limex.posterous.com

Philippine holidays for 2012

Sun, 01 Jan 2012 21:03:00 -0800

Just sharing this proclamation listing holidays for the calendar year 2012. Note these down so you can plan your leave, AWOL, or whatever ahead.

Update:

Just listing the dates below if the image is too LQ to read.

Regular Holidays

January 1 (Sunday) - New Year's Day
April 5 - Maundy Thursday
April 6 - Good Friday
April 9 - Araw ng Kagitingan
May 1 (Tuesday) - Labor Day
June 12 (Tuesday) - Philippine Independence Day
August 27 (Monday) - National Heroes' Day
November 30 (Friday) - Bonifacio Day
December 25 (Tuesday) - Christmas Day
December 30 (Sunday) Rizal Day

Special (Non-Working) Holidays

January 23 (Monday) - Chinese (Lunar) New Year
August 21 (Tuesday) - Ninoy Aquino Day
November 1 (Thursday) - All Saints' Day
November 2 (Friday) - Additional special (non-working) day
December 31 (Monday) - New Years' Eve / last day of the year

Special Holiday (for all schools)

February 25 (Saturday) - EDSA Revolution Anniversary

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Cooked fish fillet with baby corn and black beans.

Sat, 24 Dec 2011 21:28:44 -0800

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Photo Post

Sat, 24 Dec 2011 05:52:00 -0800

@songjunkee1018 I want a dog too but they thought giving me a puppy wasn't such a good idea

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Ohai there!

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 18:56:03 -0800

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Latest iBook update crashes on startup

Sat, 10 Dec 2011 17:48:53 -0800

Am I the only one who has problems with the latest update of Apple's iBooks app? Come on! I could last for a week without games and social media but at least give me access to my eBooks and my bookmarks! Isn't there anybody else with this problem? Im using iOS 5.0.1 by the way.

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Random photos of Junior Internship

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 18:21:00 -0800

See the full gallery on Posterous

Just some random Instagram photos I forgot to upload

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Still Alive

Tue, 04 Oct 2011 07:16:00 -0700

I am still alive. Thank you. I'm now rotating in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Nothing eventful happening but at least I'm not as physically battered as before.

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OMG

Sun, 24 Jul 2011 09:12:42 -0700

I’ll be having the worst August-September ever. But… I’m just really glad to see my family tonight after a long time. I’m really just testing if my SMS blogging still works. Haha.

via @tweetitow

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Cool down

Fri, 24 Jun 2011 05:36:00 -0700

I am still alive. I am on my third month of Junior Internship/Clerkship or rather 4th year of medical school. I'm already done with my 2 month-long rotation in Internal Medicine and I'm in my first month of two in the Department of Surgery.

Junior Internship has been an endless cycle of Preduty-Duty-Postduty. Preduty is basically 7am-5pm, while 'Duty' is 7am to 5pm the next day. You are already 'post-duty' when it's already 7am after you've been on duty the entire night. Don't worry it does take some time getting used to. As for sleep, I have been lucky I've been able to sneak some catnaps in between tasks while on duty. Being on duty at the Emergency room is ok since I don't have to deal with so much paperwork.

Internal Medicine was enriching. Surgery is more hands-on and a bit tiring. I have this weird appetite recently but my weight pretty much stayed the same. I don't get to read any books and my phone doesn't work on the hospital's wi-fi so I only get to go online if I have some credits to spare for that precious data connection.

I don't get to update Twitter much since almost all of the significant events happening can't be described in 140 characters but would take too long to type. What's good about clerkship is that you get to interact with pretty much a lot of kinds of people and that's really part of the training in becoming a doctor. There will be lots of nice people but also lots of people who you'd wish would just fall down the stairs and break their necks. I learned that being around ladies for too long (almost all of my groupmates are female) can get to your nerves most of the time as they seem to have 'special needs' and I pretty much have to cover for them everytime they get into trouble for their slacking off.

Well, that's all for now. There's really nothing interesting happening recently. I just learned that being able to sleep on a bed would be the best thing that I could get all day. Take care.

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Couldn't sleep. Sun's about to rise

Sat, 26 Mar 2011 14:35:01 -0700

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Some must-haves before clerkship/junior internship

Wed, 23 Mar 2011 09:29:00 -0700

Kay posted a list of some must-haves (according to Kuya Darwin) before we start our junior internship/clerkship. I'm listing some of them down here with some more descriptions on why you need them and more details. This list includes the general stuff and does not yet include the stuff that are specific to particular departments.

1. Carbon-paper

You'll need this because you'll have to accomplish stuff in multiple copies. This saves you the effort of having to rewrite them.

2. One ream of bond paper

No info yet as to what size of paper we'll need but I assume it'll mostly be of Letter (International) size -- that's 8.5 x 11 inches. You may want to stock up on some Legal sized papers (8.5 x 13 local) as well. You'll need to get at least one ream because that'll run out really fast. You don't need to get the reams that a really thick since they might put on weight if you're carrying a lot of them.

3. Pens

You'll need a lot of these since you'll be writing a lot and you'll be losing a lot of them. Better buy those cheap pens (in boxes) that won't really hurt much if you lose them when you're scrambling because the 'code' was raised. I suggest getting the Faber-Castell ballpoint pens (0.5mm Fine, pictured, P10.00) since they're cheap, sturdy, and pretty reliable. I suggest avoiding the pricey ones since it might just end up being stolen/lost/damaged. Pens with neck straps are also handy

4. Small calculator

This is really handy especially you'll be expected to calculate a lot of stuff. I suggest that you splurge a bit on this one because the cheaper ones don't last long and the labels on the buttons fade. Get the ones that has a strap attached so you can hang it around your neck. If you do have a smartphone like an iPhone or an Android phone, I also suggest getting medical apps that could help you save time.

5. Belt bag

You'll need this to keep your stuff in an arms reach always. I haven't had the chance to check how big it's supposed to be but just look around for other interns in the hospital for reference.

6. E.R. and O.R. scrub suits

The color and the text is pretty much dictated by the hospital you're in but it is required that you have TWO -- one for the emergency room and another for the operating room.

You'll also need OR slippers

The other ones listed below don't need much explanation:

mayo scissors
curve clamp
a roll of gauze
bandage
dressing set
sphygmomanometer
pediatric BP cuff
stethoscope
pen light
face mask
cap
OR slippers
Medicine Blue Book
Physical Diagnosis manual
Mini versions of textbook
Neurologic hammer

Some reminders (may be useful only in DLSUMC)

Produce a clinical abstract PER PATIENT
Produce a Discharge Summary as soon as possible since the patient won't be able to leave unless this is complete
Don't let the other hospital staff push you around but show some due respect. Refer to everyone with "Sir" or "Ma'am" just to be safe
Attend the orientation

Info here came from Kay's post in the Fb groups of our batch. If you think there's still something I have to put in, leave a comment or bother me on Twitter so we can compile a comprehensive list before we start.

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Pictures of Ethan from last weekend

Tue, 22 Mar 2011 09:07:00 -0700

See the full gallery on Posterous

Pictures of Ethan, my nephew, turning two this May. These were taken last Sunday (March 20, 2011) when we celebrated my sister's birthday with the rest of the family. Pictures by me.

Updated with more pictures

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What you should and should not blog about in medical school

Tue, 22 Mar 2011 02:04:00 -0700

[Edit: I edited some parts of this post since I have this problem of only noticing errors once it's already published/printed]

This post pretty much hopes to convince you (assuming you're a medical student) to blog. By blogging, I mean sharing complete posts online not just tweets/Facebook statuses or pictures. I will try to list what student doctors (especially you medical clerks/junior interns) could find useful in blogging and what they should avoid posting online. This could also be a good way to pass time if you're having a slow day.

How can I blog if I'm pretty much stuck in a hospital? Unless your hospital has wi-fi for students (like ours), some of our awesome fellowmen have setup this Twitter gateway that you allows you to tweet AND BLOG via SMS or text messaging on your local carrier (Globe/Smart/Sun)! Read more on tweetitow.com and SMS blogging. This works on Posterous but if you have blogs on other sites such as Tumblr, you can autopost there if you're far away from a wi-fi network.

Here are just some of the tips

WHAT YOU SHOULD POST/WRITE ABOUT

1. Learning Experiences

Medical students would find this rather trivial but writing about some of your important medical and academic learnings would help reinforce it. Posting something funny or making a meme on something you learned in class will actually help you remember it or understand it fully. In the classroom setting, you can try to post about a rather difficult topic and try to explain it that anybody outside medical school will understand. For theories, try to discuss why this is important in the clinical setting in everyday (non-medical) words or use fun, easy to understand analogies.

In the hospital setting, blogging about some out-of-the-ordinary cases or cases that deserve to be on the grand rounds would be really helpful not only to you but to your readers as well. Another good thing about blogging is that you can go back to your old posts and learn more from them.

These learning experiences can be anything from an unusual chief complaint to trivial clinical mistakes regardless how humorous or fatal. Posting about it can be a valuable resource material for your coworkers. Hopefully, your learning experiences can prevent embarrassing rounds in the future... or could even save someone's life! You could also take on a more humorous tone to your post recalling that one time when your buddy was so sleepy from duty that he inserted the foley catheter as if it were a nasogastric tube (no I haven't heard of this happening yet), or that one time when you mistakenly injected that hepatitis B vaccine to the patient's mother (Yes this has happened but not to me)

2. Stuff you do/have to survive

Okay, so those thirty-six hour shifts as a clerk/junior intern in the hospital is anything but humanly possible. Maybe you have found this sort of water hidden deep in the Himalayas that gives you superhuman powers that allows you to be constantly on your toes or this Buddhist chant you recite that allows you to be invisible when the consultant is making rounds. Well you better post and share it with us.

Ok enough of that. What I was hoping you'd share would be your tips or workflow -- how you keep track of the things you do or need to do, what devices or apps do you use to make the routine easier. If you're having problems with something, you can try posting about it online and hopefully, someone kind enough will leave some tips in the comments. You can also share what this particular consult wants with her latte... so that if ever 'that time of the month' comes, she'll have the perfect cup waiting for her before she even goes to her rounds and make the interns' lives miserable.

WHAT YOU SHOULD NOT POST ONLINE

1. A post badmouthing anyone you work with

In med school, shit pretty much rolls downhill. Consultants are under a lot of pressure in treating their patients that they may eventually displace all that stress and anger to someone of lower rank, like their residents. Then, the residents eventually pass it on to the interns, and eventually to the students. So, you got pissed. Now you go online or updated your blog via SMS and badmouthed a superior. You feel better... for now. Then, the tech-savvy professor you badmouthed decided to Google his/her name (or has set up "search alerts") to check if his research had been published on a reputable journal but alas, s/he finds your tweet/blog post instead. Now, you're in for some shit.

Now, I've put this here so that hopefully you wouldn't end up making that mistake. Don't talk shit with your coworker's/professors'/superiors' name on it. Don't put his/her name online or better yet don't even think of writing an angry post about him/her.

2. Patients' names or pictures

As a medical student, you've been taught of this sooo many times. Respect your patients' confidentiality. Even if you're just a medical student, the relationship you have with the patient is pretty much the same as if you were already a doctor. If you believe that a picture of a patient's signs would be necessary for you to be able to describe the case, ask for his/her consent. If the patient refuses, respect that. If the patient allows and the picture would include the face, at least 'black out' the eyes to respect the patient's anonymity.

This is also particularly important if one boring night at the E.R., the silence was broken when a celebrity comes for a consult due to something of embarrassing nature (something like vaginismus?). The first thing on your mind is probably tweet that "OMG **** is here at the ER for ______". Don't even think of bringing out your phone unless you wanted your ass to be sued.

3. Stuff that can incriminate you or coworkers

Sure you just love posting pictures of yourself chugging down alcohol in skank get up but if you were supposed to be on duty or even if you're not, maybe it's good not to share anything that could possibly ruin your chance into getting into a residency program. The same goes to your colleagues too. Don't even post that photo of your classmates snorting some unknown powder on the table (even if it's just table salt made to look like something else). This warning is not limited to blogs but includes social networking sites as well. Maybe it's about time you review your Privacy Settings in your Facebook Account.

What I do is I group my 'professional contacts' (like your teachers, professors, superiors, manager, etc.) together and set it up so that they won't be able to see pictures of you and your drinking problem. It may also be helpful to stop crossposting your tweets to Facebook.

That's pretty much all for now. I hope you didn't find this post TL;DR. If you believe there are some more tips I missed, please leave something in the comments and I'll include them in the next post I've prepared.

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Operation Smile offers free cleft lip/palate surgery at the DLSUMC, Dasmarinas City

Sun, 20 Mar 2011 04:11:00 -0700

Hello! I would just like to share that Operation Smile Philippines will be offering free cleft lip and/or palate repair for children 6 months to 14 years of age (para sa mga 'bingot' o 'ngongo') at the De La Salle University Medical Center in Dasmarinas City, Cavite from April 12-16, 2011.

Operation Smile is an international effort that aims to help children with cleft lip or cleft palate with holistic support that they may be able to live normal and fulfilling lives.

If you would like to recommend a child for the free service you may do so through the following means:

Visit the Social Service Department (Rm. 118, Building 1) at the De La Salle University Medical Center

Call (046) 481 8000 local 1045

Call/Text the mobile number: 0910 919 3307

If you are interested to join the committee of this surgical mission, get in touch with the Marketing Department of DLSUMC through (046)481 8000 local 2006.

DLSUMC is a division of the De La Salle Health Sciences Institute, Dasmarinas City, Cavite
Congressional Avenue, Dasmarinas City, Cavite 4114

Please retweet, reblog, or share this on your Facebook wall. Thank you!

To my classmates, if you'll be rotating in Pediatrics or Surgery at this time, you may be required to take part in this event.

Some helpful links:

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New design for my Posterous blogs

Sat, 19 Mar 2011 07:18:00 -0700

It seems I've been on a roll when it comes to updating my blogs' layouts. Anyway, updating my Posterous blog's design took me 7 hours of looking at HTML code and hitting the preview button every now and then so that I don't end up messing the entire layout just because of a misplaced character or a misspelled reference.

Anyway, it's just HTML and I haven't done any 'real' web design for the past two years because of med school so I was hoping people could be a little less rash about commenting. Hehe. I updated my JUGEM blog's design but from now on I'm keeping this Posterous blog as my main blog since it pretty much 'auto-posts' anywhere and saves me a lot of time and I can update through SMS! How cool is that? Anyway, follow me on Twitter. @limers

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I updated my JUGEM blog after like centuries

Tue, 15 Mar 2011 06:47:00 -0700

I updated my old blog and profile page. I'm still working on my 'online portfolio' but I don't think it'll be done by April.

I really need to have a new picture taken well only after I lose all this extra 'summer break' weight and I grow my hair back. I knew shaving my head was a mistake. This is the only decent pic of me that is closest to a shaved head.

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Turn any webpage into a Katamari game!

Sun, 13 Mar 2011 01:07:00 -0800

Katamari Damashii is this game where you're your objective is to basically roll a 'snowball' of anything you can see. The challenge is to make your ball big enough so that you can 'assimilate' bigger objects to make your ball bigger. Confused? Watch this YouTube video for a demo

This hack basically turns any webpage into a Katamari game! With the page's elements as the stuff you'd have to absorb into your katamari ball. This works seemlessly with Google Chrome and Firefox 4.

Go to: http://kathack.com/
You can use the bookmarklet or the code available on the site. I suggest that you use the bookmarklet for future reference.
Drag the bookmarklet into your bookmarks bar
Go to the website you wish to play with.
Click the bookmarklet. FUN

The fun thing about this is this hack even plays the theme for the Katamari games while you roll around the page.

Note: This post was updated since the code appears to be truncated when viewed online.

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Untitled

Mon, 28 Feb 2011 11:17:03 -0800

via TweetDeck

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Medyaryo 2011 Layout Work

Mon, 21 Feb 2011 01:00:00 -0800

Just sharing some of the layout work I did for the College's student publication before (hopefully) clerkship. Layout was made using Adobe Illustrator and InDesign. I think I forgot where I got my fonts. Thank you very much to Paul Matthew Jiao, our Editor-in-Chief, for his trust!

Be sure to grab a copy of the magazine to see more of the spreads I designed. Thanks!

limex.posterous.com

Philippine holidays for 2012

Cooked fish fillet with baby corn and black beans.

Photo Post

Ohai there!

Latest iBook update crashes on startup

Random photos of Junior Internship

Still Alive

OMG

Cool down

Couldn't sleep. Sun's about to rise

Some must-haves before clerkship/junior internship

Pictures of Ethan from last weekend

What you should and should not blog about in medical school

Operation Smile offers free cleft lip/palate surgery at the DLSUMC, Dasmarinas City

New design for my Posterous blogs

I updated my JUGEM blog after like centuries

Turn any webpage into a Katamari game!

Untitled

Medyaryo 2011 Layout Work

LOL Pokerface and I Gotta Feeling!