Hi,

An advice for all medical students.....I doubt anyone else will tell you this before its too late. When you start your medical school, chances are that you will not be exposed to clinical teaching immediately. Traditionally, this begins in year 3, but nowadays, theres a trend to start limited clinical exposure from early on. That brings us to the question of equipping yourselves for clinical practise. Forget the books etc, I'm talking of a doctor's tools. Locally, you can get medical equiptment form any of the local medical bookstores, but what to get and what type to get?

The single most important tool is your stethoscope. There are just so many types and brands and length. My advice, think 3M's Litmann series and forget the rest. Its a trusted brand and quality. Almost every doctor uses this brand. But there is a whole series. So just buy the most expensive one that your budget can afford....even if you have to forgo buying other equiptment! Malaysian medical student all buy the Litmann's Classic Stethoscope.....I think this is a mistake. Medical students in Canada, US all use at least a Littman's Cardiology III as standard! Think of it this is......you will be using it for at least 10 years or longer......and stethoscope have gotten more expensive over the years due to the rising dollar(but in view of the opposite now, it may be cheaper next year!). I remember a Littman's Classic cost just RM130 brand new 7 years ago....how much is it now? 3M is still making and selling the same one.

2nd? tendon hammer? Get the standard long plastic with rounded rubber(queen's hammer)? Or the triangular head with metal handle? They both perform the same...just that the triangular one is easier to hit with and is easier to carry and doesn't break easily. But just get one which is the cheapest....you will likely go through a few of them in your lifetime. But remember, better to use a disposable orange stick for babinski's rather than the pointed end of either.

3rd? Opthalmoscope/autoscope? Forget it. Only posers get it IMHO. Better spend the money getting a better stethoscope. There's always one in the wards if you need one. Else, use it in your uni's clinical teaching unit.

4th? pocket snellen chart. Just get the cheapest one. Quite useful.

Torchlight? Ah.....very very useful. Trick is to get one which is small enough to pocket, but bright enough to outshine everyone's elses.....this one, be a poser all you want IMHO! Get the small maglite if you can afford, but make sure you don't lend it to anyone else and engrave your name on it.....student's lose their torchlight all the time.

Measuring tape? Err......forget it. Rulers? Forget it. Geometric rulers? Forget it.

I can't think of anything that you will need at this point.

cheers,
digi

MRCP is conducted all over the world. Malaysia has sitings for each of the 3 parts once a year respectively. So does Singapore. It is still a very popular exam in Malaysia, especially among the non-Malay doctors. It is equivalent to MMED(UKM/UM/UPM/USM/UIA/or whatever public universities that offer it), MMED(Singapore....essentially the same exam), ABIM in regards to being a physician in Malaysia. For MMED(Malaysia), the gazettement period is 6 months, the rest 18 months. MMED(Mal) is actually a good training programme...4 years, but not recognised anywhere else in the world. The rest are.


ASFAIK, all local MBBS programme are only recognised in Malaysia, except for MBBS from UM and UKM which was recently recognised by Singapore too. Singapore recognises the above 2 universities for one reason only......coz they want to recruit them. Singapore is very short of medical doctors, so they are very actively recruiting fresh graduates from the above 2 universities for starting from housemanship. The pay is way way better, not mentioning the training. So for UM and UKM medical students, you have a very good option for you all once you graduate.....and it is based on meritocracy, no preference at all for even local Singaporeans!