Sutured Dreams

 1. Many toppers seem to be using multiple platforms these days. I'm still not in favour of this completely because - 1) It will cost quite a lot of money (which is a big deal for those struggling to get by as it is). 2) Most people struggle to finish even 1 resource completely, let alone 2. But if you are going to do this, you must have a very clear idea in mind what exactly you want from each resource (videos & notes of 1 + QB of another or something along those lines). Don't get multiple resources at the start of your prep thinking you'll do great by doing everything twice - that's just setting yourself up for disappointment. 2. If you are at the very start of your prep, live classes will probably be best because I think complex concepts are best understood at normal speed instead of 2X. If you are in the last lap of your prep though, seeing revision videos at an accelerated speed will help you cover more ground. Of course this approach will need to be adjusted b

Recent news of an intern being subjected to sexually inappropriate behaviour by the HOD of a well-known college in Trivandrum is not surprising to those of us who have been practicing medicine for a while. It's upsetting yes, but unfortunately not surprising.  The medical hierarchy has always been rigged to favour the ones at the top. Many will claim that this is a good thing and that seniors should be respected. There is no denying that but along with respect there should also be trust. Trust that those in power will not cross the line into abusive and inappropriate behaviour.  It is not exactly a shock to learn that men in this country are unable to behave properly while in the company of women. What is shocking is just how little deterrent there is in the medical fraternity to stop such blatant abuse of power. The girl in the first paragraph found out she was far from the only one who had such experiences with the professor in question. Most campuses don't have any for

How does one describe the end of a working experience? There is a mixture of happiness that it happened, sadness that it's over and regret that you couldn't have done more while you were there. Having worked in both government and private hospitals for prolonged periods, I can definitely say that I prefer working in government hospitals for a number of reasons. As an MBBS doctor, you'll definitely be doing more good in a government hospital - can help more people and you'll learn a lot more by seeing more cases and having better followup (people always tend to come back). And you don't have to worry about creating profit for the hospital (something that doesn't come naturally to me).  So when Covid cases started shooting up in Trivandrum last year, I had felt an inherent desire to help out. And as always, I tend to overestimate exactly how much I can help out in the need, which is a recipe for disappointment. Like all things in life, the past few months have had

It's easy to sympathise with an alcoholic. As long as you don't have to live with them. My experience with one was short but traumatic enough that I had blocked it out completely from my mind for some time.  "Vic" was my father's home nurse for a while but calling him that would be a disservice to home nurses everywhere. His only goal in life was to get as drunk as possible. He figured that working under a doctor would provide easy cash.  The problem for me back then was cash. I had little and was cheated out of months of pay by certain places. I had to work long hours almost all days to get by. There was no one else at home to supervise.  2 weeks after starting work, Vic said he wanted 40k per month as salary, which is the same as I earn today while on Covid duty as a government doctor. Once I made it clear that that wasn't happening, his behaviour began to get progressively worse.  He would ask for money to get groceries in the morning before I went to work

  What do you do when 2 senior doctors have differing views on a particular topic? A) Go with the doctor who looks older. B) Go with the doctor with more degrees to his name. C) It doesn't matter to me because I'm a junior doctor. D) Go review the literature for yourself and draw your own conclusions. If your natural inclination was anything other than option D, I'm afraid your education has failed you.  Taking things at face value I recently had one of my juniors tell me that a big reason for coronavirus spread was via hair and feet. When I asked for a reference (since I hadn't read anything like that), I was told "That's what the doctor here told me so it must be true". There were no replies after that.  One must always find a balance between being a skeptic and having an open mind. I searched for any evidence to support this claim and have not been able to find anything special thus far (anyone reading is free to point me to any evidence backing this up