How To Save a Life

Your OMG Dose of Insight

Photo by Mathew MacQuarrie on Unsplash

Firstly, I would like to thank all who filled up my survey forms.

As a token of appreciation, I've sent an email with a Calendly link for a free session to talk about anything related to healthcare, entrepreneurship, motivation, or any topic of your choice.

You can treat it like a clinic teleconsultation or whatever session, which usually costs RM1000 RM350 per hour, but now it's FOC.

I'm looking forward to having a video call with all of you and exploring further.

I was asked by one of our readers;

Q: What is your typical day as a doctor?

So, how was my daily life as a neurosurgeon?

Let me recall..

Typically, our days are divided into

One, core responsibilities like doing morning rounds and being on-call.

Two, additional tasks such as administrative meetings, elective operation days, clinic days, and teaching sessions.

Here's what a day that encompasses all of these aspects might look like:

Please put on this song as background music.

Obviously, not every day macam ni, but i can say most of my Tuesday looks like this.

0500 - Wake up. 

looking forward to going to work and making a difference in my patients' lives. cliche

0700 - Start the car, drop my kids off, and put on Waze. 

The reason for using Waze is that you just can't tell when a sudden accident might happen, and I need the information to avoid any affected roads. 

Just keep in mind that sometimes Waze can also be what I call a waze-of-time.

0730 - Meet with a group of experts to discuss operative mortality for the previous month, analyze what went wrong, and brainstorm how we could prevent such incidents in the future. 

I like these kinds of meetings because it's important for someone else to point out things that can be better. If you leave it to our own reasoning, we are always in a state of self-defense, and what's more, a surgeon's pride can get in the way.

0830 - Text my registrars to check on their whereabouts 

(this is a daily morning ritual).

Guys, where shall we meet?

We are at ICU boss.

Elective OT registrar dah masuk?

He’s inside boss.

Great, meet you in icu.

0835 - Meet with my team and start doing morning rounds. 

We review patient progress, charts, and repeat CT scans, and plan any necessary interventions. The number of patients depends on the hospital load. In my previous place of practice, we had at least 15-20 inpatients at any given time. Certain centre can extend up to 40-60 patients

Boss, patient in OT is ready

Guys, carry on with the wards, i’ll join after OT

0900 - Rush to the operating room, prep the patient, and recall with the registrars the nuances of the operation that we discussed the previous day during the pre-op meeting.

0920 - Start operating.

sometimes, singing and humming during closure.

My Spotify playlist that I listen to most of the time while operating: click this link.

1500 - Operation ends. 

Boss, anaes team in ICU asked to join them for a family conference

Adoi, baru jer nak rehat.

1530 - Meet with the anesthesia team and the patient's family in the ICU to convey the possible outcome and plans.

Clear communication with both the medical team and the patient's loved ones is key to ensuring a smooth recovery process.

Rounds pagi tadi any issues?

So far semua stable boss.

Nice. Let’s go through all the cases and repeat scans.

1600 - Check on the progress of tasks ordered during the morning rounds.

1630 - Take a brief moment to rest and recharge.

1700 - Prepare to head back home.

Boss, got one case to discuss that may need decomp.

Registrar boleh handle kan

It’s peads case la boss. Better scrub together.

1701 - Plans to go back home are cancelled.

1800 - Scrub in for the emergency case.

Sometimes we talk about the latest issues during closure.

2200 - Finally, I can go back home.

On average, 5-8 cases require decision-making throughout the night via WhatsApp and phone calls.

0500 - Wake up for the next day (slightly groggy).

Ready to do it all over again. 

A bit of a disclaimer: I know you noticed the frequent usage of "boss."

It's not that kita ni gila kuasa; boss sana, boss sini.

But it's rather easier to call our superior with such a one-word title.

However, formally, we always address them by their name, such as Mr. X, as "Mr." is used to refer to a surgeon.

There you go, our not-so-typical day when core and additional tasks merge into one.

So, ready to save a life?

---

If you found this article insightful, please share it with others who might benefit from it.