Sunday, October 11, 2015

Sistem eHousemen

Hello there everyone. It's been a few months since the last post and that's cause thankfully i've managed to get a housemanship training spot in Penang GH. Life here is cool (i'll save the details for another post in the future).

Today i'm gonna be talking a bit about e-houseman system. My batch was one of the first ones to use the system. In fact, my batch applied for our hospitals using the old paper system and later on found out halfway that we needed to resubmit our applications via ehouseman. I think this topic is important as many have misconceptions about the system on paper vs in real life.

Lets say you've followed all the steps in my previous post and now you're ready for ehouseman. Ok! so proceed to this website http://ehousemen.moh.gov.my/auth/main Proceed to login with your IC. Complete the registration.

Ok lets say you registered for Ehouseman when its not the intake period for houseman. So you have to wait until they make the announcement on the website on the date that the portal will be opened. An example would be as follows:

Sistem ini dibuka mulai jam 12.00 tengahari, 7 September 2015 hingga 14 September 2015 untuk permohonan penempatan/ penangguhan oleh: 

(i) Calon yang telah menerima surat tawaran pelantikan Suruhanjaya Perkhidmatan Awam bertarikh 2 Julai 2015 hingga 28 Ogos 2015; dan 

(ii) Calon yang diluluskan penangguhan sehingga sesi pengambilan Oktober 2015.

So as you can see, the date that you received the offer letter from SPA plays an important role in when you get to apply for ehouseman. This is how the system limits the amount of applicants by only allowing applicants with offer letters from a certain period of time.

Let me clear up some misconceptions about the system. The idea that newspapers give readers about the system is that as a medical graduate, you will be able to apply anywhere you want but be prepared to wait to get the choice that you want. This paints a picture that all the hospitals will be listed alongside their respective waiting times.

However, this is not entirely the case. Instead, there will be a list of hospitals with training spots available. There will be a list of hospitals alongside the number of training spots in brackets. Example: " Hospital Pulau Pinang (60 tempat)" . The shocker is that you can see the amount of spots decreasing with every refresh of the page. There will also be a button where you can press to defer your placement till the next time the portal opens.

I'll just share my experience with the system.

My date of ehousemen was 11May 2015 12pm sharp. Not sure if I was nervous, but I suddenly felt the urge to BO at 11.50am. Manatau some of my batchmates posted that they managed to login at 11.56am. I straight went to login my data. Then I found out I have to fill up some family and educational background details first before I was allowed to proceed to choose my hospital (Precious time wasted). When I finally came to the list, I was shown a long list of all the hospitals with their empty slots. I actually took my time looking through all the states to see hospitals that I liked. However, I realized that with every click of each state the numbers of slots in the hospitals kept reducing in number. Until it came to a point where there were no hospitals shown in the list at 12.10pm. Following that, the system crashed and I was unable to login. Most of my batchmates then went on a rampage of FB saying that they faced the same problem and could not choose the hospitals.

Suddenly at 3pm, the system came back online after much refreshing. Realizing that, I quickly spammed the hospitals that I had in mind. I clicked upon Penang GH and pressed Mohon. However, initially it didnt manage to go through and the page kept on hanging. Again after much retries, I managed to get my application processed and the page TAHNIAH came up. Once again, there was half of my batch whom didnt manage to get through the system. They had to wait another week of constant refreshing until the system went back up again.

There are many conspiracy theories as to why the system went down, but for the benefit of the doubt, lets just say that the system could not handle such a large amount of requests for the first round.

Leave a comment if you guys have any questions. I'll check back and try to answer them. :)

Monday, April 20, 2015

Clinical Years scribbles

Hello and welcome to a little segment where I just write about things I have learnt during my clinical years. Some of these little notes are very important to me and some have helped inspire me. These are the scribbles i've written down taking home the messages of heroes, lecturers, and doctors over the years. Take care and enjoy :).


#1
Dealing with a Difficult Patient. (NURSE)

N = Name the emotion. [anger? sadness?] [worry? anxiety?]
U = Understanding the emotion of the patinent
R = always Respect the patient
S = Support [by listening, setting up appointments]
E = Explore/Empathize

#2
Pregnancy

HTN --> do not give ARB, ACEi, statins [teratogenic]. Safest bet is labetolol & methyldopa
DM --> Safe OHA are metformin & gibleclamide. Should also start folic acid.
IUCD --> Safe for DM patients if glucose controlled. Unlikely to get infection.
Theraputic Lifestyle changes --> exercise 20mins/day, total 150/week. But can cause hypo if on insulin therapy.

#3
Ward Round With hero 2

LBBB is always pathological
Unilateral tender leg swelling --> Top 3 diffrential = 1. DVT 2.DVT 3.DVT.
Lymphatic edema is a diffrential (non-pitting edema)
Should do Well's Score when suspect DVT.
Doppler and D-dimer should be done. [high sensitivity]
In patient with gout/RA develop calf swell and pain ---> Ruptured Branchial Cyst

Pruritus
Local = fungal, scabies, lichen planus
Systemic = Liver, obstructive jaundice, CKD, DM, hyperthyroid, drugs, CHF. Pregnancy in young ladies.

CKD
Normally ARB should reduce proteinuria but can be bad for kidney. Thats why must do baseline RP and compare 3 weeks later. If increase 30% then must stop.
Renal Artery stenosis can be fibromuscular dysplasia (young ladies) or atherosclerosis

Thursday, April 9, 2015

Guide on applying for Housemanship in Malaysia

A simple guide applying for housemanship after graduation in Malaysia.

Hello there. Congratulations on graduating and receiving your medical degree. Now begins the real tough job of applying for the housemanship job! I’m gonna combine what I’ve experienced the past few months along with what my batchmates kindly helped out with.
Here’s a breakdown of the documents that you will need for the entire application. I would suggest that you make multiple copies of the documents and get them certified.



Ok first of, These are the documents you have to prepare for the interview with the Suruhanjaya Pekerja Awam (SPA). You first have to apply for an interview with SPA. I would suggest calling them and asking about arranging an interview. IMU arranged this for us thankfully so I’m not too sure on how to arrange it myself.

Documents: [credits to lolo]
1. Resume 1 to 2 pages with recent photograph 
2. Identification card (original and photocopied)
3. Birth certificate (original and photocopied)
4. SPM certificate (original and photocopied)
5. Consent letter final year student (Provided by Your Uni)
6. TRANSCRIPTS PHASE 1 (collect from Bukit Jalil during your hols)
7. Other certificates (original only)

For help with certifying documents, here’s a sample on how you can do so. Basically any government officer with higher ranking than UD 41 is able to certify. You can do so at a school where you can ask the pengetua or PK to help sign them.


Next, you would have to register online at the SPA website. Here are the instructions I borrowed from SPA to IMU students. [It’s in BM, keep in mind that you have to have SPM BM pass in order to go for the interview]

PERMOHONAN
01.       Permohonan adalah secara online melalui laman web Suruhanjaya Perkhidmatan Awam Malaysia (SPA) – http://www.spa.gov.my
02.       Klik pada BORANG PENDAFTARAN PEKERJAAN DI SEKTOR AWAM (SPA8i). Daftar Akaun Baru.
03.       Gunakan borang IJAZAH/SARJANA/PHD. Menu pilihan adalah pada No.3 (Jawatan-jawatan yang dipohon).
04.       Isikan semua maklumat yang diperlukan. Beberapa perkara penting untuk perhatian adalah seperti di bawah:
Maklumat Peribadi Pemohon
(a)  Jawatan-jawatan yang dipohon          : PEGAWAI PERUBATAN GRED UD41
  (1 jawatan sahaja)
(b)  Pusat temu duga                                : ****Depends on where you want to have your interview.
Maklumat Akademik Pemohon
(a)  Keputusan SPM                               : Isikan keputusan SPM (10 mata pelajaran maksimum)                    
** sekiranya calon tidak mengambil SPM, kosongkan ruangan ini.

(b)  Kelulusan Pengajian Tinggi
1 (a)          tahun graduasi                   : ***Graduation year
   (b)          PNGK/CGPA                       : kosongkan
   (c)          Peringkat Kelulusan          : PLJR THN AKHIR (SAR.MUDA/SAR.)
   (d)          Institusi yang                      
mengeluarkan sijil              : ***insert your university here
   (e)          Institusi francais luar
                  negara                                : TIDAK
   (f)           Bidang                                :  PERUBATAN
   (g)          Pengkhususan                   :  PERUBATAN DAN PEMBEDAHAN  



Ok next, you would have to fill up the Borang Maklumat Diri (BMD). Print it out. For me, I had to submit it to my university management. The file is available here [https://www.facebook.com/download/780710815327327/BMD_-_P.Perubatan_%28latest%29_.pdf]


Then next you have to go for your interview. You can search up a few blogs of doctors whom wrote about their experience preparing and going through the interview. I would say its more of a formality however you still have to read up on current issues regarding our country. I made a small file for revision.


Following the interview you should then next get your documents ready as per the breakdown above.


Next, after graduation.

You should receive your offer letter from SPA along with a pile of documents you need to fill up. Yes, this is where shit gets real. Take note of the offer letter reference number and date. You’ll need them for later. Alright so inside the envelope from SPA there should be the following: offer letter, 3 borang setuju jawatan, a surat perakuan, and medical check up forms. (do correct me if I missed out on anything).

Ok, so the only thing you need to fill up is one of the borang setuju jawatan and send it back to SPA as addressed on the borang. Here is where the offer letter reference number and date should be filled up. Should be block C in putrajaya. You can either poslaju it there or you can deliver by hand up to putrajaya. The other documents you can slowly take your time to fill up as we only have to submit them during the Program Transformasi Minda (PTM) which is your induction.

Location of the SPA. BLOK C Putrajaya

Ok, so SPA down, MMC next.

For MMC please bring along the documents as shown in the first picture. The relevant documents can be downloaded here. Just print it out, and fill up the forms. Follow the checklist included. Should be easy peasy.

Once done, head on over to the Malaysian Medical council Building at blok B Jalan Cenderasari, Kuala Lumpur. It should be the first result on Google maps. Nearby landmarks include the KL KTM main building, Methodist girls high school and a terowong. The entrance to the building is right next to the terowong. Also, you can park inside the compound at the visitors parking once you registered with the guards. #alexlovesfreeparking.

MMC building. Next to the terowong at Jalan Cenderasari

Next, arrange your documents in this order. For IMU students, our university sends our sem 6-10 transcripts along with the letter from the dean. However, don’t forget to bring your sem 1-5 transcript. All photocopied and certified of course =).

Credits to Jia Ern

Follow this arrangement so the MMC can easily process your documents. I was then kindly asked to sit and wait in the waiting room for about 20 minutes. I then got a slip to collect my completed cert after 5 working days. After that, collect your cert complete with temporary MMC number. [shit really got real] Fun fact, the Methodist Girls school nearby is only less than 500 meters away. Furthermore, you can Photostat your MMC document there and get it certified by the pengetua or PK there. Just head towards the office building. I just walked in and did it in less than 15 minutes.

MMC down, next onwards to KKM!

So for our KKM application, we just have to submit our Borang Maklumat Diri (BMD) and a certified photocopy of our MMC cert. My university took the liberty of forwarding our BMD to KKM prior to this. However if your uni did not do that, I don’t see why you can’t do it yourself. Just head towards Blok E7 in putrajaya. Register at the counter and head towards the 9th floor towards the unit pengurusan & professional. Just hand over the documents and they should be able to process your application.

Bock E7 near the Kementerian Pelajaran

All the paperwork done! Time to wait for                           e-housemanship.

Following March 2015, Malaysia started using the e-housemanship portal for junior doctors to choose the place for their housemanship training.

And so here is where the date of the offer letter is of importance. The way that it works is as follows:

1. Check the KKM website that for a post that says we can log in to the e houseman system to choose our hospital (the next one most likely in May)
2. People with Offer letters that are dates from March up till the date of the system being available (probably in May) will be able to login to the system.
3. Choose your hospital and see the waiting time.
4. If your hospital not available, you can defer until the next time the e portal will be opened.
5. The portal will be closed after like 1 week.
6. Then the offer letters dated from May onwards until the next time the e houseman portal is opened again (probably in August) are allowed to login again during the August intake.

This is where I currently am up to right now. I hope you guys the readers appreciate this simplified guide on how to apply for housemanship in Malaysia. I apologize for any mistakes I might have made but please do correct me. Would also like to acknowledge the help of my batchmates lolo, fi, Carmen, jia ern, Kuding and others. All the best in becoming Housemen! Don't give up!

"In surgery, you can either be a hero or a fool. There is no in between"
Dato Kanda 2014

Regards,

Alex.

My journey with my groupmates

Sunday, March 29, 2015

Hello.

Hello there!

My name is Alex and i'm a junior medical doctor from Malaysia (recently graduated).

I started this blog as a means to spend my time and also to share my interests and hobbies with anyone whom comes across this page. On a side note, I can also improve my written English by doing this.

There is no fixed genre of topics I will be posting here so please bear with me. I'll be posting and talking about stuff that garners an interest to me. Hopefully there will be people whom share the same interests with me. For easy reference, I shall make a list of interests!

Interests

- Medicine/ Maybe a bit of surgery
- Inspiring heroes
- Tech junkie
- Football
- Football Boots
- Guitars
- Music (acoustic, rock, ballads)
- Cars
- Korean Variety Shows (RM and IC)
- Cheerleading
- Instagram
- PC master race

Please enjoy your stay on this page.

Regards,

Alex.