UMS med student reporting.
:-)

Anyone has information regarding USMLE step 1 in Malaysia?

Hiiii everyone!!! sorry for interupt for a while.

who need medic-related books, I bought it from Clementi Book Store,

the reason I want to let go is because I change course, yup, I changed my mind last minute
Those books are new, I nv use it.

1)Person International Edition ,
Human Anatomy & Physiology
Seventh Edition , ( with sealed cd, never open it)
author: Elaine N.Marieb...

2)Vander's Human Physiology -The Mechanisms of Body Function ,
Eleventh Edition
by Eric P.Widmaier,Hershel Raff....

3)Pearson International Edition
Campbell Biology (Eighth Edition)
by Urry, Cain, Wasserman.....

who need those book please Pm me or drop message ,
I travel to sing' to buy those books bcause it's quite difficult to find those books here(Msia)

Thanks.

hi there, i do need some suggestions here.

I'm currently a SPM candidate who will be sitting for SPM 4 more months and I'm in a vast dilemma now Seriously, I have a great interest in Medical field and I will pursue my dream in Medicine (MBBS) .

There're two roads for me now :

I) A-level (Private Sector)
If i choose this road , I will enroll into January intake and finish the 1 1/2 year program and go to somewhere private uni in local and most probably twinning to UK for clinical phase(which i do really want to ).

II) Malaysian Matrikulasi
What I heard from my friends who are studying in Matrikulasi , they said that its syllabus is much more easier and simpler than STPM and A-level and easy to enter local uni ( which will save me a lot of $$). But some who have finished their Matrikulasi and is doing MBBS in UM said that it's quite hard to catch up the uni standard.


So, is UM's(local) MBBS good or better than IMU(private) or do UM provide twinning program ?

I come from a middle-class family where money will be a problem if there's no scholarship for me.

To choose Road I ( private sector ) or Road II ( public sector )?

u have great interest? so you should already did a lot of research on medicine right?

so do you what is the life of a housemen/medical officer?

on other note, try to apply for the matrikulasi program. yes, its peanuts compared to STPM n A-levels.

if you are not bumi, what makes you think you can get selected for matrik?...........

even if you get into matrik, what makes you think you can get into um?..........

Go study for your SPM first. After getting your result, then you can ask about pre-U options.
Thinking of such things now won't make any difference.

This post has been edited by CyberSetan: Aug 21 2010, 10:29 PM

Hi Jellyn,

I am currently a student in IMU.

The USMLE Step 1 is a different ballgame all together from the standard basic science exam in Malaysia, with much emphasis on subjects such as biochemistry, genetics etc. However, if you study hard for it, you will get a good score, and you may then compete to obtain a residency in US one day in the future.

I took the USMLE Step 1, and one of the things I felt while I was studying for it was actually - loneliness, because I could not find many other Malaysian medical students who are also studying for it. So I hope that more malaysian students prepare for the usmle, and go to US for training and later return home with the specialist skills

Need to let you know a little about some random about US training if you don't know.

Common misunderstanding is : "Just pass Step 1, 2 and 3 then enter US to work"

A few things wrong about that statement :

- you enter US for residency, and residency is a specialization course. All medical graduates in US immediately enter a specialization course, no such thing as houseman rotating through surgery, medicine, pediatrics etc. If you wanna be a surgeon, you enter as a surgical intern (watch grey's anatomy? they are surgical interns in season 1, fresh out of med school. Watch scrubs? same thing)

-you get PAID while training to become a specialist in US : as a trainee, your pay is about USD 54k per year. But pay should not be a factor for you wanting to go US. The factor is the opportunity to train, and 1 day return to serve Malaysia.

-passing Step 1 and 2 qualifies you to enter what is known as the MATCH. Its about the same as applying to local university. You go to individual hospitals for interview. You rank which hospital and which program you wanna train in, the hospital ranks you. You get a MATCH means you are accepted (ie : General Surgery in University of California Medical Center). You compete with every single applicant. Thousands of foreign medical graduates apply each year. Half get MATCHED, half don't... and they can try again NEXT year.

-the timeline is something like this : after/during medical school >> USMLE Step 1 and 2 CK and CS >> interview period >> you rank the programs, the programs rank you >> you get Matched to a program and spend the next 3-5 years training there.

-usually if you enter US at age 24, at around 27 y/o, you will complete specialization aka residency (ie : internal medicine / pediatrics / emergency medicine / neurology) , and at the age of 30, you will complete subspecialization aka fellowship (ie : gastroenterology, neonatology, fetal medicine).

- Step 3 is not compulsory in order to enter the MATCH. It is a bonus if you take it though. Usually US grads will only take it after 1st year of residency (intern year).

This post has been edited by lemontea88: Aug 22 2010, 02:53 AM

Thank you for your valuable info. Much appreciated! I wish u all the best!!!

the us system makes it very short in the postgraduate training process......and very focused.....

on the other hand, it makes everybody 'specialised' and nobody a generalist, which can be bad for patient care, as there is no one with the broad expertise to manage a whole patient......each specialist takes care of that little bit of the patient within his area of expertise.....

it also means the basic 'specialist' ie internal medicine is actually the equivalent of a vocationally trained GP in the commonwealth system (uk/oz/nz), so isn't really a specialist.........in fact, the vocationally trained GP have wider and deeper expertise than the internist..........they do more than the american internist.........but they are not recognised as 'specialist', although there is a move to classify them as family medicine specialist.........

there's also family medicine residency in US , which is equivalent to a GP in commonwealth countries.

i guess you are trying to say the specialists in US lack general knowledge in medicine, as most of them directly went into area of interest upon graduation, unlike their counterparts in commonwealth countries, who had gone through few years of housemanship and mo-ship before going into post graduate training.

the american family medicine board certification is decreasing, less and less doctors choose this, as remuneration is smaller compared to surgical or some medical specialties.........and less prestigious.......

the result is, patients choose specialists over the family physicians, if they have a choice......they do not have the gate keeper role of the gp in the commonwealth socialised health care system..........

there is a board certification in both adult medicine (im) and paediatrics, and that may be taking over some of the functions of the family physicians.....

the other dying discipline is the general surgeon....

there is also a trend in commonwealth countries to shorten the training period, and make it more focused.....but by and large, trainees are still expected to be exposed to a wider range of disciplines in the earlier years before they focus down into an area.....

there is an awareness that there are merits in exposing doctors to a broad range of disciplines, before they be expected to subspecialised, and most commonwealth countries are doing that, but it can make the training process very long.....in the old uk system, one takes 10-15 years to reach consultant grade......

This is true. One who has been through all rotations working as a house officer has wider depth, which is good especially in countries whose aim is to have every single doctor know the basics of delivery, fixing a fracture etc.. to be a jack of most trades. A psychiatrist in that country knows how to remove an appendix. But as to the depth of knowledge, I believe if you work immediately in the medical department once you graduate and do not rotate to other department, you will have more experience in managing patients admitted to the medical department (ONLY), compared to one who rotates through multiple departments for 2 whole years.

However, there are also countries who prefer to have their doctors immediately specialize in a field. US is the first, and I know that Singapore is moving towards it too (or already has). The bad thing about this is lack of the width of the knowledge, as mentioned. The good thing about this is you are focused into that particular field, which is especially good for you if you plan to get into a specialty which is more procedure oriented. For example : 1-2 years after graduation, and you are drilling burr holes if you are in neurosurgical training etc.

For example : At the age of 33 years old, you can be a qualified cardiothoracic (CT) surgeon (after med school, 5 years gen surg, 2-3 years CT surg) in a country which immediately specializes you upon graduation. However, in malaysia, the earliest you come be a qualified CT surgeon is 41. And that is assuming you are one of the 6-7 (? not sure of the places, but I know its single digit) who are accepted every year. With 1 Malaysia concept, and me being an optimist, I believe that the acceptance is based on meritocracy.

But of course, another con of this immediate specialization idea is that it forces medical grads to choose which specialty they want, hence, if one is not sure what he/she wants to do, it can be quite a hard decision to make.

I think all in all, whether it is better for a medical graduate to go straight into residency training or to do 2 years as a house officer first depends on the country, the needs of the country. If a country's aim is for a doctor is to be able to serve the community in a small town which has no doctor, that country will have its doctors go through rotations through all the specialty so that he/she will be able to provide basic care for all sorts of cases from A to Z, and he/she will then refer a complicated case to the hospital for the specialist to take care of it.

This post has been edited by lemontea88: Aug 23 2010, 03:50 PM

true. the next time when u have a cold or flu, i wonder who can you look for.

speaking of that, if someone is diagnosed with denggue, who will he/she will be placed under? a MO?

Yea. Nowadays everybody wants to specialize. I believe, next time, you will look for a family medicine specialist if you have a cold/flu, who will then refer you to an ID specialist (infectious disease) if he suspects that your cold might be more serious than it looks (H1N1 / influenza). Who will probably manage you together with a pulmonologist if your condition worsens significantly.

To simplify it, if you have symptoms of dengue, you will see a normal clinic, who will send your blood for some test.
Following some criteria (ie : dropping platelet count etc), you may be warded in the hospital, put under a care of a house officer, overseen by a medical officer, which is under a specialist in internal medicine.

does anyone have Chaurasia General Anatomy?

how is it? i heard thats how all those in india get really good with anatomy? besides the truck loads of cadavers of course.

Infectious Disease.

Having said that, the trend nowadays for specialty medical teams is that they don't take anyone with more than 1 comorbidity.
Eg if your dengue patient also has AF with RVR likely secondary to the infection, ID will say no. Cardiology won't even want to see the patient for the rapid AF as well. In the end the patient ends up in General Medicine which unfortunately is often used a a dumping ground for A&E and specialty units.

This post has been edited by StarGhazzer: Sep 18 2010, 07:24 PM

I am a PGY-7 Registrar in Singapore, having finished my compulsory government service. I graduated from UM, having taken my STPM with 5As in the last millenium.
I am currently pursuing a PGY-2 position in Internal Medicine at a top center in the US; I am only getting in by virtue of having my MRCP (UK) and my USMLE Step 1 through 3. I will be 32 when I start off in the States, and I require another 6 years at least to complete my sub-subspecialisation.
Please be aware of the sacrifices you'll have to make if you choose Medicine.
Words of warning, if you come from a lesser university than UM and try for the USMLEs, you will likely get a crap center in America. I tried 3 years ago, and have persevered by taking my MRCP. So don't give up.
Mind you our country slips farther back into the dark ages with time, and you will be competing against the best Indian universities (like AIMS, Aga Khan). Do not underestimate them, they have a fantastic network in the US, and they will wipe the floor with most UM students, Bumiputera of otherwise....
Oh and is SG meritorious? I think you best discuss that with your friends or relatives who have been there. The grass is always greener.....

Just filtering through the chaff in this forum.....

Hi sofaking, why do you want to do your "sub specialisation" in US for another 6 yrs when you can complete it in 3 yrs times in spore? u have relatives in US or u r into very competitive fields like cardiology.

and to the rest of the forumners, it's best not to jump around different countries as they have different regulations, and sometimes you have to start just like a fresh graduate in a place that doesn't recognise your qualifications and working experience at the place you previously worked at.

Oh! A John NO Hopkins!

A small writeup carried on Oct 4 in The JHU Gazette, however, suggests Johns Hopkins has considerably more modest plans for Malaysia.

In an article entitled 'JHM inks MOU to explore collaboration in Malaysia', JHU Gazette said the university's Johns Hopkins Medicine and Academic Medical Center had signed a memorandum of understanding with the Kuala Lumpur-based Chase Perdana Sdn Bhd to explore collaborative opportunities in the areas of medical education, clinical care and research in Malaysia.

“Our ultimate objective is to assist with the development of Malaysia's first fully integrated private teaching hospital and medical school, including research based on our organisational and operational model,” the university's medical faculty dean Edward D Miller and vice-dean David Nichols were quoted as saying.

“Miller and Nichols said that the terms and conditions of the memorandum will provide a framework for jointly evaluating the scope of the engagement, which covers clinical and academic affairs, programmatic development, research activities, campus facilities master planning and knowledge-transfer programmes,” The JHU Gazette read.

“Specifics of the collaboration will be developed over the next few weeks,” it added.

The picture thus portrayed by The JHU Gazette, thereby, is that of an arrangement by which Johns Hopkins officials would assist in the setting up in Serdang of a teaching hospital and medical school medical care expansion.

Local media reports that emerged on Sept 25 and Sept 26, however, suggested Johns Hopkins was setting up a RM1.8 billion medical school and 600-bed teaching hospital - just as it had established campuses in China, Italy and the US.

Between the glowing reports of national news organisations and a writeup in a small campus newspaper, which one are we believe?

http://gazette.jhu.edu/2010/10/04/jhm-inks...on-in-malaysia/
MOU to explore?!?! where did these MSM gets the a RM1.8 billion medical school and 600-bed teaching hospital from?!