting, upon my arrival to the ward for my night shift, I would begin taking my coming mornings.

The same goes for Medical 3. However, unlike the night shift in Perimedical, I do not take my arterial blood gases with my coming mornings.

I begin from the Respiratory cubicles which is located at the back of the ward and then move to the front cubicles before finally continuing at subacute and acute cubicles which are the beds located in the middle of the ward, in front of the nursing counter.

If I were late for my coming mornings, then I would proceed with taking the arterial blood gases together. But if I finished early, I would take the blood gases much later.

By 5:30am – 6am, I would start running my blood gases and paste them in the casenotes of the patients. Around 6am – 7am is when the morning team starts arriving to trace the bloods as well as begin their morning reviews.

Thus, I wait to be summoned for my bloodtaking or certests.

Finally, at 9am, I return home from my shift.

About Me | Privacy Policy | Contact Me

#Articles #Blog #blogging #dailyprompt #dailyprompt1823 #dailyprompt1826 #dailyprompt1833 #dailyprompt1838 #dailyprompt1841 #dailyprompt1843 #dailyprompt1844 #dailyprompt1852 #dailyprompt1854 #dailyprompt1857 #dailyprompt1939 #dailyprompt1948 #dailyprompt1950 #dailyprompt1956 #dailyprompt1959 #dailyprompt1962 #dailyprompt1963 #dailyprompt1964 #doctor #healthcare #hospital #hospitalUmumSarawak #houseOfficer #housemanship #kuching #Malaysia #medical #Medicine #sarawak #sarawakGeneralHospital #writing