Doc Ahmad Hajiri

Assalamu Alaykum! (Peace be upon you all!)   [NOTE: This is a really, really old post! For those applying to UPCM for school years 2021 and beyond, it is best to visit the UPCM website for updates. Download and read the latest primer here . The details in this blogspot may not be applicable anymore. Read with discretion.    You can send me a message on my FB Page here :    Thanks!]  This post was originally published in January 2015, almost two years after I entered the great hallways of Calderon in UPCM. Now, it's January 2018: roughly 6 months since graduation, and here I am, a full-pledged UPCM Alumnus and now a licensed physician! Wow! Then I realized in this blog that this post reaches more hits that the other posts I have published , and I know I badly needed to update this...And so I did. I tried... And so... To those aspiring future martyrs amazing medical students who will sacrifice their social lives really enjoy learning the wonder...

"How do I prepare myself for Internship year?" I once asked my senior interns during the last few days of my clerkship (4th yr) in UP-PGH.  "Haha! You don't! And you can't! You only have what, 2 or 3 weeks of 'vacation' after your exams and tadaa! Internship comes without you having enough time to prepare for it!" one of them said. "Just go and attend. That's all." another intern told me matter-of-factly, followed by a solemn tap on my shoulder and a 'you-just-have-to-do-it' look into my eyes before she left.  But one of my good friends and now a full-pledged physician working in Zamboanga perhaps got the best answer to this question:  "Internship is just like Clerkship all over again. Maybe twice the length for some major departments, but it's less the stress than what you had last year in clerkship. It will be easier than you think because you have already done this before...What makes it harder is th...

Assalamu Alaykum! (Peace be with you) It’s 11:50PM in my clock and I am about to hit the bunkers but decided to write a short post about the recent events. (PS I need to keep it short coz I have another 24-Hour duty tomorrow ^_^) I am now rotating in OBSTETRICS and GYNECOLOGY (OBGYN) for two weeks already and we have another two weeks remaining until the next rotation. And believe it or not—as much as I hate the bloody business in OBGYN—I am actually enjoying the clerkship in OB :) I do not know there’s just too many things to do that are not that dragging. I mean, I can now actually feel and call myself a part of the medical team working for the benefit and well being of our patients! Anyway, here's a quick run-down of the usual days in OBGYN: The OB Services.   Students rotating in OBGYNE will be divided into 3 services: A, B and C and they will rotate on duty schedules. There will be at least 5 clerks on each service with one service having 6. Interns have...

Assalamu Alaykum! (Peace be upon you!) We are already halfway through FCH 251: Integrated Clerkship II in Family and Community Medicine. Our Sub-group, Block 7A recently ended our 2-week rotation at Community Medicine. Alhamdulillah, another wonderful experience to share ^_^ We started our first week doing the 3-day orientations (yes, I'm serious!): Orientations at Manila Health Department, Fabella Health Center, then Department of Family and Community Medicine (DFCM) in UP-PGH, and so on. The rest of the week were spent on two things: Doing consultations and Public health lectures at Fabella Health Center (FCH) and attending SGDs and lectures. We also have our two-time 10-hr duty at the Ambulatory Dept (AMBU) during the weekends.  The first of three orientations! haha With our awesome LO Axis at the meeting/waiting area: the undying medstones! The Consultations Area. That awesome painting at the back gives much more life (?) to this place. Al t hough the o...

 Assalamu Alaykum! (Peace be upon you!) Alhamdulillah, my first week as a clinical clerk is almost over (as of this writing hehe). And I am done with one-fourth of my first rotation: Pediatrics Emergency Room (Pedia ER).   As I may have mentioned in my revious post, Clerks are supposed to rotate for one month under Pediatrics which is subdivided further into 3 departments/services: Wards 9 or 11, Pedia ER and NICU (Neonatal ICU). My group was assigned under PER for our first week. I honestly enjoyed rotating in PER for several reasons. First are the Pedia residents. They are all cool and fun to be with, they always have time to laugh around and be happy with simple things even with all those toxicities they have; they are always ready help and teach us students with essential knowledge and concepts in pedia especially on resuscitation. We even had a session of QnA while resuscitating a patient! Awesome! They are always approachable ad can understand us clerks who...

Assalamu Alaykum (Peace be upon you all) Last week was, if I could literally translate it, was indeed a "hell week" for us ICCs. We had our final exams on Pharmacology, Otorhinolaryngology (ORL), Ophthalmology, Pediatrics and NeuroPsychology, had our Annual Comprehensive exam (200 items presented in a time-allotted powerpoint slide) and our ever-dreaded Grand OSCE (stands for "Objective Structured Clinical Examination, something like a practical exams with different stations). After the last exam in Friday of that week, we were already in a "finally-its-over" mode until the results of the exams came in. Some of the students did not make it to the passing rate of some station sin the OSCE and so they have make up for their grades. I failed in two of the stations (Psychology and Pedia: Vaccinations station). That afternoon we finished the "repeat exam" for the Psychology station, Alhamdulillah we all passed. The repeat rotation for pediatrics was s...

Assalamu Alaykum! For the 12th week of the year 2015, here are the things that happened: The Exam last Wednesday was O-kay, I think. Well it was not that easy, there were essay questions that requires some knowledge of the subject matter. We were provided with enough time for our reading materials anyway, so if we failed to learn those concepts, its on us. (Oh I miss answering essay questions after 3 years of multiple-choice scantron type exams haha). The recall-type MCQ ones are tricky as well. Huh, what's new with our exams anyway. Our Urban Community Medicine Rotation finally ended with our Final Reporting last Friday. It was not-the-usual all clinico-pathological presentation that we had in other rotations. Rather, it was more of a collation of 'creative' outputs from the four groups under ComMed for the last 2 weeks. Most of the group (actually all four of them) had video presentations (from laugh-your-ass-out funny videos to tear-jerking-MMK-style ones). O...

Assalamu Alaykum! (Peace be upon you all!) We are back in the colourful world of Pediatrics after a week of break with the second half of Pharmacology module. After the nerve-racking exam last Friday, it was indeed a welcoming relief to see the colourful walls in the OPD Pediatrics with all those Disney characters all around. And of course, the cheerful smiles of our angelic patients never fail to keep our days brighter as well. The colorful walls in the OPD-Pediatrics There are more better photos of Disney Princess somewhere. Case Conferences and Higher learning! This week we had two case conferences, a lecture on complementary feeding (where our professor gave us chocolates! Yeay!) and lots and lots of Out-Patient exposure! Our rotation of 12-hour duties in the Pediatric Emergency Department (Pedia ER) are also being wrapped up for this last two weeks of our training in this department. This Friday my group will have our second and last 12-hour duty :) Pretty ...