Morning at the Diabetic Day Clinic

Spent a couple of hours this morning at the Diabetic Day Clinic.. Started off hanging out Dr. Mongan and Ailbhe in an empty consultation room discussing diabetes.. Then moved on to observing what nurses at the clinic did and do ;P They're responsible mainly for patient education, and other things like measuring patients' weights and such.. But yeah, the relationship they have with patients is really cool, patients are way more comfortable around nurses than they are with doctors..

Then sat in with Dr. Dinneen.. He's great :) Real nice guy - took time to explain the reports to me, and asked what I thought and listened to what I had to say :) Saw a couple of patients that got me thinking? Something I don't really do often ;P

First patient was someone with Down's syndrome.. I've never actually met a person with Down's, and that just raised my awareness a bit more.. But what struck me most, was the love that just shone through her father's eyes.. "Sometimes after her bath, while I'm drying her feet, I tickle them.." To make sure she's still got sensation in them.. She was doing really well in managing her diabetes, and I believe its because she's got two parents who love her so much.

Saw a few other patients with different levels of management - some had their condition well under control, others - especially the ones who were recently diagnosed - didn't understand their condition well which lead to poor management..

Another patient that opened my eyes a bit, was one who had to be admitted to hospital.. Wonder what it'd be like - coming in for a routine check, only to be told you would have to stay in the hospital for a couple of days - especially when you felt completely fine.. I've got this mindset that only people with more serious cases would be admitted into hospital - maybe I've got the bar for 'serious' set too high.. But it's all about management of a disease as well, if the best way to treat a patient is by having them close by, then so be it.. Especially when you don't know when the patient will be back, and when know the patient isn't caring for themselves right.

Think the topic of this blog is soon going to be 'A day in the life of.. another medical student' hahaha ;) Now I have something to say :) Tee hEE hEE :D


L-R: Sumi, Steph, me, Ish, Shu and Cha Len :) Chinese New Year dinner 4th of February.. 2 months ago seems like such a long time ago.... Good times :)