Sunday, February 26, 2006




posted by nwxiang at 10:15 AM | 0 comments


Tuesday, February 21, 2006


Cost VS Value

One looks at one's Hwachong Bio notes and then looks at one's medical txtbks. One wonders: Are the hundreds of dollars I paid for these books worth it?

One looks at one's Hwachong Bio notes and then looks at the notes/materials provided during one's medical lectures. One wonders: Is the $18,000 (and rising) I'm paying per year for my medical education worth it?

One is just wondering.

posted by nwxiang at 11:47 PM | 0 comments


Wednesday, February 15, 2006


"For the nth time..."

I think as medical students, we should keep in mind that patients are humans, not specimens. Because of that, they do not like being probed and prodded (both verbally and physically) incessantly.

So pls dun.

posted by nwxiang at 11:19 PM | 2 comments


Thursday, February 09, 2006


The Cocktail Party Effect

Today, I shall introduce a phenomena which, despite its name, has little to do with alcoholic drinks. In fact this phenomena plays an important role in medical education.

Quoting from Wikipedia, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocktail_party_effect):

"The cocktail party effect describes the ability to focus one's listening attention on a single talker among a mixture of conversations and background noises, ignoring other conversations (Arons, 1992; "The cocktail"). This effect reveals one of the surprising abilities of our auditory system, which enables us to talk in a noisy place."

So as you can see, this ability of our auditory system is extremely crucial in medical lectures, where medical students attempt to mimick the incessant nocturnal buzzing of crickets daily.

posted by nwxiang at 8:18 PM | 0 comments


Wednesday, February 01, 2006


On the public healthcare system...

4 weeks already and a diagnosis on a simple case cannot be made? By that time a tumour might have metastasized... Something should be done about this...

posted by nwxiang at 10:51 PM | 0 comments