Academic year review

Congrats, DOCTOR Vasantha and DOCTOR Hani!

Well, good for them. 5 years of training, and now they are already there! After all those hard work and sacrifices they had made, now they finally earned the well-deserved title 'Doctor'

Needless to say, I cannot wait for my turn too. I look forward to be practicing as a medical doctor (whether in Malaysia, or possibly UK). But I think I haven't developed the core knowledge and skills that strong yet . I haven't achieved the kind of maturity that a professional doctor should have.

Duh, Aaron. That's why medical course is 5 years long. And you're not even in 3rd year yet.

Looking back at these years back, I sometimes questioned whether my basic knowledge is solid, given the DIY nature of my medical school. My tendency is such that I go too deep or shallow or certain topics, and I got into trouble when those shallow-ly covered came out. Somehow I felt that some of the exam marks did not correctly justify (or so I thought) my knowledge. I really loved to read some of them in more detail, but I guess exam demands led me to forgo some of those things.

If there's one thing that I can do to change the preclinal years education here at Barts, that would to emphasize a lot 100000000000000X more on anatomy and physiology. I just feel that we're not doing enough of that.

Let bygones be bygones now.

Well, having done my two years here, I look forward to clinical years. I look forward when I get to do the 'real' thing. I can't wait to meet patients - know them, learn about their disease, perform the 'cool' skills that some appear in tv (although that's not the reality). I look forward to the more liberal study approach (i.e more self-directed learning). I don't look forward to writing essays and dissertations though.

Having said that, I'm quite sad that I won't have as much free time as I had these 2 years. I would have less time for myself and people around me. I'll probably find commitment being an issue since some of the things that I'm currently doing (Barts choir, Malaysian society, working part-time, etc) may clash with my medical studies. No matter what, I look forward to do a lot more of other things!

Ahh, medical student rantings!