As I am reaching the finishing line: A confession letter

Why do I want to become a doctor.

Initially, becoming a doctor was a request made by my family. Since I am the only one among my siblings who is into science as opposed to arts, I took the request to heart. I graduated high school under pure science stream and I actually wanted to become a chef. But the year that I graduated, being a chef does not pose so many potentials, as compared to the market nowadays.

Therefore, I pursued medical school. It was a rough start at first because I am not the one that sits down and read books; I am more of hands on person, learning well from my experiences. Throughout medical school, I met many people, many lives that thought me to be more sympathetic, more concern, and more sensitive to their conditions. I developed the love to help people in so many ways possible; trying my level best to lend a helping hand to people in need.

As the years passed, I learned that this is, being a medical doctor, is my way to reach out to more people and to help them.

So, to answer the question: “Why do I want to become a doctor”, the answer is: it is my passion.

If I were a Medical Officer, what do I expect from House Officers.

As a House Officer who is still in the training/learning process, I would expect them to grow up and mature with their profession. Not to be blinded and egoistic with the status as a Doctor, but to be humbled and sensitive to needs of others. Knowledge wise, I expect them to know some medical basics, maybe not all because we tend to forget, thus we have to refresh our knowledge continuously.

Life is a learning process by itself. There is no ending in learning, so I expect them to learn from everything, the patients, their colleagues, the environment, so that they can better themselves in so many ways possible, as a Doctor, as well as a human being.

I also expect the HO to be more confident, but not cocky. There is however, a thin fine line between confidence and arrogant. I wouldn’t mind if the HO is really confident and has evidence of the fact that they are presenting, only then I could trust them handling some cases, before I attend to the patients.

I also expect to have a good working relationship with the HOs. I understand that I was once a HO too, therefore we must work together to solve problems, not work against each other.

The other most important thing is honesty. I don’t want to be the kind of MO that is so hard to converse with. Because when that happens, it is hard for the HO to be honest about some things; like for example, informing new cases, or anything that needed to be attended STAT.

As I mentioned, HOs are in training and sometimes they are not that confident in their management and they need a superior to help them out. The better the working relationship, the more honest and trustworthy the HOs can be. But of course I do expect the basic things to be done first before making the call to inform the MO in charge.