Doc Ahmad Hajiri

Assalamu Alaykum! I've been trying to sort things out in my new life as a barrio doctor, and among those "to-do lists" is freeing some disk spaces in my phone. I was sifting through my gallery when I realized how much of an adventure the past 12 months had been for me. In this post, using screen caps from my gallery, I will try to share what happened in my life last 2017. Here goes! *WARNING: Some photos may contain graphic pictures. Those with blood/wounds were turned black-and-white. Photos of patients here were shaded to respect their privacy. Thanks! January:  Unfortunately, I do not have my January folder in my phone. I think I already transferred my files to my external drive by then. What I can remember here is that... I am still an intern in Internal Medicine, of course! haha. Maybe in the wards? Was this the time I went on JWAPODship? (JWAPOD: Junior Ward Admitting Physician on Duty). I gotta check my old files.

Emergency Room Surgical Trauma Rotator It was just another regular evening on a 24-hour duty at the Emergency Department (ED or ER, for most of us). I was one of the only two Trauma Interns on duty and was just taking a break from charting a very long list of patients--ranging from those who fell from stairs to those intoxicated madmen stabbing each other to death! It's a rare occasion for Trauma ER to have no patients in 3 hours time so I grabbed that opportunity to go out and buy a cold drink at the ER kiosk (it was already around 1:00 AM by the way).  On my way back to our station in the Acute Care Unit (ACU), I could see the triage area was already in a mess. ("Triage" by the way is the place where patients would go first before they are assigned with to different departments). There were piles of stretcher-beds (with patients on them, of course!) and hordes of their watchers waiting to be seen by our Triage officer (TO). Where was the TO, you asked? I wo...

  Internship ends in a few days (July 1 to be exact) and since March 22, we started the #Last100Days of Internship countdown. Those who are following my Instagram account would know that I have been posting random pics with the countdown numbers (see above photos). I tried my best to complete the 100 days but it was just so hard! haha. And now, who would have thought that we are now down to the last 50 days! It happened so fast! I can't even believe that the ten months of internship--no, the FIVE YEARS in Medical School is about to end! SubhanaAllah!  I do not even know what to feel right now. Should I be excited, because everything's about to end? Or should I be anxious and scared, because... well, because the daunting future that lies before me is certainly scary! (read: Board exams, being a full-pledged MD, too much expectations from everyone...) Still, as I keep on recounting the remaining days of internship, I just can't help but look back... those enume...

March 13, 2017 Internal Medicine Rotator I was outside the hemodialysis (HD) room, watching some videos on Youtube while waiting for my patient’s HD to start. A few minutes after I seated myself on a vacant seat outside, a woman came near me. I recognized her the moment she approached, she’s my patient’s mother. I could see her eyes weary, tired and full of questions. It takes only a few seconds to recognize a soul in search of answers to her endless questions. And this one is a definite example. “Doc,” she started meekly, “Doc, tapatin niyo po ako.”(Doc please tell me) “Po? Ano po yun, maam?” I asked, my earphones already removed for me to focus on her every word. “Doc, ano na po ba talaga ang kalagayan ng anak ko? Di na po ba siya gagaling? Mamamatay na po ba siya?” (Doc, what is the real condition of my child? Will he still get well? Will he die?) her voice shaking with fear, full of anxiety over what she might find out. I asked her to ...

Assalamu Alaykum! (Peace be with you!) It's my last week as a Senior Intern in Internal Medicine and this week, we had the chance (and honor) to accompany our Service Senior Resident, Dr. David Francisco on his ECG rounds. We went to the Central ECG Room where all the ECG requests and results are done, took the remaining unread ECG's and read them. Awesome, right!  Dr. Fransisco teaching us how to read and interpret ECGs while us Senior interns are fooling around :p I always had a hard time understanding ECG's before. Of course, before medschool, those lines were nothing but alien scriptures to me like everyone else! haha. But after studying Basic Clinical Cardiology (one of my "first loves") in LU4 and getting exposed to the wonders of electrophysiology of the heart, understanding the peaks and troughs, the elevations and the depressions of those lines, was simply amazing! I still can't believe a few weird lines could already tell a clinician w...

Assalamu alaykum! This week marks our first week in the community as part of our 6-week rotation in FCh260. 2 Community Medicine. We will be assigned in Mendez and Bailen, Cavite. We will be leaving for Cavite this Tuesday, in sha Allah. But before that, we had to finish some series of orientations, trainings and lectures on community organizing. This is pretty exciting as you may all know that I am an avid lover of Community medicine. It's like my passion! haha. I am among the 10% of medical students who wouldn't hesitate to raise their hands when asked to practice as Doctors to the far-flung communities. The smell of the unknown adventure that lies ahead certainly excites my soul! Yohohoho! Anyway. We were asked to submit a "Pre-Departure" Reflection paper with the following guide questions. I have a far longer response to all of them, but I had to cut the, short as we were limited to one page only haha. I am sharing this to everyone :)  See you around...

This is just another random update. It's a Sunday and I am having an unusual free time, so gotta make use of it. So, what's up? On Life as a Medstudent We're on the last week of our two-month long rotation in Pediatrics. yeap. It's our last seven (or six) days! Yeay! Alhamdulillah, I honestly can't wait for Pediatrics to end. No, not that I don't enjoy Pedia, I do love it! I will surely miss the interactions with the kids... And I know this will perhaps be the last time I will be involved in the field of Pediatrics (especially subspecs) and I am glad to learn a lot from that two months stay with them. I just wanted to end one of the four major rotations in Internship. That will surely be a milestone! Oh yeay! One down, four more to go! Studies?  I am trying (as hard as I can) to read on cases I meet in the wards as well as in the Emergency room. I started reading the printouts of PLE Reviewer I bought last year. I am already halfway through it...

  MD = Manong Duties? NICU Manong Starter pack. Nakakadismaya at nakakapagod. Why do future MDs doing this anyway? we honestly learn nothing from it?   After listening to my fellow interns (especially PGIs or Post-Graduate Interns from other medschools) comparing the internship training from other hospitals, I just realized how much we students have been living with disappointments in this field of training. Really, a lot of "ideal" things could have been done to maximize our learning and training for our final year in this prestigious hospital and yet, we end up doing the things that are not actually "su itable" for future doctors to do. (Read: magtulak ng stretcher, mag-akyat-baba ng lab results, etc. instead of directly taking care of patients or reviewing for the boards?) *well, not all the time naman ganito nangyayari... pero still, di talaga siya maganda tingnan. I know, this has always been the norm. That our previous alumni and now profess...

Internship Day 1 to 14 Weeks 1 to 2 From July 1 to 14, 2016 The sign at the back of SOJR: The setting for this awesome two-week rotation! (Grabbed from Mike Mondragon :) will replace this once I get a better photo) General Info: Duration of Rotation: 2 weeks Number of students: 10-13 (depends on number per block) Important hours: Time in: 7:00 AM Time out: 5:00 PM Wearing coats REQUIRED on OPD! Allowed to be removed when on ER/Ward Duty. Duties: Two posts: One Ward Intern-on-Duty (WIOD) and one ER Intern on Duty (EIOD) from 7AM to 7AM the next day. How often? Depends. We were 10 in our block, and there were only 2 interns on duty per day, so we have 5 pairs rotating “duties” every 5 days. So chill! True Posts? Nope. But post-duties can go home early (12noon) if allowed by consultants/residents. SIC work: Only WIODs do the SICs of 12-20 patients in th...