events on pothole monday

Monday. Oh, Pothole Monday. The proverbial pothole in my road of life.

Early in the morning we were fuming over the demands of the professor handling our class. She was nitpicking regarding our presentation of clinical cases. The reporters were repeatedly reminded to keep their transparencies straight, to mind their grammar, to maintain eye contact with the audience and to completely abolish the use of ah’s and um’s as fillers. The reporters were chosen randomly so each student had to prepare for the case. The break between cases became a time to exchange rants about her demands.

Looking back on it later in the afternoon I realize that her demands were reasonable. When you are reporting or lecturing on something it is but natural that you should be knowledgeable about the topic and not resort to reading only what is written on the transparencies. The transparencies are only visual aids, they do not make the report. Her plea about speaking in straight English, using correct grammar, avoiding fillers and keeping eye contact only speaks of her desire to make us good communicators. A little effort on our part to improve upon the areas she suggested would surely go a long way. In other words, there is certainly a lot of room for improvement for most of us.

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It was already 9 pm when my “health team” adjourned the meeting after creating a problem tree and formulating objectives to address the problem at hand. In my opinion it would have been really stimulating and more worth our time if we were discussing health concerns such as immunizations or increase in non-communicable diseases. We were not discussing any of those. What we were discussing were the unsatisfactory photocopying services in the Institute of Medicine and its “detrimental” effects on the students. We were bringing our blood to a boil and exhausting innumerable neurons on that matter simply because of the topics we proposed (immunizations, additional skills training for medical clerks, CPR, addressing risk factors for diseases present among medical students) it was the only one that was approved. Problems regarding poor photocopy services seem simple and easy enough to address but we are nowhere near the completion of the first step in program/project management. The final project proposal, all two pages of it, is due in a week’s time. We have a long, long way to go yet.

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Side note no. 1: Another round of massive cheating for the quizzes and pre-prelims exam occurred today, entirely tolerated by the residents. Given that the quizzes are just for bonus points or additional grades it is a great help to improve our class standing. The downside to it is that it does not do anything to improve our knowledge or aid in our learning. Bottom line: I’m too square to cheat without my conscience nagging me forever.

Side note no. 2: I just bought a mix of ground coffee which, according to the label, is a blend of Arabica, Brazilian Variety and Baraco. I want a strong cup of coffee but the extended roasting has resulted to a bitter blend which is not not to my liking. Too bad.

Side note no. 3: Something must be done to improve my writing. I am too wordy, entirely unorganized and discuss matters only tangentially. Something must be done to improve my narration. Learning to write in the active voice as opposed to habitually writing in the passive voice would help also.