Friday, February 20, 2009

Halfway Into Geriatrics

Oh my look at the time. My last post was a week ago and I can't help but wonder how time flies when one is in clinicals. busy busy.

Anyway, I'm halfway into my 1 month posting of Geriatrics. I'm posted to 2 wards, mainly the orthogeriatrics ward and the delirium unit.

So far all I have seen in the former ward are falls! Old people really fall a lot and get osteoporotic fractures so easily! I think I better get my calcium intake up :P For the delirium unit, as the name suggests, we get a lot of confused elders in there, and some that are aggressive and yelling at inopportune moments. hmm.

I don't think geriatrics are my thing coz apparently I'm too softspoken for the people here (can you believe that??) and my accent confuses the oldies too as most of them are not used to hearing other slangs.

Seniors said that geriatrics is a slack rotation but not so for me. We have a pretty full timetable I must say. So I think it depends on which hospital you do your posting and how willing your team is to teach. My consultants and registrars are pretty nice :)

And the internet thing is still pending. They take 10-15 working days to process a simple application. What! Cant wait to get internet coz not only I can talk to my family and frenz easily but a lot of academic annoucements can only be checked online. so mafan.

Okay that's all for this week haha. Will give more details when I feel like it. Ta-ra!! as one old lady said to me! :P

PS: I finally got my parcel yesterday. yays! But what a pity that some stuff with sentimental value to me wasn't included because apparently the parcel exceeded the weight limit, wic is weird coz it wasn't so when we weighed it last time.. hmm. Will just hvta find another way, by hook or crook to get it sent to me :P

11 comments:

KeeLaLa said...

Huhu dear i will help u to send the important "things" to u thru posting. =D Jia you in ur studies ah. Treat the old folks well. Take care!

k0k s3n w4i said...

I dun think I'd ever have enuf patience to do geriatrics. I can barely stand kids - well, they are okay up till the senenth month when they develop stranger anxiety. after that, they'd yowl them moment I come near.

ching mei said...

hey zi yun :) hope every thing is going well there..
jane and i are planning to go to perth to do our electives somewhere is november this year..got a couple of stuff i want to ask u...is your uni attached to UWA or do you guys get posted to different hospital? is fremantle hospital one of the teaching hospital? and do you get to learn alot in the hospital..are the staff there friendly and helpful? also..a huge favour..would you mind if we stay at your house for like two weeks? is your email the one in facebook? easier to conatact via email i tink..hope 2 hear from u soon :D thanks so much. take care!

Zzzyun said...

kee> hehe thanks dear for ur help. i must wish the old folks treat me well instead :P

k0k> after 2 weeks in geriatrics, i must i say i think i lack the patience too. i find it hard to keep repeating myself to ppl who are hard of hearing.. and oh noes, dont forget the dementia/delirium. so difficult to clerk aikz. im not sure whether i like kids over the elderly tho...

Zzzyun said...

hey ching mei, b4 i answer all ur questions i would like to say sure of coz i welcome u guys to come and stay but the problem is i think my hols start around november so i'll prob be going msia back then? so not sure how to go around that.. hmm..

ok abt the hospitals. our uni has many teaching hospitals but the main ones are sir charles gardneir hospital, royal perth hosp, fremantle and joondalup hospital. i'd recommend the 1st two coz they are more in the middle while the other 2 u need to travel quite far from uwa.

well so far i did learn quite abit in my hospital but it really depends on ur team. if ur team is nice and willing to teach, then u learn alot. so i cant comment whether u will learn onot when u are here.

and yeap my email is the one in FB. u can contact me thru or msn wud be fine too. :) so any questions just ask and i'll try to answer them if i can ^^

Anonymous said...

hey hey! how r u there?
hehe, since u r in geriatrics, can i ask u one question?

i am currently posted to medicine ward. sometimes i c those ill & old grandmothers have orange fluid around their mouth. sry to hav such little info, bt i hope u can hlp me out..

Anonymous said...

oops, i sound weird there.
i wanted to know what that orange stuff was...

Could it be poor hygiene or what?

ching mei said...

thanks so much zi yun. i'll be in touch with you thru emails or something. really appreciate it :) take care and all the best :)

Zzzyun said...

sin> hey abt ur question, sorry but i really dunno whats the answer. i'd never seen any orange liquid so far. could it be food?

btw do i know u personally? coz ur nick is too short for me to know who are u.. sry ya~

ching mei> no probs. but do let me know if u are staying over coz i need to ask my hsemates. but im not sure how u guys can stay coz we all probably will back in msia then.

fireheart said...

Ahh, parcel overweight? Just to let you know, some places rigged their machines by upping them higher than it should be...so when you weight your parcel that you think is less than, say, 10kg, it comes up to be 11kg. It happens at the Penang Airport and post office!! Hehe...

Zzzyun said...

haha yaloh so weird le, meng meng weighed it shld be not more than 30kgs. then it told me its too heavy, tat its more than 45kg or something. siao rite..haha