My favourite day of the week..Friday!

Love it so so much when I get half days off (my tutor's really kind) on Fridays. I haven't been updating partly because there isn't much to update (I think..) and partly because I have been so exhausted that I am totally out of touch with the world. No kidding on this one. The only person I am in contact with here is my bf and even MSN...I rarely have it on, plus...I am always away doing something else when my friends msg me...and hence, me not replying.

I shouldn't be complaining abt my placement since I'm given somewhere not too far away from Cardiff, and I have been given such a wonderful tutor. But it's quite tiring since the hrs are long, and I'm usually out of the house before sunrise, and back after sunset.

My boy's been lovely and supportive. Hugs from him just gives me so much consolation everyday. And I appreciate his effort to let me sleep and have the whole bed to myself while he does his work throughout the night, and then sleeping after I've left the house. Sigh, my "sleeping time" seems like the only time we are physically together now.

Weather in UK is getting tremendously depressing. Gosh, it's been raining raining raining. Gale-force winds joined in as well, and it got so bad that my flat was shaking. There has been a few times whereby I got woken by it, and had to go close the windows just in case the windows get blown off.

Weekly teachings have been interesting, but somehow frustrating in a way since there are people in my group who have got so much opinions abt every single thing that they have to fight it out with each other during discussion. It got really out of hand last week when they were literally raising their voice at each other over ethical issues of whether antibiotics should be prescribed to patients with a cold, and the doctors tried to interrupt but they were totally ignored and the battle continued.

Obviously, we, as medics, know that most colds are viral and hence antibiotics are not going to help things unless the cold has been persistent for weeks. But patients who don't know much abt these things, will think antibiotics will do them good, and hence ask for them, leading to the ethical question of whether we should or should not give it to them.

Arguments started when "What if the GP surgery is privately owned and that the GP has to be responsible for keeping his business going?" made the issue complicating. One side was arguing that the doctor is unethical for prescribing antibiotics to the patient when he knows it's useless, and hence with such unethical docs, it's no wonder why antibiotic resistance exists. Then you have the other side arguing that if the doc doesn't prescribe drugs to earn money, and also losing the patient to patronise the surgery in future, he's going to go bankrupt before he knows it, and what's the point of being so damn ethical when u are an unemployed doc.

I felt really unfortunate to be sitting between this 2 argumentative guys....grrrr. It's actually really simple, I thought. There's no right and wrong to this situation and since it's privately owned, it's the decision of the doctor who owns it no?

If he thinks he rather be completely ethical to the extent whereby it doesn't matter if he goes bankrupt again and again (pity social services..), then of course, he has all rights to insist on practising evidence-based medicine and say "NO" to give antibiotics for a cold and risk losing his patient who thinks he's whatever-they-wanna-say, without the patient knowing that the doc cares for his patients so much that he rather go bankrupt. *rolls eyes*

Then you can also choose to be a completely unethical doc who argues that antibiotics isn't going to harm the patient plus it brings in the bucks and if it so happens to be bacterial (since u can never tell if a cold is viral or bacterial), u hit the nail on the spot. Yet if it's viral, it's going to get better in a few days even if the patient doesn't take the drug, but since the patient will take it, he might think the doc is good for ending his misery. And as a result, he gets to keep his patient, when the doc is actually a bastard thinking abt his money and not anything else.

OR you can also choose to be half ethical and half unethical by giving antibiotics, but telling the patient that you doubt it will help, but take it nevertheless just in case it isn't viral. You earn the bucks, and at the same time, u can stop yourself from being pointed at for being unethical since u did inform the patient and it's their choice of whether they wanna take it or not. Chances are u get to keep your patient while being partially ethical, provided your patient doesn't turn round and say u're always giving him drugs when u know they are useless but just wanna earn the bucks.

If I were the GP, I would go for the "half ethical and half unethical" choice.

Then yesterday, it was a discussion about whether parents should smack their children. There has been a lot of debate about the limit of physical abuse. One can argue that if the parent smack the child a lot for right reasons (again...what is considered "right" and what is considered "wrong"?), it is not physical abuse, while another might argue that it's wrong to hit the child and how hitting him/her will cause emotional scarring and what have you about affecting them to grow up healthily etc etc (feel free to exaggerate the whole situation since i'm sure there will be ppl agreeing).

I think it is very subjective. You can't bang on the fact that if u wack the child, the child will grow up being scarred emotionally and hence, can't grow up into a healthy adult. Yet, you also bang on the fact that if u don't wack the child, u're providing a healthy environment for the child to grow up in, hence it's for sure that the kid will be good.

A few of my classmates in the group have been wacked a lot by parents. I, too, am one. One of them felt that most of her smackings were unjustified for, and till today, she couldn't understand why she was wacked so much. But I felt differently from her. I knew that I was wacked for a particular reason, regardless of whether it was that major a mistake that I deserved a wack rather than just a lecture. I think it did me good, despite me hating being wacked. And till today, I'm grateful for the wackings my parents gave me, because I wouldn't be in medical school if it weren't for them, and I know that it pains them just as much as how it pains me when I get wacked. Trust me, I know how hurt they are, because I heard my Dad weeping once in the toilet after he wacked me.

Yet, some children might hate their parents for hitting them because they do not think positively like me, and hence, rebel against them. Then social problems start, and parents get blamed for causing the emotional scarring of these children.

But before we point fingers at parents, maybe we should think about cases whereby parents do not wack their child. "Spare the rod, spoil the child" is the common phrase we hear often. Some kids just don't learn when parents talk to them about their fault, and continue with their intolerable ways, and give social problems when they grow up. And there are some who just grow up to be proper.

I believe that whether a person gets led astray or not depends on numerous factors. I strongly agree that parents and the child's surrounding environment has a huge influence, but the child's maturity also plays a major role. If you get a child who grows up in the best environment (deemed by society as being the best, of course), but he's just immature in deciding what is right and wrong for himself, and not thinking abt the consequences, then it's too bad for him. There are numerous cases of children who grow up in poverty, being smuggled abroad at a young tender age to fight for survival alone without parental love and a proper home, but end up being successful people and understanding the emotional turmoil their parents went through. My bf already knew a few like that.

Sigh, there are still other issues we were discussing about, but I'll probably spend the entire day typing out, so I shall just stop here.

I really think people in my course should start a "Medical Students' Debating Society", so that we can all spend a few hours a week debating amongst ourselves and trigger thoughts and reflections over ethical issues. Hmm..I can see why some people I know are so against to dating medics now.

We are, definitely, a bunch of very opinionated people who go all way out to argue and put our point across. Haha...