Saturday 29 June 2013

Working for royalty

The bigger hospitals here are mostly named after royalty, so let's just say I'll be spending my next three months at the Prince's.

That sounded sleazy.

After attempting to explain my working hours to my sister and friends, I am once again reminded of how inhumane the system is. Essentially, my life in the next three months will run in cycles of three to four days:

Day 1: 8am-6pm
Day 2: 8am-6pm-8am
Day 3: 8am- 6pm
(Day 4: 8am-6pm)

Whoever's decision it was to make house officers thirty-three hours shifts every few days is an absolute moron. Besides, taking into account my current unfamiliarity with my job, my days should start slightly after six every morning if I want to do a round on my patients before my medical officer does. I should start looking for a better eye cream.

You may say, hard work pays. Unfortunately, only minimally.

10 hours x 5 week days = 50 hours
4 on Saturdays = 4 hours
14 hours x 2 overnight shifts = 28 hours
Allowing an extra 8 hours overtime per week to accommodate the ridiculous number of patients in our overloaded public system
      = 90 hours x 4 weeks = 360 hours

Divided by our measly wages after subtracting costs of things like mpf and insurance, we receive less than seventy bucks an hour, i.e. just a little over a dollar per minute. In other words, it seems like a better deal for us to work at one of those 每六秒一蚊 sex story hotlines. The job nature is similar - 候召 - but with a better label.  

Despite all the ranting, I'm actually pretty excited to start finally contributing to humanity as a small potato at the bottom of the food pyramid (how apt). T-minus three and counting. 


Tuesday 18 June 2013

Prologue


Life has been a whirlwind. As usual, I found myself overwhelmed by all that I had on my plate because, as usual, I'd bitten off much more than I could chew. Perhaps that's just the way I get things done - I push my poor self past my limits, crumble under stress like an overbaked cupcake, pull myself together, then write a literature review, plan a three-week trip, and throw a fabulous ball all within a month's time.

I have been in school for too long, and many a times it felt like I would never have to grow beyond the umbrella of my parents, professors and teachers. Yet suddenly, I find the end of my childhood dawning upon me all too quickly with work starting in two weeks. 

This will be a challenging path strewn with pebbles that will trip me over when I'm not looking, and most likely even when I am. Hopefully I'll find some boulders to lean on and climb a few mountains that will help me see further. And when I fall flat on my face like the time I ran down a flight of stairs in five-inch heels, I'll think of the insanity I subjected myself to this month and feel invincible again, even if only for long enough to get back on my feet and dust myself off. 

Look out, world.