My final MBBS long case

I just finished my long case of my Final MBBS examination today, the toughest test among all the papers in this examination I would say. Long case is a test where the candidates are given 1 hour to clerk and examine the patient and do whatever necessary to come out with diagnosis and treatment plan for the patient.

HAPPY because I got quite a simple case, SAD because I fooled myself and I was so regret.

I got a paediatric bronchial asthma case, everything in the history was fine until I realized I forgot to ask simple but important pieces of information: the patient's school performance and his father's smoking status. These factors were important to assess the outcome of bronchial asthma to the patient's daily living and also factors that may trigger the asthma. When the professor asked me about this 2 questions, to make sure that I was not screwed because of my forgetfulness, I lied to her saying the answer that I presumed, as I thought she would not have the information from the short case notes she got. However, she turned to me asking "did u really ask?" I stunted, I knew I should no longer struggle with the answer that I presumed and I just kept quiet... She replied with "so you didn't ask, never mind..." and the discussion continued. Luckily, she seemed not to be disturbed to the lie I made.

I still remember 1 of the many reasons I chose this career. During the break after matriculation and before entering university, that was 2005, I worked part-time as a promoter of massage equipments at one of the famous shopping center in Bukit Bintang, Low Yat Plaza! My working experience was, I had to tell many lies and exaggerated the good points my products in order to push the sell so that I could earn more commission. I felt so annoyed towards the end as I felt I was cheating people to buy my products, and I think the same also goes to businessmen, as witnessed from many dramas. Therefore, I need a job which I only need to tell the truth, and I just thought of doctor.

When dealing with lives, we cannot lie, we can only tell the truth to the patient, "you just have 6 months time left", "sorry I don't how to treat your problem but I will refer you to the other specialist..." In my 5 years time as a medical student, I did not lie to my patients and my lecturers, however today, during my final MBBS examination, I lied because I was so stupid that I thought I could be escaped from being bombarded without thinking of the consequences.

I was so regret, I confessed in front of Buddha that I will not lie anymore in my career, because I am going to be a safe doctor, dealing with lives.

"So what is his school's performance?"