Finally!

Going to fly to Japan tomorrow! Feeling excited although I still haven't finish packing my luggage while I am typing this now. Still short of a few miscellaneous items. Won't be contactable for the whole of next week. Yippee!

I'm drooling just thinking about the food and tidbits that I'll get to eat there, and the famous 白い恋人... :D

Can I Just Say I Don't Know?

Trainee pharmacist asked me to go through prescriptions with her, but it was on the topic of endocrinology and frankly speaking I'm really weak in this topic. My endocrine knowledge is just limited to diabetes and thyroid problems. Any other cheem topics such as adrenal gland problems really baffles me. Told her not to ask me endocrine problems cos I'm really not good in this topic so I can't teach much. Also warned her not to ask me about O&G cos I don't like that topic, but actually I can go through the O&G topic if she wants to cos I have been teaching O&G for 2 yrs. Just that I don't like the topic. *shrugs shoulders*

At times like these, I wonder if I can just say I don't know. There's no way for me to know everything so why should I have to pretend I know just because I'm the senior...

小人物的心声?

Heard the song 小人物的心声 on radio the other day. There's a part of the lyrics that says:

看见名人总是忙忙碌碌
我的时间由我控制
平凡日子一样会充实

I made the comment that although I am a 平凡人, my time is not within my control. When my technician heard that, she laughed an said my time is controlled by the hospital. So much for being a 平凡人, maybe they need to amend the lyrics.

Long Time No See and Goodbye

Was hanging my towel on the hanger near the window this morning and I noticed an overturned insect on the window sill. On inspection I realised the insect was dead and there was already an ant nearby prodding its body. As I peered closer I realise the insect was a ladybug. Have not seen one in years, and now the one I see is dead.

Nevertheless, the sight of it brought back memories of childhood. I remembered the time when we can still see ladybugs quite often and how when they end up in the house, I'll just squat on the floor for a long time just to observe where they were going. Sometimes I would count the spots on their backs and when I see another with the same number of spots I would wonder if it is the same ladybug. There are also the ladybugs in sesame street having their picnic. Can no longer remember the lyrics, but I can still hum the tune. :D

Then there is the ladybug nursery song I used to sing:

Ladybird, ladybird fly away home,
Your house is on fire and children are gone,
All except one,
And that's little Anne,
Ladybird, ladybird fly away home.

Bye bye ladybug, you're truly going home to all your friends and family this time.

The Sparrow and the Hawk

The avian flu exercise, code named sparrowhawk, was conducted today in all hospitals and selected polyclinics and schools. Basically, it is to see how well our healthcare system can handle should an avian flu outbreak occur in Singapore.

It was funny seeing my in-charge lifting his N95 mask to take a breather every 10-15 mins, and how we were all becoming hypoxic and bonkas from constantly breathing in the stale air in the mask. My in-charge, technician and I were all starting to talk nonsense by the time it was lunchtime. Really can't think straight without fresh air.

Going to be worse tomorrow as the exercise will be stepped up to red alert. Argh! Full PPE (personal protective equipment)...

Take Care of Your Own B***** Finances

Amidst all the hype about allowing patients with chronic illness to pay for their medicine using Medisave, we are having a problem right at our doorsteps. Patients who were already using Medisave to pay for their transplant medicine are rapidly depleting their accounts and also over-claiming.

Gist of the claiming system is a patient fills up a Medisave form to claim the medicine for a month. If the doctor prescribes more than a month's worth of medicine, the patient can claim for more than a month in that visit. Eg. if the medicine is for 3 months, they just need to fill up 3 forms, one for each month. However, there are patients who come almost every month and claimed for more than a month's medicine each time. They eventually end up claiming right up to some months in yr 2007. CPF then no longer allow further deductions from these accounts and the hospital sends the full bill to the patients.

Naturally some patients started calling up and were angry at why the hospital is charging them the full price of the medication when they are suppose to pay using Medisave. In order to help curb such problems from happening, finance actually had the stupidity to suggest pharmacy department keep a list of patients who are using their Medisave to pay for the medicine and manually record the months which the patients are claiming for. Why should we be doing financial tracking for the patients?!

Does IRAS bother to tell you your bank account has got no money before they deduct the income tax via GIRO? IRAS will probably just send you a letter telling you to pay up the tax + penalty + interest for late payment if they cannot deduct the money from the bank account. And whose fault is that?

Singaporeans got to start learning to take their finances in hand and they got to learn that modern day economy no longer revolves cash that is tangible. Cyber numbers are money too. Just because you can't feel it does not mean they are not real.

Friends?

One of my classmate will be holding his solemnisation this Friday. Really do not feel like going as I still have plenty of things to settle for my trip. Actually I don't want to go because I am not that close to him. Although in name he was suppose to be part of my clique from university days, but he has never turned up for any of my birthday celebrations . I'm not like trying to pay him back for not turning up for my bday celebrations, but I guess from the way things are we have never been close so I don't want to feel obliged to attend his solemnisation.

Link to Stupid Things and People Blog

Finally gotten round to putting up the link to my blog on stupid things and people. Link is available at the side bar.

Not So Smart After All...

Received a call from my dad around 9+ while I was out shopping with my friends. He called to tell me there was some problem with my pda and he could not switch off the power. Had a hard time telling him which button to press, but the worse thing was he told me it still could not switch off after he pressed the power button. Then he told me he would just leave it on until I come back to settle it.

Was quite annoyed at first then I suddenly had this bright idea: if he does not know how to switch off the power, just ask him to plug the pda to the main electricity such that the battery would not run dry. When I called home, my mom proudly told me she managed to switch off the pda, and I was like, wow, for once she's smarter than my dad when it comes to electronic gadgets.

However, when I reached home, I found that the battery was flat. Then I realise chances are when my mom touched the pda the battery became flat at that moment. Sighz, not so smart after all. :D

Turkish Food

In-charge treated us to turkish food at Holland Village today. It's delicious especially the baklavas. Really glad we were not able to go the restaurant near Bugis else I won't have a chance to eat baklavas. Just thinking of it makes me drool. :D

Resignations...

A number of colleagues resigned, and I know there are more contemplating. Then I ask myself why I am still with the institution. I mean, I do not get any job satisfaction, I'm not enthusiastic about my work. The only reason why I continue to do well in my job is because of my obligation to my licence. I want to do just the minimum, but people are just hounding me to do this, do that.

Sometimes I really want to just disappear...

Job Dissatisfaction

I was just curious if there is such a thing as "signs of job dissatisfaction" as in like "clinical signs and symptoms of depression". Found some interesting websites and when I read through the statements I realise I am dissatisfied with my job. Actually I knew I was dissatisfied, but to what degree I guess I still need professional help. Interesting though is that even the most satisfied worker experiences small amounts of job dissatisfaction, but overall they are still satisfied so no thoughts of leaving.

I mean there were the typical signs of job dissatisfaction that I experience such as dreading going to work, always feeling tired at work even when I don't burn midnight oil, lack of enthusiasm etc. What really caught my attention is this statement: you dream of leaving your job and moving to a remote island in the South Pacific, no seriously, leaving friends, family, your life and never looking back. That's exactly what I was talking about when I posted on doing a disappearing act. Quite comforting to know that it is one of the signs of job dissatisfaction else I was still wondering how I ever end up with such thoughts. :D

New Blog

I've created another blog for me to write on the stupid people I meet at work. That way I can keep this blog for my reflections on life. Of course, I can never totally get away with not posting anything about stupid people on this blog so just bear with me if a little of my frustrations with this "special" group of people leaked into this blog. :D

Anyway, if you want to have a good laugh at humankind's stupidity, you can go to the following:
http://stupidthingsnpeople.blogspot.com

Until I learn to put a link on my current blog to the new blog guess we just have to do things the ancient way: key in the URL.

Happy Things in Life

In-charge is giving us a treat this coming Friday. Actually it was a much delayed treat intended to show his appreciation that we managed to do well for the stock take in Mar 06. We had less than $100 discrepancy during that stock take. Then there is the shopping trip this Saturday with my friends, and Pirates of the Carribean with my bro this Sun. Plenty of things to look forward to, and of course there is the trip to Jap at the end of this month. :D

Irony

Was just wondering at the ironies in life. Was suppose to meet up with 3 friends today. Initially, 2 could not make it but I decided it is okay to just meet up with that one friend. Then on Friday, the friend, whom I was suppose to meet, told me she was not able to make it due to family matters. It ended that today I went out with the 2 friends who were not able to make it in the first place...

My friend commented that she should go read another friend's blog rather than mine as I was always writing about stupid people, but on the way home, she was telling me details of the stupid customers she has encountered in her work. It dawned on me that Darwinian law does not seem to apply to humans. Stupid people does not seem to decrease in numbers nor do they show signs of going extinct. What's more, as my friend aptly put it, they propagate at a faster rate than the smart ones. Survival of the fittest... maybe being stupid is the way to go (the US president is a good example).

Depression

Met a friend at the bus-stop today. (Seems like I'm meeting a lot of people at the bus-stop.) Told me she was going to see a doctor as she felt depressed, and there a few times she felt like ending her life. In addition, she was no longer interested in the activities that she used to enjoy. I was a little surprised when I heard that as she had been the happy-go-lucky type, and bells just went off in my head because what she's telling me are some of the signs of clinical depression.

I knew she did not see the doctor eventually as she went off to get dinner for her boyfriend instead. Felt sad for her and made me realise, maybe my life is not that bad after all. I'm merely frustrated and confused. Sure, I do feel like doing something rash at times, but the worst that I can think of is to disappear or write to Ministry of Manpower to complain about my cramp and hazardous work space. What's more, if I end my life nobody's going to write about the stupid Singaporeans... :D

All in all I'm thankful that I have a crazy family to come home to, some crazy secondary school friends and crazy ex-colleagues to hang out with, and a Heavenly Father whom I can count on.

Blank

Mind's a blank now. Finished teaching the technician course on childhood vaccination today. Wanted to have a break, but there's still discussion with pre-reg pharmacist this Friday. Not happy at work. Really don't know what is wrong. I do wonder sometimes if the problem lies with me or the problem lies with the system.

Disappear

Commented to my friend that I wanted to 人间蒸发. No, I don't mean commit suicide. I simply want to quietly disappear somewhere and not let anybody find out where I went. Start life anew. Of course it would be better if I can migrate elsewhere as Singapore's too small for me to carry out the disappearing act.

I'm tired of knocking sense into stupid people. Had always thought logic is innate, but work has made me realise it is not. Some people simply has no common sense... much less intelligence. It's a true case of 秀才遇见兵, 有理说不清.

Stupid Singaporeans Part II

Patient's husband came to collect medicine and wants us to send bill to his place. Claims that that was what he has been doing all these while and said he has no money. If this is not the first time, then how come he does not know upfront payment is required at the pharmacy? When I explained to him it is a new rule that we have to cap all absconded medication at $20, he raised his voice saying how can a government hospital do this.

Well, the reason is simple, precisely because we are a restructured hospital we need to make sure our finances break even every financial year. If all restructured hospitals keep writing off bad debts and going into deficit, we can close down all restructured hospitals and force everybody to go private hospitals. We are essentially running a business and although not targeted at earning huge profits, I stress, we still need to break even. If you have no money to pay, then maybe it is better for you to go to charitable hospices or hospitals such as Ren Ci.

And I am sick of people asking me why medication is not subisidised. The hospital does not make the decision on which medication to subsidise. The government does. The next time you wonder why certain medication is not subsidised by the government pls write to your minister in parliament (MP) for an explanation.

In addition, stop asking us stupid questions like why is there an increase in the price of medication. Hospitals do not increase price of medication for no good reasons. Most of the time hospitals bears the cost of annual inflation. My institution only does a price overhaul every 10-15 yrs which to my economic sense is just plain silly. A price overhaul should be done every 5 yrs to make sure medication cost does not lag behind inflation excessively.

Second main reason for price increment is simply because manufacturers sell us at a higher price. If they sell us at a higher price we definitely have to pass on the cost to patients. We cannot be selling medication at a loss. Singaporeans got to stop equating restructured (aka government) hospitals with charitable hospitals. We are not the same.

Too Difficult to Understand?

Had a hard time preparing for the pharmacy technician lecture. Course co-ordinator said to keep things simple as most of them have not gone through tertiary education. My in-charge wants a copy of my lecture as well, and I was wondering how to keep things simple enough for the technicians, and at the same time it still remains useful for the pharmacists. At times I think I lapse into the mode of preparing the slides for pharmacists and ended up using quite a fair bit of medical jargon.

Finished preparing the portion on national immunisation schedule today and was thinking it is too simple as I did not go into the disease states the compulsory vaccines cover and merely stated information that can be found in our institution's vaccine chart. Got to continue preparing the lecture. Another 5 more vaccines to go... (>_<)

Superstition or Just Convenience

Was walking home from the bus-stop and I saw this little boy pulling on his grandpa's hands towards the playground. However, his mom and grandma were against the idea of him going to the playground whilst the grandpa was trying hard to persuade them to let the boy play a short while.

After awhile the mom sounded frustrated, and started telling the grandpa there are dirty things in the playground. When I heard that I wanted to laugh. Just exactly is the mom too superstitious or she is just using it as a convenient excuse to prevent the boy from going to the playground? Or she is playing at the ignorance of the grandparents as they are more likely to believe there are ghosts lurking in the playground after dark.