played with the stethoscope today! ok this might seem trivial to most people but being a doctor means you have the power to wield the stethoscope proudly.

unfortunately, its harder than it looks! especially if the surroundings are noisy. so for all my readers out there, please keep quiet when the doctor i'm taking blood pressure (if you're unlucky enough to be my guinea pig!

blood pressure was fun! finally got to listen to the sounds of Korotov. =) now i know what the doctors are looking out for when they place the diaphragm at the cubital fossa, listening to the turbulence formed in the brachial artery when it is occluded and then slowly released. always thought it was a gushing sound but i guess common sense should have told me that it would be a pulsating sound (just like your heart beat).

now i feel more like a doctor as compared to last yr when we barely did anything. the MSK examination was not even diagnostic of anything! apart from ACL tears etc. at least now we auscultate the heart sounds and listen for murmurs etc. unfortunately, most of us would be normal so that wouldnt allow us to listen to any pathologies. =(

something funny but mean happened during clinical skills. Friend K (who happens to be a little on the plump side) was asked to be our volunteer for examination as he was the only guy around. while we were feeling for the apex beat, friend J asked what would we do if the patient was female. GP was like "oh you just have to try moving the breast out of the way" and while he was saying that, he was unfortunately pushing away K's manboobs. ><>

select above for a snippet of things that happen during clinical skills.

tmr's a rather slack day so i shall try and finish up another mindmap in between lessons. =)