Md Fahamy Iskandar started studying for his medical degree in IMU, Malaysia and then transferred to University of Queensland, Australia for completion of his medical degree. This Singaporean student graduated with a medical degree from the University of Queensland (UQ), Australia in March 2016 and will be starting his housemanship in Singapore in September 2016 He relates to us his experience in UQ. “Studies was challenging in UQ (any field of study has its challenges). They do not have study breaks. So one day we can be in hospitals until 11pm and the next day is final exams. That was the case for us in UQ. After every 8 weeks is a major end of rotation exam. Glad that this is over.” “However, one thing I really appreciate about studying in Australia is the friendliness of the senior doctors and patients. Everyone was welcoming and pro teaching! If you don’t know things, they would not shoot you down but instead give you positive encouragement. They will take you by the shoulder and discuss things. Let you assist in surgeries (I had assisted many emergency C-sections where it was only me and one senior doctor available). There are a lot of hands on experience. From the simple blood drawing to the more invasive procedures on real patients.”
Fahamy commended IMU on its early patient exposure and the inclusion of hospital experience in Semester 5. “Medicine is both theoretical and technical. No point in having encyclopedic knowledge but one can’t communicate or is nervous with patients. Both IQ and EQ are vital in medicine. Really hats off to the good and early exposure/experience with patients. If not, I would be less confident in my communications. Plus patients in Australia love to chat.”
“At UQ, every morning, the students are on vampire duty, going around the wards drawing bloods etc. In the Emergency Department, we are expected to function as a junior doctor, see category 4-5 patients independently, formulate investigations, differentials and management and present to our supervisors. If he/she is agreeable to everything, he/she will see the patient with you again quickly and then you do everything else yourself, like setting plugs, ordering relevant imaging etc. It was a great experience“ Fahamy’s advice to juniors transferring to Australia are: 1) Don’t be shy, practice talking a lot 2) Revise your basic sciences and clinical skills (Use Tally’s clinical exam book) 3) Read up more on skin cancer such as SCC, BCC, melanoma. Skin cancer is a big thing in Australia.
