Psychiatry Posting

     Before I enter this posting, I was a bit scared. Really don't know what to expect. My friends who had been through the psychiatry posting told me that this posting is fun and exciting.

Pre:

According to the timetable, you will be going to HKL on the 3rd week only. For the first 2 weeks, you will be exposed to the basic phenomenology in psychiatry, how to clerk a psychiatric patient, and etc. So, do not worry about this posting, although it is something new, but the lecturer will guide you before you enter the psychiatric ward.

Posting:

Be brave. As for me, it was scary initially because this is my first time seeing these patients. From my 6 weeks observational in the psychiatric wards, the female patients seemed to be more aggressive and easily agitated as compared to the male patients. However, always have the chaperone with you and never enter the psychiatric ward alone, especially girls.. err... pls expect the unexpected things that can happen ;) And normally the patients love to ask coins from you. Never lend them even a cent, because once you give them, everyone will be coming after you on the next day. And also, do not bring expensive stuff into the wards. Last time I brought in a pen which cost more than RM40, I brought it in on that day because I will be having a mid-term quiz in the afternoon. A patient in the wards just took the pen from my pocket and it never come back to me again. Also, the tendon hammer, initially I brought it in but there was an incident when the patient tried to take the tendon hammer from my pocket while I was clerking another patient. Seriously, it was scary. Always clerk the patients in the common room as there will be a few security guards there and just in case anything happen, they will help. However, do not be too worry, most of the patients are nice :)

Post:

In short, I fall in love with psychiatry posting after going through the six week attachment in HKL =) As for the exam, you should know the DSM criteria for some of the very common problems such as schizophrenia, major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorder and etc. :) you may be tested in your OSCE ... and be familiar with critical appraisal :)

Recommended textbooks by lecturers:
1. Kaplan and Sadock's Synopsis of Psychiatry
2. Pocket Handbook of Clinical Psychiatry by Sadock


p/s: You can always make an appointment with any of the psychiatry lecturer and present the case that you have clerked to them. Or you can discuss the case during the case presentation/BST :)