Imagine...

Imagine...

You're in a plane, flying back to your home country. You have spent the last 11 months, studying in a foreign country, going into a transition from theoretical knowledge to clinical practice. You went thru a course with an entirely different assessment standards and expectations, which emphasize enthusiasm & participation more than knowledge. You struggled to maintain a balance in excelling in your hospital runs, assignments/case reports, & exams. You persevered thru all of these with diligence, far away from the support of your family back home...

And when you have landed at the airport back home, got your luggage, and reach the arrival gate, you push your trolley to the direction of your family you've just spotted from afar... feeling ashamed that you have failed your year, imagining the disappointment your family must have felt about you, trying not to think about the RM 100,000+ tuition fees that have went down the drain. Your confidence squashed, you feel worthless, and you start to doubt whether studying medicine was the right choice.

But you couldn't turn back now. It's 4 years down the road, and your parents have invested a fortune to bring you to where you are now. You have to push on, try again next year, repeating another stressful and tiring year, all over again. But this time, your friends have move on to another year above you. You still meet up with them and all of course, but you can no longer enjoyed the shared experience of overcoming the obstacles together.

Although I did pass my 4th year, I can't help but feel sad for those among us who did not make it. We've all work hard, and it's painful to see people not getting the reward for their diligence. But we have to move on. I have to move on.

For a career that demands us to be compassionate and empathetic to our patients, it's ironic (if not hypocritic) how much Medicine dehumanize us all (medical students).