ر افقته في تلك الزيارة زوجته

قالت له المعالجة: اشعر انك مهموم …وذلك على الارجح سبب مرضك

في تلك النقطة من الحكاية لم يخطر ببالي إلا انه سيبدأ في الحديث عن مهارة تلك المعالجة، و كنت افكر ان الهموم هي شيء يعاني منه الجميع فلا مهارة في قول هذا في رأيي

لكن اجابته لها كانت:هذا غير صحيح. فأنا و زوجتي ندير مسرحا متنقلا للعرائس…فكيف نكون مهمومين في وظيفةكهذه ؟

If everything goes well, I will continue with my hematology training afterwards and write the hematology exam in 18 months or so.

Time really runs fast. The past three years have been great. I learned alot, met many interesting and great people and fell in love with internal medicine!

A new phase begins now. Will have to manage hematology issues only- and read alot! Also start studying for the internal medicine Royal college exam…and plan for the next step after fellowship.

  تخللت الدورة بعض الأحداث المؤسفة كوفاة أحد الرياضيين الشباب من دولة جورجيا خلال ايام التدريب، و وفاة والدة إحدى اللاعبات قبل يومين من المسابقة التي كان من المقرر أن تشارك فيها. هذه اللاعبة الكندية قررت المشاركة في المسابقة رغم حزنها الشديد الذي ظهر جليا عليها يوم المسابقة. فازت هذه المتزلجة بالميدالية البرونزية و تم اختيارها لتحمل علم كندا في الحفل الختامي تكريما لشجاعتها و صبرها 

 كانت أياما مثيرة و ممتعة. اجتمع فيها العالم على شيء مختلف عن الحروب و السياسة، و أثبت فيها الرياضيون أن العزيمة و المثابرة هما ما يصنع الأبطال.

• Enter the interview room believing that you are to be chosen. The interview is your opportunity to know the people whom you will work with.
• Smile, be your pleasant self.
• Don’t offer to shake hands unless they offer their hands first.
• Sit only when you are asked to do so. Ask where to sit if there is more that one chair. Do not assume which chair is yours. And wait for them to sit first.
• Sit confidently with a straight back. Don’t cross your legs.
• If a drink is offered apologize politely. You don’t want the tremor to be noticed!
• Answer the questions clearly.
• It is ok if you couldn’t understand or hear the question. Just ask politely for the question to be repeated or to be explained more.
• Your aim from the interview is to look smart, friendly,  hard working and enthusiastic about the program. Being a social person is very important to emphasize because it is very important for the program to get residents who are easy to work with.

• Eye contact: very important. Work on it. It is not like daily life where it is ok to keep the eye contact >50% of the time. You should keep it 100% of the time, even when you are thinking. Practice that because it is not easy.
• What to do if your answer is not ready: keep smiling, keep the eye contact, take your time and answer a diplomatic answer slowly and clearly.
• Always introduce yourself by your first name (and don’t use the word Dr. when introducing yourself).

You have to make a list of all the possible questions and answer them all, completely, before the interview. I’m trying to provide most of the questions that I know about here:

Tell us about yourself.

Just talk about your life in a chronological order, emphasizing your strong points if possible.

Why did you choose this program?

Enthusiastically elaborate the strong points in the program. Their web site will be of great help. Also say the good things about the city. If you have a family in the same place, mention it.

Why did you choose this specialty?

Sit with yourself and get an organized answer. Great help can be found in the books that talk about choosing a medical specialty.

Why should we choose you? Or what will you add to this program?

Again say the positive things in you. Try to express this idea in your own style: previous performance predicts future performance. The most important things to emphasize are that you are:

1-      An easy-going friendly person

2-      A team player

3-      Accepts others.

4-      Very much interested in this program particularly

5-      Hard worker

How do you see your self in 5, 10, 15 years?

Show them you have already set your goals. You are somebody who knows what s/he wants.

How will you cope with being away from your country for a long time?

What do you do in your free time?

Mention your hobbies and make sure to mention that you enjoy doing things other than medicine.

Prepare 2-3 detailed stories about

A patient (case) that you learned something from.

An error that you made, how did you deal with the blame and what did you learn from it all.

Be ready to answer some ethics question: for example about patient confidentiality and information disclosure. Make sure to read a little about that before the interview.

Be prepared to answer some simple clinical knowledge questions: mainly emergencies. Not all interviewers ask that sort of question, but some do.

Make sure that you can talk about EVERYTHING mentioned in your CV or personal statement.

You might be asked about attitude toward your colleagues as clinical scenarios, for example a team which is not going along properly, a colleague who is not doing his job. Give brief answers emphasizing the following, in your own style and words: counseling and discussion, or a simple chat. Offering help and asking for help if you yourself need some. Make sure not to mention reporting your colleagues or sending incident report because you are not a trouble maker. You might want to give vague life principles to illustrate your point of view.

Tell us about your weak points? OR what aspects of your personality would you like to improve?

The safest answer is a one that answers with a strong point made to look as a weak one. For example:

I’m a perfectionist or a  workaholic!    (I think these answers are over used so try to think of something else).

Ask questions:

This is so important. Ask smart ones. However, make sure to avoid any questions that might show you as somebody who wants to relax and not a hard worker. Questions to avoid include questions about the frequency of on-call duties, average patient/resident load, pass rate…etc. These questions should only be asked to your close friends, but not to anybody in the interview panel or the resident who is taking you in a tour around the hospital.

You might want to mention that you checked the web site of the program and would like to get more information about something in particular. This leaves a good impression.

Suggested things to ask about:

• Are research opportunities available? Is there a protected time for research?
• Does the program arrange any social events for the residents?
• Is there any meeting that is held within the coming few days that I can attend? E.g Academic half-day. If you already know about a specific meeting from the website or from another resident mention that you would like to attend that specific meeting. But one small warning: if you said you’ll attend, then you have to attend, whatever it takes. So make sure it fits your travel plans.

After the interview:

• Send thank you letters by email to all the people who interviewed you, within 24 hours. Mention your thanks for the interviewer and your enthusiasm for joining the program. If you are sending thank you letters to more than one person then make them different.
• When you receive the offer letter,  send a thank you to the secretary informing her about receiving it. Make sure to note the deadline for you accepting/declining the offer. Make sure to take your time to think but not to miss the deadline.

Good luck everyone.

شيء مخجل: أن تخرج هذه المعلومات أساسا من المستشفى بدون سبب، لآخذها معي عبر البحار

لا أعلم إن كان هذا الشيء قد تغير في مستفياتنا و لكن لا بد أن نكون أكثر حذرا لدى التعامل مع معلومات المرضى. تصرف مع معلومات المرضى كما تريد الأطباء أن يتصرفوا مع معلوماتك أنت. لا يجب أن يعرف كل العالم ما هي الأمراض التي تعاني منها أو ما هو مستوى الصوديوم في دمك. كل المستندات التي تحمل معلومات المرضى يجب التخلص منها بسرية و عدم إعادة تدويرها على الإطلاق

تعلمت شيئا آخر هنا أيضا. لا حديث عن المرضى بتاتا إلا في قسم التنويم. لا حديث عن المرضى في الممر، في الكافيتريا أو في المصعد. هناك أناس آخرون يمكن أن يستمعوا لمعلومات المرضى دون حاجة لذلك. عادة نتحدث عن حالات المرضى بجانب غرفتهم و نتحدث عن كل أمور الحياة الأخرى في الأماكن التي قد يستمع لنا فيها الغير.

لللإطلاع على مصادر أخرى

الرؤية الشرعية لقضايا سرية المرضى

Patient Confidentiality for Health Care Professionals

]]> http://theblooddoctor.wordpress.com/2009/06/21/%d8%b3%d8%b1%d9%8a%d8%a9/feed/ 3 The Blood Doctor http://theblooddoctor.wordpress.com/2009/03/11/waffles/ http://theblooddoctor.wordpress.com/2009/03/11/waffles/#comments Wed, 11 Mar 2009 09:16:14 +0000 The Blood Doctor http://theblooddoctor.wordpress.com/?p=177 Continue reading →]]>

قبل سنوات كثيرة، كان هناك سوبرماركت كبير في جدة يدعى الفاو. اسم غريب لا أظن له معنى. في هذا السوبرماركت كان هناك بائع يبيع بعض المعجنات في عربة. كانت معجنات حلوة مربعة و عليها خطوط متقاطعة، و كان يخبزها عند الطلب. كان بإمكانك أن تختارها بمفردها أو مغمسة بالشوكولا الذائبة. كان على العربة لوحة مكتوب عليها
جوفرا

كنت أحب الجوفرا جدا جدا. كانت من أحب المأكولات إلى قلبي. لكن سوبرماركت الفاو أغلق. و من حسن حظي أن ظهرت العربة ذاتها في مكان آخر. هذه المرة في سوق الحجاز. كان شراء الجوفرا شيئا لا بد منه عند زيارة هذا السوق القريب من بيت جدتي. و حتى لاأحس بالحرمان و أستطيع مشاركة الآخرين في أطايبي ، كنت أشتري بين 5 إلى 7 قطع منوعة. لا أزال أتذكر السعادة و أنا أحملها في يدي و أشم رائحتها الطازجة حتى الآن.

ثم أتيت إلى كندا، و عرفت أن تلك الفطيرة ذات الخطوط المتقاطعة تدعى
Waffle
فأصبحت أطلبها كلما وجدتها في قائمة مطعم….لكنها لم تكن هي أبدا. كانت تأتيني في صحن مغطاة بسائل سكري، لينة، تماما مثل الفطائر الدائرية
Pancake

بحثت عن محبوبتي كثيرا جدا. عرفت بعد ذلك أنها تعتبر بلجيكية، و أصبحت أتحمس كثيرا عندما أجد كلمة
Belgian Waffle
أمامي. لكني لم أجدها في أي مطعم أو مقهى

و لكن يوما ما…. ظهرت فطيرتي على شبكة الانترنت. إنها تدعى
Liege Waffle

 و هي فطيرة بلجيكية فعلا. تباع في شوارع بروكسل في عربات كعربات النقانق هنا، و عربات البليلة في جدة. يأكلونها مجردة أو مغمسة بالشوكولاتة اللذيذة. إنها هي بعينها

و يالسعادتي. كان ذلك الموقع يعلن عن وجود الفطيرة جاهزة في قسم الأطعمة المثلجة في سلسلة سوبرماركت

Choices

القريبة من منزلي

و منذ ذلك الوقت ، لم أحرم من فطيرتي أبدا. و هذه هي النهاية السعيدة

بإمكانك صنع جوفرا بنفسك باستخدام هذه الوصفة

Doc Gurley Med Slang Dictionary: pimping; (def.) verb, as in to pimp; was pimped; got pimped; will be pimped. Used in a sentence “Dang. I can’t believe how badly I got pimped this morning on rounds.”

Being pimped means to be asked serial questions, kind of like being tortured by a 3 year-old who keeps saying “but why?” Except, unlike with the 3-year-old, the person doing the asking is your clinical supervisor. And the goal is to keep asking until you can’t answer. In other words, the goal is, basically, humiliation.

From Doc Gurley’s Blog

Every medical student or resident faced this. Some believe it is a vital part of the medical education system! This is a nice and funny article that was published in JAMA in 1989 about pimping…a light enjoyable read. It is a must for medical students, residents and new attendings

What I can see from what is happening in my program, is that the situation is becoming more and more competitive for us, the visa sponsored residents, as they call the trainees from GCC countries.

If you are applying for a residency position in a foreign country, specially north America, then you should really pay some extra effort.

Look at your CV: apart from being well written and organized, is it similar to the CV of every other medical student in your class?

Try to be different. I’m not talking about the colors or the organization of the CV. It should be black and standardized. I’m talking about being different in the content.

Here are few examples:

• Volunteer activities: Have you shared in campaign to increase the awareness of breast cancer in your community? Are you a member in Zmzm Charity? Have you arranged a lecture for your aunts and cousins to discuss healthier eating habits/healthy ways for weight loss/importance of exercise? These all worth mentioning.
• Hobbies: Are you a published/professional writer? Do you ski or dive? Do you enjoy traveling to unusual places? Mention these hobbies and be ready to talk about them if required.
• Research: This is usually blank in our CVs as we graduate from medical school. Try to work on something during internship or 6th year. The easiest thing might be a case report. Don’t forget the work you performed in your community/epidemiology rotation.
• Conferences/Symposiums: instead of listing all the conferences you attended, try to present in a conference. A poster presentation might be a good way to start. A nice conference to start with is the International Conference for Medical Students in GCC Countries, held this time in Al-Ain.

Share your thoughts and let us know if you have any other ideas to make a CV more interesting.