Full Name: Poon Grace Yen Yen

Group: 15
MBBS III
Perceptor: Dr. Lai Sheung Siu (Lek Yeun GOPC)
A year has quickly passed and I could not believe that it was already
my second and last PIP visit to Dr. Lai in her busy Lek Yuen GOPC office.
Just like last time, two intense hours went by and I was again greatly
impressed by Dr. Lais stamina and professionalism. However, unlike
last year when every single case seemed exotic and exciting (having
only covered up till CVS block last year), I was slightly familiar with all
the diagnoses, physical exams and drugs this time yet frustratingly
realized that my memory has greatly failed me. All the drug names and
drug mechanisms that I painstakingly crammed in before Year 2
summative exams became nonexistent. Realizing that the opportunity
to equip myself with pre-clinical knowledge and the very basics of
medicine has already come and gone, I found myself in great distress
and regret. I thought, How can I enter clinical years in such a
misshapen manner? I shared my concern with Dr. Lai, and she told
me not to stress myself out too much.
Yet, Dr. Lai reminded my partner and I that we must take our profession
seriously and know what is at stake. In other disciplines, such as
business or finance, negligence will not result in a loss of human life.
But in medicine, it does, says Dr. Lai. This statement struck me deeply
as it rekindled the sense of urgency that I once had regarding the need
to equip and prepare myself to the best of my ability simply because of
how much gravity a human life holds. Dr. Lai further encouraged us to
make a commitment now to serve and heal, so we will not let power,
ambition or wealth to sidetrack us in future days. Dr. Lai said if we seek
a career in medicine because of its lucrativeness, we would need to
correct that as soon as possible because that would only breed
indolence, greed and at the end, harm the lives of other people.
Dr. Lais last reminder inspired me greatly. In order to exhibit
humanistic professionalism clinically, it has to grow from a correct
mindset and be nurtured starting from today. In essence, being
humanistically professional is a display of love for patients. Clich as
it may sound, I truly believe that a doctors love for another human
being is indeed the core of it; the rest of the characteristics such as
respect, altruism, empathy etc. should flow naturally from this core.
And in order to nurture this attitude, training does not have to wait till
we are practitioners. Instead, it should start right now during our
medical school years. Dr. Lai specifically reminded us not to avoid
tough learning opportunities during clinical years, and always bear in

mind that we should not take shortcuts in medicine even though they
seem to be available.
After ruminating on this advice for a while, I realized this attitude of
actively embracing challenges should not be an outward action that we
try to perform, but should be an innate response if our attitude is
correct. For example, if a cadet in a military academy knows that he
will some day step into a war zone and use an AK-47 machine gun, will
he slack off during the Combat Weapons class and skimp over the
training on firearms operation at school? I doubt that would happen
because this soldier-in-training knows clearly how important this skill is
and the strong motivation to learn and pay attention during the
Combat and Weapons class should be very natural. Similarly, if we love
our future patients and want to heal them, the desire to learn as much
as we can right now should be very native. Additionally, the more we
are exposed to patients in suffering, the more our hearts will grow for
them.
I am therefore very thankful for the Professionalism in Practice program
as well as Dr. Lais mentoring in the past two years. PIP made me
realize how much I do not know, but at the same time motivated me to
equip myself more than ever, and to become a doctor that I myself
would want to see someday.