Doc Ahmad Hajiri

Aspire Summit 2016 Clerkship Day 210 Out of Post Last April 9, 2016 I attended the ASPIRE SUMMIT 2016 held in GT Toyota at UP Diliman. It was the end of our rotation in Rehab Med and we actually have free weekends. It so happened that I was free that day so I signed up and registered myself online a few months ago. At first, I thought this was one of those conferences for young entrepreneurs and I don’t even remember why I signed up, haha! But with nothing much to lose, I went anyway. I might learn something for future projects I have in mind. I was wrong on one thing though: This was not for entrepreneurs but for “young leaders for change”. I am more than glad that I attended anyway. It was a summit showcasing different organizations (NGOs and private companies) all managed by young and inspiring leaders! I never even knew who the speakers were until I got the programme, and guess what, two of the speakers were among those that I really admire: Rep. Sitti Djalia Turab...

Clerkship Day 204 to 216: Rehabilitation Medicine Continuing on our ever-delayed journal on “How to survive Clerkship in UP-PGH” (I made up that book title), let us talk about the things to know about clerkship in Rehab Medicine. General Info (What you need to know): Duration of Rotation: 2 weeks Number of students: 8 (sub-block) Important hours: Time in: 7:30 AM (They’re strict on this!) Time out: 4:30 PM (Yup! It’s that early) But students preparing for the G rounds the next day will usually stay until 8 to 9PM. Wearing uniforms REQUIRED! Duties: At least once a week for each student. 2 students will have only 1 duty for the whole rotation. Weekdays: 5PM to 7AM the next day Weekends: 8AM to 8AM the next day No true posts. Post-duties to stay until 4:30PM except weekends. SIC work: At most 2 patients each student, with one “G” patient each. With interns? Yes, but onl...

Clerkship Day 212 Rehabilitation Medicine Day 11/14 There are so many things in our daily life that we often take for granted. Take for example the ability to walk. Or the ability to hold things with our hands. And what is so unbelievable is that we never really recognize their importance, until we lose them. Yes, a cliché statement but nevertheless real. I only had two patients during my 2-week stay in Rehab Medicine, and both of them taught me a lot of things. Here I will talk first about Riza (not her real name). Riza is a 22 year old female diagnosed with Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) for almost 10 years now and due to her chronic use of steroids and her lack of follow-ups, she ended up developing Avascular Necrosis (AVN, means cellular death due to lack of blood supply) of her hips one year ago. She had difficulty moving due to severe pain and she slowly lost her ability to walk. Last month she underwent a surgical procedure called Total Hip Arthroplasty (...

March 30, 2016 Clerkship Day 208 Day 3 on Rehabilitation Medicine I received a text message from my dear cousin yesterday: "Ungud (couz), are you free tomorrow? Ama is asking if you're free..." it read. Yayang (as we call her way back then) is my first cousin and a childhood friend, a humble daughter of my favorite maternal uncle. She's also in Medschool and we're on the same year (4th year). Right after reading her message, I was immediately reminded about something: IT'S HER GRADUATION DAY ALREADY! I was not on duty that day but I still have to go to PGH and attend to my patients. I was only free after 4:30 PM, I told her and her father. I really wanted to attend the graduation ceremony and witness and feel that "feeling" of seeing your batch-mates (from other medschool) finally stepping up to the stage... receiving their fruits of labor... their diplomas... and being called "Dr. So-and-so". Maa sha Allah! But I just can...