A Community Visit (KK Seri Kembangan) - The Van LEFT Me!

Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabakaratuh.

It was our second clinic visit for this semester. The previous visit was to a dialysis centre, while this time we went to a government clinic, which is usually called as a 'Klinik Kesihatan' (KK) aka 'Poliklinik' for follow-up cases with diabetic patients. My real fear about clinic visit had finally come true, though I had neither wished nor expected "today is the day". I already woke up for Subuh prayer and continued sleeping after that, without realising I had turned off all the 5-minute-interval alarms that I had set the night before and the worst part came..

IMU van left me. Yes, it literally LEFT. 

One of my group mates to KK Seri Kembangan gave me a call at 7.30 as the bus was gonna leave soon. Wait. Not a call. But thrice. Minus the two calls from my other group mate. I asked them to go first and I'd find my own way to reach there, which after a while of thinking, I only had 2 choices which were either calling a cab or just 'burn' this visit, and I prefer not to risk myself choosing the latter one as IMU might ask us to write a reflective writing from this visit, plus this clinic visit was like an opportunity for me to meet real diabetic patients, record everything in a given logbook and practice what we had learned and been taught during CSU (Clinical Skills Unit) session.

The van always leaves early, around at 7.30am and we usually start everything at 8.15am, after being briefed by a sister (pangkat nurse) who's in charge from IMU. I rushed to the toilet, simply took clothes that do not need to be ironed, wore a shawl I favour, grabbed my lab coat, stethoscope, pen and logbook and immediately browsed the MyTeksi app (I'll show you how to use it later) and wore my socks while waiting for the taxi to arrive.

Luckily KK Seri Kembangan is just 15 minutes away from Vista. Imagine if my group were being selected to go to other clinics, which are further away hmmm tak pergi lah nampaknya manusia bernama Ardilla ni. I had to pay 18 bucks for the taxi. If I go there by IMU van? Free. (Sabor jelah jang oi, mu gak yang salah)

I arrived at the right time as the sister just started the briefing session, telling us the do's and don'ts, and what were we supposed to do here. 3 hours were given and we had to take history from at least 4 patients, then we had to submit the logbook at the end of the visit before we went back to IMU. Again, something unexpected thing happened..

I left my logbook in the cab. Great.

Nothing else I could do other than admitting my mistake by telling the truth to the sister in charge and accept whatever the sister might tell me, whether it's a scold, or bebelan, etc. The sister was really kind as she didn't scold me at all, in fact, she gave me a day and told me to submit by tomorrow. It seemed not a big deal to the sister hmm, maybe I was just over thinking about it haha. Just after I realised I left my logbook, I told the taxi driver he could just leave it at the guard house in Vista and he said okay.

As usual, if I take a cab to anywhere alone, usually I'd send a Whatsapp of the taxi driver's information to my family Whatsapp group and Sobri, just in case if I was nowhere to be found then they'll know where to start finding me. Upon arrival, I curi-curi sent Ibu a text message..

"Ibu kita kat clinic." 

I felt vibrations came from my phone, looked like someone was trying to reach me, calling me a few times, but I didn't pick up because I thought 'twas kinda rude to pick up the phone while the sister was talking, and I'd already informed the taxi driver about the logbook I left in his car. Maybe he didn't realised the text I sent yet. So, I totally ignored the calls. After the briefing, I looked at my phone and I was really surprised. Those calls were from Ibu! My god. I should have at least looked at the caller's name. I called Ibu and asked her what's going on. She asked me whether I was alright or not as she thought something bad had happened to me until I had to go to the clinic and it drove her crazy. My bad about not telling a full sentence. I should have said "Ibu, kita pergi clinic under IMU." Hehe maafkan anakanda, ibuku.

The patient 'hunting' session began and I found a makcik sitting near the diabetes clinic who looked nice and approachable. It was a great start. I managed to get almost all information I needed with a good rapport and a nice ending. Then I found a middle-aged male patient and I was just starting the conversation by telling him my name and asking about his diabetes, but he already started the engine-of-talking right before me and told me everything about his condition, didn't let me talk at all. This is one kind of difficult patient, but we haven't really gone through as our hx taking session should be the week after (today), and I couldn't interrupt, so I let him keep ranting about everything and ended the conversation as fast as I could. I gave up with the interview. I didn't have enough courage to divert him back as I thought I might sound a lil bit rude.

Later I found a few more patients before gathering back for a debriefing and logbook signing. Then we went back to IMU.

The difference between the usual history taking and follow up with diabetic patients is a follow up consists of the basic history taking components PLUS a few other stuff such as current control, whether the patient is compliant with the medications, complications, exercise, diet, etc. It was an eye-opener to me I must say because at the moment it made me realised that when it comes to the real situation, you can't really follow the format like how you've been taught in CSU setting as real patients bila bercakap tengah seronok takkan nak pergi cut semata-mata kita nak tanya pasal family dia pula kan? So, basically we have to follow the flow of the conversation and try our best to make sure every component of history taking are there without interrupting the good rapport that has been built with the patient.

Long story, don't know how to cut short. Bye.

"A good day is a good day. A bad day is a good story. At the end of the day it's all good."