1. Your name, matric number, date

2. Your progress so far

3. Your feelings and thoughts 

4. How did you learn and apply the skill of decision making in your EP journey?

5. How did you manage your time throughout this EP journey? 

6. Your plan for next week (Week 4)

Deena Priyanka Edwards A/P Roger, A181019, 7/8/23-11/8/23

 

I have completed vaccination programme for animals, cleaning and treating the sick animals in the previous weeks.This week my supervisor assigned me to help the cleaners to clean the shelter. The task involves washing the kennels, bowls, filling up water in their bowls and washing the shelter area. 

I have improved my communication skills with the members of the shelter and even the cleaners who were foreigners. During the first week I had difficulty to understand the foreign workers due to language barrier but now I am able to communicate with them. 

I have improved my soft skills in dealing with animals.  I am braver now to enter the kennels occupied with many animals and clean it.  

I have improved my time management skills by working faster and efficiently to complete the task on time satisfyingly. 

I am feeling happy as through out the past three weeks I have learnt alot on animal care. 

This week I felt really satisfied as I have done something which is very important in keeping the animals and the workers in good health.  Cleaning the shelter is of paramount importance as the faeces, urine and body fluids of the animals can cause several health issues to the animals and the workers who are working closely with them. 

 

I brushed on my decision making skills by learning which task to prioritize according to the manpower and the significance and urgency of the task. I prioritized task related to the health of the animals more than painting the walls of the shelter as painting requires more people to complete the task and its not very significant to the health of the animals. I decided to clean the animals and their living area and to do some minor health care task for the animals to reduce the infection and disease transmission among animals and the workers. Faeces, urine and the body fluids of animals can attract flies and cause maggots attact on animals which cause them an excruciating pain. So I always think twice while planning the task with my supervisor to make sure I get to work on something that is suitable with my time management, manpower and the results of the task. 

 

I usually spend my mornings and afternoons in the shelter to complete the task so that I am free to spend time with my family in the evenings and nights.  I enjoyed the time I spent throughout my elective posting journey as I am doing something I really love. If I need a longer time to complete the task I would usually start the task earlier or divide the task with the volunteers and members of the shelter. 

For the last week of the elective posting, my supervisor assigned me to help with the feeding session. I would be learning about the food portions and nutrients required by the animals.

Brenda Cheong Kar Wen, A180678, 7/8/2023-11/8/2023 

 

7/8/2023 (Monday): We continued to work with our team on the sharing session tasks given by IYRES. We continued to prepare the slides, discuss the content so that it could be easily understood by the staff in IYRES, and also did a few rehearsals to make sure everything went smoothly, according to plan. Besides, we were also treated to lunch by the CEO of IYRES. We had a wonderful talk with the CEO. 

8/8/2023 (Tuesday): Before going for the medical knowledge sharing session, we had a final rehearsal to check for the flow. The medical knowledge sharing session was carried out smoothly, where we discussed NCD and some stress-related health problems with the staff in IYRES. The responses from the staff were good, as they asked a lot of questions regarding the topic that we had presented. I believe that it has successfully raised awareness about NCD among them.

9/8/2023 (Wednesday): We were given a task by IYRES to help them with the decoration project to celebrate National Day. The topic set for the department was peristiwa 13 Mei. My teammates and I had a discussion with some of the staff from IYRES about some decoration ideas. Besides, we also had a short meeting with our supervisor, Prof Rosnah to discuss about our progress so far. 

10/8/2023 (Thursday): We continued to work on the decoration project. We have designed and made a backdrop according to the theme given. We also helped out with other decorations around the department. Other than that, we also worked out on report writing that was assigned by our supervisor. 

11/8/2023 (Friday): We did some final touch for the decoration. Besides, we also joined a health screening project in the Ministry of Youth and Sports, where some basic health screenings, such as blood pressure, blood glucose and cholesterol level measuring were done. We continued further on discussion of our report. 

The highlight of this week’s EP is that we conducted a medical knowledge sharing session with the staff in IYRES. Through this event, I realized that it was not an easy task to give a health-related sharing session with public, as we are used to using medical terms in our presentation, but the public are not really familiar with the medical terms that we used. Therefore, we need to modify some of our text and information to suit them, so that they could understand the topic that we are trying to deliver. I’m glad that the talk was conducted successfully and the staff in IYRES gained some knowledge from us. Besides, I also felt happy that we were getting more involved in IYRES. As time goes by, it’s kind of sad that it was going to be our last week in IYRES. 

 

I learn and apply the skill of decision making when we are given a task to conduct a medical knowledge sharing session. It wasn’t an easy task, as there were no specific titles that were given to us. We need to come up with a few suggestions of topics which are more relevant to the staff in IYRES. There were a lot of topics that were suggested by my teammates throughout the discussion, but in the end, we came up with three topics, which are NCD, cancer risk in Malaysia, and stress-related health problems. The reason why we chose these topics are because we felt that these are the common health issues that were their concern. Besides, most of the staffs there are also in the age group of high risk getting NCD and some cancers. Therefore, we wanted to raise awareness among staff in IYRES about these topics, and to encourage them to have health screening regularly as prevention is better than cure. 

 

 Since we did our EP in a government agency, which is IYRES, under the Ministry of Youth and Sports, we need to be very punctual as punctuality is a main thing there. We need to reach IYRES by 7.30am, so that we can leave on time at 4.30pm. As KL traffic is really congested during working hours, therefore we need to plan our journey ahead to avoid being late. Besides, I also plan my activity one day before, to ensure that the daily tasks that were given to me will be done on time. This helps to prevent delay of work, and also increase my efficiency. 

I plan to enjoy my very last week in IYRES, by volunteering to help them in any tasks that were given by the staff. Besides, I will also continue to work on my report given by my supervisor. We will also be visiting the National Centre of Excellence for Mental Health (NCEMH) with our supervisor, Prof Rosnah.

Kan Yi Jie

A181529

7/8/2023 – 11/8/2023

2. Your progress so far 

Coming to my third week of attachment in community pharmacy, I involved myself in more areas of jobs in this week by trying to learn to be a pharmacist assistant. For example, I would help the pharmacists by assisting them in drug measuring, pills cutting and drug packaging. Besides, I also volunteer to help the customers to check and measure their blood pressure level and blood glucose level. After checking, I would explain to customers about their condition according to their blood pressure and blood glucose level. Apart from these, I became a translator to translate some sentences in Mandarin if there were customers that not able to understand English or Malay that spoke by one of the pharmacists who was Malay. In this week, I also helped the pharmacists to order some special medications from the drug suppliers which requesting by some of the customers. After the stock of medicines arrived in our pharmacy, I would call the customers one by one to inform their order status and asked them to come and take the medicines. In summary, I was involving myself in the job scope of a pharmacist in this week by learning to assist them. 

3. Your feelings and thoughts 

In this week, I felt that I was more able to handle the situations happening in pharmacy as I felt that my communication skills had improved with the staffs and customers. I was more comfortable to deal with the customers as well as work in the pharmacy compared to the last two weeks. For example, I was braver to ask questions from the pharmacists as well as talking to the customers compared to last week. There were also a few customers that like to talk with me and share about their family and life. I was happy to hear their stories and talk with them as most of them were living alone and there was no one to talk with. Practice makes perfect, I am sure that I can do better in next week.

4. How did you learn and apply the skill of decision making in your EP journey? 

Throughout the posting, I learnt that the skill of decision making was important. This was because the pharmacy that I attached to was very busy. Therefore, there were sometimes that I need to make decisions by myself. It was impossible to bother the other person when there was in the peak hour which was the busiest time as the pharmacists were no time to answer every of my questions. With this, the pharmacists were teaching me on how to make decisions such as on the problem of managing the parcels. For example, there were many parcels that received by our pharmacy. When there was no empty place to receive those parcels, I needed to deal with the logistics partner and the warehouse staffs by myself. In this case, I needed to make decision on the problem of where the parcels should go. Luckily, I settled the problem successfully in the end.

5. How did you manage your time throughout this EP journey? 

Throughout this journey, I was made my time to full use. In weekdays, beside the time that I worked in pharmacy, I would use my free time to study about the pharmacological knowledge and the details of the medicines which sold in the pharmacy so that I could handle better to deal with the customers. In weekends, besides completing my progress report, I would spend my time with my family and for some entertainment to release stress from work.

6. Your plan for next week (Week 4)

For next week, I am planning to learn more about the skills to promote products to customers. Besides, I hoped that I can have the chance to take history from the patients so that they could receive a better care from us.

Lee Kar Yen

A182043

7/8 -11/8/2023

7/8/2023 - 11/8/2023

 

 

 Chan Hui Ying

 A181362

 7/8/2023 - 11/8/2023

In Week 3, I aimed to focus on promoting the physical well-being of the elderly residents through light exercise activities. With careful consideration and planning, I also organized aerobic exercise sessions that aimed to introduce a blend of physical activity and enjoyment into their daily routines. To ensure a comprehensive approach, I collaborated with some experienced dance teachers who were well in guiding exercise routines tailored to different ability levels in order to ensure it was safe and enjoyable.  These exercise sessions were aimed at improving cardiovascular health, enhancing flexibility, and boosting their overall energy levels. 

The experience of conducting the aerobic exercise sessions was incredibly fulfilling. The elderly residents' enthusiasm and active participation made the activities go well. I was so happy to see that the elderly residents not only can improve their physical health but also their emotional well-being. 

Throughout my elective posting at the old folks' home, the skill of decision-making played a vital role in shaping my interactions and experiences. From the initial planning stages, I had to make thoughtful decisions about which activities would be most suitable for the elderly residents. This required careful consideration of their needs, preferences, and physical limitations. For example, when organizing health check-ups, I had to decide on the appropriate health parameters to measure based on their medical histories and conditions.

Another critical component of decision-making was tailoring activities based on each resident's capabilities. I had to choose clean-up jobs based on their physical capabilities so that everyone could take part in a meaningful way while yet feeling safe and protected. I was always alert to their safety while conducting activities such as helping individuals who had mobility issues.

After volunteering at the old folks’ home, I learned the importance of decision-making skills since it will be very helpful in my future medical career. Through these experiences, I have learnt how to evaluate situations critically and make decisions in the patient’s best interests. 

I knew that managing time efficiently was very important in ensuring the smooth execution of various activities during my elective posting. Therefore, I created a structured daily schedule which allowed me to allocate specific activities within the time slots. This structured approach enabled me to stay organised and focused. Besides, I will also reflect on my daily experiences at the end of the day and this was to make sure the progress went well. My commitment to reflection at the end of each day amplified the effectiveness of my time management strategy. 

During Week 4, I plan to take the responsibility of taking care of their meals in collaboration with the caregivers. It involves preparing nutritious and wholesome meals that focus on their unique dietary requirements and restrictions. 

Teoh Qi Wei

A182051

07/08/2023 - 11/08/2023

I feel very satisfied as we managed to do a health talk and sharing session with the colleagues to empower them with the medical knowledge. It is definitely a valuable experience as this is my first time on giving a health related talk to public and the talk really help out my colleague to clear some doubts regarding their health problem

Making informed decisions is very crucial as research often presents challenges and roadblocks. Developing problem-solving skills helps me to address unexpected issues such as completing the tasks that we all never get exposed to before, choosing the method that we are going to use in order to complete our tasks and making decisions that keep the project on track.

I will set a clear goal to guide my activities in IYRES. I will make sure the tasks are all kept on track and my time is well-spent. I will also identify tasks based on their importance and urgency so that I would not waste time on a less important task instead of more important tasks. Besides, our group also will set deadlines for every task in order to ensure the tasks are completed in a timely manner.

I will try to complete the report writing that is assigned by our supervisor and start to form my storyboard and script about my video. I will also try to start doing some editing on the 8 minute video.

 Fiona Cheong Shoon Jenn

A183585

07/08/2023 - 11/08/2023

Monday - We continued to prepare the slides for our health talk (Non-communicable diseases and stress-related health problems). We did some final editing. We also practiced our presentation as a group to ensure that everything would go smoothly during the talk. Most of our information was from Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPG) Malaysia and medical textbooks. During the afternoon, we had a lunch appointment with Dr Vella, the CEO of IYRES. We had a good talk on various topics, such as more information on IYRES, and other personal interests. It was a great team building session!

Tuesday - We presented a health talk to the staff of IYRES, which amounted to around 30 people in total! They were very enthusiastic and engaging throughout the talk, and they gave us great feedback towards the end! We managed to give some good answers to some of the questions that they asked us throughout the talk. 

Wednesday - We were then approached by our colleagues in IYRES to help out in a Merdeka decoration competition held by KBS! (Kementerian Sukan dan Belia). The reward was RM 1000 for each department, so we were fired up to give good creative ideas! The theme given was on the May 13 1969 incident, so we had to discuss a lot on what poster ideas to come up with, as it was a sensitive theme. As we were having discussions, Prof Rosnah, our elective posting supervisor dropped by IYRES to check up on our progress, as well as give us a new task, which is in the form of a research report, which would be intended for submission to Prof Vella later on. For the contents of the report, we were required to interpret and explain the data trends thoroughly. The data are separated according to different health indicators, such as “depression free”, “stress free” etc.

Thursday - We started the Merdeka poster-making process! After deciding on an idea, we started to work towards making the idea come to life! We chose pictures to print, we cut them out, we arranged them on a polystyrene board, we glued them onto the polystyrene board according to the set arrangements, we cut out letters from another polystyrene board given to us, and many more! This was also a chance for us to get closer to our IYRES colleagues as we had to continuously consult them on what they prefer from us in the poster. We ended up joking a lot through the multiple discussions. We were almost finished with the poster, but decided to continue with the final touches tomorrow. 

Friday - KBS had a health screening program, organized by Institut Jantung Negara! We participated in the program, where we got our basic health screening done! After that, we did some final touches on the poster. We then helped our IYRES colleagues in decorating the main entrance of IYRES with Merdeka decorations. Towards the end of the decorating session, we finally hung up the poster that we made! It was a satisfying moment. After lunch, we started a little bit on our research report. We used excel to create the graphs based on the data that was given to us. We continued on with other parts of the research report before deciding to call it a day and continue next week, as the deadline for the report was still quite far away. 

During health talk, our audience took our words very seriously. I felt this because they reacted really big as if we said something life-changing haha. This made me realize the importance of sharing information that is based on reliable sources only, and the importance of double confirming information, not just blindly relying on ourselves, as we may sometimes be wrong. This is so that our audience wouldn’t be taught the wrong information. Besides that, it also felt fulfilling to help people with our knowledge.

As for the poster-making, I was a bit taken aback when I heard the theme given was on the May 13 riot. But it was quite a fulfilling moment to figure out a way to still come up with an idea to inspire, without offending anybody. Through poster-making, we also got to bond with IYRES colleagues through lots of jokes and fellowship, which was a fun experience.

As for the research report, making a graph on Excel was difficult for me. Interpreting data is also difficult. I think research is such an unfamiliar thing to me that I always find it difficult. However, I always learn something new as well. At the end of the day, I feel proud of myself for overcoming and learning difficult things!

One relevant event in which good decision making was needed was when we had to decide on a health talk topic as a group. We had to consider a few factors before deciding on a few topics, to ensure the health talk would be a successful one. For instance, we had to choose a topic that was relevant to the audience, where the health disease involved would be of high prevalence amongst the target audience. Secondly, we had to choose a topic that we were familiar with, so that we knew what we were talking about. We also had to choose a topic where all our group members would be happy presenting, and a topic that was easy to find reliable information from medical textbooks and clinical practice guidelines. Among our group members, there had to be compromise, as different people wanted different topics to be presented on. In the end, after a long session of discussion, we managed to come up with three appropriate topics, which were non-communicable diseases (diabetes mellitus, hypertension, dyslipidemia), cancer among the community and stress-related health diseases. In the end, our IYRES colleagues unanimously chose non-communicable diseases and stress-related health diseases for us to present. It must have been the right decision to choose those topics, as our audiences learned something new through the presentation! They felt the need to lead a healthier lifestyle after the presentation. We provided practical ways for them to carry out a healthy lifestyle, in which they were happy to learn about. Our audience kept telling us we did a great job after the talk! Through this incident, I learned that good decision-making comes from considering various relevant factors, meeting as many expectations as possible with our choice, and coming to an appropriate middle ground for certain points, in order to make the best decision! 

In IYRES, we had a working hour of 7.30am to 4.30pm. To ensure that I reach on time, I had to force myself to sleep early despite wanting to stay up and watch shows. This is also to ensure that I function well throughout the day in IYRES, doing whatever work that I was given.

We also had a lot of group projects to get done. I managed my time by prioritizing all the tasks by importance, by doing the most important or urgent task at hand first, to ensure that all the work could be completed well, and by the deadline. 

It also helped a lot for the fact that we were doing tasks as a group, because it gave me a lot more push to get work done as it wasn’t just my burden, but also the burden of my groupmates.

I also made sure to make time for resting, to ensure that I don’t feel burned out throughout this elective posting.

Continue working on the report assigned by Prof Rosnah.

Assist in any activities held by IYRES.

Visit the National Centre of Excellence for Mental Health (NCEMH), with Prof Rosnah, to be able to do better research for Mental Health topics.