Ultrasound.. the way to go..

I am fortunate that i am able to attend courses organized by the WINFOCUS group. I went for the Trauma Life Support a month ago and currently attending the one focussed on echocardiography. Its a structured simple course organized for critical care use and I am thankful that I've been blessed to take up this opportunity.Besides regional anaesthesia, this would be the other new thing i've really learnt recently.

Ultrasound usage for critical care is essential for my everyday clinical practice. This is more so during oncall. I've had few cases previously where i thought having the necessary skill in ultrasound imaging could give me advantage in determining the most possible diagnosis for me to proceed with the management.

I've been blindly using the ultrasound machine in ICU for the last one year. (blind as in no formal teaching telling my how to do it properly).I did not have too much difficulty to handle the machine as I'm quite used to it with my blocks and IV access. Its just when it comes to echo, you just learn it as you see how your consultant doing it. The results? i was only able to see whether the heart is contracting or not.. or the contraction is good or otherwise.. hahahaha but at least its better than nothing right?
I'm very impressed with how they came up with the syllabus as it was easy to understand and brings a whole new spectrum to my future practice. Understanding concepts and answering why and how certainly satisfied my intellectual hunger. Having the world expert to teach is a plus point and i must thank WINFOCUS Malaysia to initiate such a wonderful project. Of course the highlight of the day was doing the simulation training and having an all anaesthetist team (Hady, Shahnaz) & cardiac surgeon(Adli) is not as easy to handle as you think it is! hahahaha

Can you speak up please?

I took my IELTS Listening, Reading and Writing components yesterday and tomorrow I will have my short interview for my speaking component in KL. I took the exam in 2006 before joining the Masters programme as a pre-requisite.At that time i just took it without any practice. Unfortunately it is valid for only two years and i have to renew my so called "standards".
This time around there is a bit of pressure as i have to obtain a band score of 7 in all components. I managed to do so the last time around with zero practice and hopefully this time around should not be a problem. But then.. hahaha nanti kena resit baru tau.. ahahaha
I did feel that bit of pressure especially during the start of the essay paper.. ingatkan dah tera nak amik exam2 ni.. still i was obviously startled :) The funny thing about the essay was i am so used to the "keyboard" blogging style that i kept writing and then erasing before writing again. With the keyboards you just press backspace isn't it? hhahaha
Well.. another clue of what my future plan will be? TUUNGGGUUU..

Floating like a butterfly

It was my dean's vision : to have his staff "floating" around the world in between airports, catching one conference after another to present our latest findings. Our presence in the faculty was only for necessary obligations with students & juniors wanting to follow our footsteps towards academic glory. Waa... macam real..
Well, i had a go at this last month and indeed March was such a busy month for me. Juggling teaching, clinical work, oncall with conferences week after week is not an easy job i must say! I had a preview of this "vision" but at local-regional level. Still young to establish myself internationally.. hahaha but Insya Allah.

Basic Life Support Ultrasound Course WINFOCUS
It started off with me attending a 2 day course in basic critical care ultrasound organized by WINFOCUS Malaysia. It was an important event because of the increasing usage of ultrasound in my daily clinical practice. Being oncall is tough especially making important decisions and ultrasound imaging is helpful to assist me in that. I was a participant in this course and glad that i went for it!

AMEA Medical Education COnference IMU

I was then in my Alma Matter; IMU for Asian Medical Education Conference. I was slotted in the IMU Rhimes rejected Awards oral presentation session ( it was too good to be true if it was selected!). It was good to be back in Bukit Jalil and I am certainly impressed with the current infrastructure that they have. The facelift was done well that I was then proud to tell Hady and Suraya this was the place i was from :) A lot have changed and meeting back Mei Ling ( The Pro-Vost) was good:0 She was enthrilled to see her alumni there. She remembered me for my involvement in students activities then.Of course, i can never answer when she asked, " Why UiTM not IMU ?" hahaha.. maybe later eih?


sapa tu?

President and Provost of IMU.
Presenting my idea on simulation emergency training for medical students was an experience because i had international fellow presenters in my session. Honestly, i did not expect the conference to attract such interest from the medical educationist fraternity around the world! I had butterflies in my stomach before my presentation! hahaha and was glad when it was over!
Another thing which i did not expect was when i saw myself in the Alumni shout-out board in IMU's lobby. Wow.. hahahaha I knew about the exact presentation in the website but i did not expect to see myself there.. malu jugak hehehe

Acute Care Workshop MSQH

Prof YK Chan was given the honour by MSQH to run this workshop in HKL and i must thank her for including me in her team. I've been involved with her interest for the past few years and getting her recognition to give a talk and as a fascilitator is such a priviledge. Its not easy to be recognized by Professors and i guess meritocracy did pave the way. I gave a talk on "Transport of The Critically Ill" and it was well received.

3rd World Congress of TIVA/TCI, Singapore

My poster was accepted for this Congress and it was an opportunity that i could not resist. This was my first participation in World level conference. I was nervous to present the poster as i knew it did not have enough merit to compete amongst the best. The experience was overwhelming and something for me to have at the back of my mind the next time we are to present in ternationally.


It was an overwhelming experience being side by side with the world renowned anaesthetists who methods i use in my daily practice. Remifentanil-MINTO? Propofol-SHNIDER? It was cool to have a picture with them:)

Minto & Shnider

April will be the MSA ASM ; and being in the fascilitators' team for our advanced regional workshop will be a first for me.
I have a lot of invites to talk in the coming months... hmmm.. truly academic am i? siapa sangka...

Dzareif >60 days

MDQ4 aka Dzareif has really grown! He was 3.3kg at birth and looked small then. With breast milk power? waaaa.. a whopping 6.2 kg during his 2 month's scheduled immunisation! He is heavy to carry anyway.. hahaha and the way he fits nicely into the sink during our trip to Singapore was cute!
Dzareif is certainly different when compared to his elder siblings; he is much more demanding and tend not to settle easily. A "breast" session is not enough for him as he needs to be held closely before going to sleep. It was a far contrast from Dzaeffran who'll just doze off after milk, and only making "some" noise when its the next session! Wifey was weary during her 2 month's maternity leave.. hahaha

We tried to catch the hot air balloon in Putrajaya l;ast month with Dzareif having a go on a trip before Singapore. It rained though and we did not see high flying balloons.. but bringing all four for a trip hmm.. is not an easy job for an individual with your eldest being 6?! And i can't imagine how wifey will cope with them when i leave for ..... ( hehehe.. a new venture which i will reveal when everything is confirmed.. :)