Kapu Beach 2012: Bonding Afternoon

Can I not sit for the vivas? Ignore me; I just don’t know how to start this post. But seriously, can I not sit for them?  Sigh.

My past few weekends have been unproductive. Not that I didn’t do my revision, let’s just say I didn’t manage to finish as much I planned. I have been taking afternoon naps so often which I rarely did last time. It seem like I need these naps now; probably a sign of aging. And with blocks and finals coming up, the rate I am going certainly is not going to produce any satisfactory results.  Not to mention the piling back logs in cons.

Some 3 weeks back, just to take a break from books, we had a class trip to Kapu Beach. Naurah suggested that the whole BDS 2 should have a get together time. You know, dental students are always busy, attending classes from 8 to 5 daily; we rarely have any bonding time. We always eat or hang out with the same people, comfortable only in our own clique. She hopes by this we can actually get to know each other better and maybe have a few more conversations instead of the same Hi Bye every day.

We all agreed on wearing our class t-shirts there. Also, everyone was divided into groups to prepare a certain food for the picnic. I was in the sandwich team. At first we wanted to make ham salami and scramble egg sandwiches. However, the shops were out of ham and we ended up ordering tuna sandwiches from Aka shop. We continue with the scramble egg idea. The whole sandwich making process took place within the TV room of NIH. It was quite fun and I did learn a thing or two about eggs. However, we were almost kicked out by the caretaker thanks to those busy body cleaners. Later, Naurah and the gang picked up the sandwiches from us and we were ready to go.

We hopped on the red Manipal-Mangalore express bus. It was a 45 minutes ride. To reach the beach, it takes another 10 minutes by auto.

After picking a spot, we spread our picnic mats; marking our territory. Our sandwiches were up 1^st as appetizers. The wind was strong that day and some of the sandwiches “masuk pasir”.

While waiting for the BBQ team to start of the fire, we were allowed to explore the place. I choose to take a stroll along the beach; having my feet soak in the cool sea water. The waves were strong that day. It was really relaxing.

Lunch includes spaghetti, BBQ chicken, apple crumble and brownies. They were all really yummy and what more, they were prepared and served by our very own batch mates.

 After lunch, a few of us wonder around the rocky side of the beach while the rest played by the sea.

 We choose to explore the lighthouse. The entrance fee was 10 rupees. The spiral staircase was really scary; my knees were actually wobbly while climbing it. Going up was harder than coming down but hey, I managed to reach the top. The view from the lighthouse was really stunning. You can actually get a good 360 degree view of Kapu beach and also the boats in the sea. The wind was much more cooling too.

Back on ground level, we took a walk to the river that opens into the sea. It wasn’t deep. At one part, it was actually filled with greenish shells.  

Later, we kind of invaded Andrew’s resting rock for a couple of photos. We tried to post in the Tugu Negara, but failed.  

Before going back, we took a group photo with our back facing the camera. I must say, it turned out pretty cool.  It would have been nice if everyone wore their T-shirt though.

This event did manage to make us closer as a batch. Besides that, it was really a good way to de-stress.  Probably this won’t be the last. Love y’all BDS 2!

Photos by: Cloud, Ping, Sonia

You Clear, I Clear, Everyone Clear

Greetings~ I’m now into my 3^rd week of my block 4 and was reminded to blog about the Basic Life Support (BLS) workshop we attended some 2 weeks ago.  I’m still having the post-exam mood; hopefully I will get back the discipline I had in 1^st year again to prepare for the coming finals. Much to do and time is running out.

A few days ago I just received my BLS Provider Card. Strangely; it’s only valid for use in institutions under Manipal University. It’s not even a proper plastic card like our combo card. It’s only made out of paper cardboard. Anyhow, the main thing is not about the card but what we learnt that day. To me, it’s really important for us, who are going to be health professionals to know what to do and how to react in an emergency situation. Heart attacks can occur at anytime, anywhere and to anyone, what more during a dental procedure. It would be shame to call ourselves a dentist if we couldn’t even perform a simple CPR and operate the AED. There weren’t many photos for it as we weren’t allow to use our cameras or phones during the session.

The program was conducted for 2 days. The first 25 of us went on the first day while the rest 24 on the second day. It was held at the top floor of the library, at the stimulation centre. Prior to that, we were all given a copy of a journal from the American Heart Association on adult and pediatric BLS. We were required to study through it and by heart the BLS algorithm. Our instructor for that day was Dr. Ramkumar Venkateswaran from the department of Anesthesiology at Kasturba Medical College Hospital. He explained to us the various steps in detail and cautions us the common mistakes that students often make. The demonstrations were given in a step wise manner. After each demo, we were divided into groups of 6 to practice it on the dummies. They were strict throughout the process and we were required to repeat if our ways of managing the patient is unacceptable.

After all is said and done, come the assessment. In a pairs we were tested. We were given a scenario and have to provide the suitable support to the patient. I did a major mistake on the pediatrics case. Instead of giving 30 compressions to two breaths, I gave 5 compressions to two breaths which was for a choke victim. Guess my nerve did get the best of me then.

As a whole, I enjoyed the workshop and it is indeed beneficial. What really bored me, (and yes, until now) would I be calm enough to give the support or would I just go blank if a real scenario happens before my eyes?

Photo by Jewel

Dental Camp

It’s been a week since our block 3 exams are over. Yes, our final block is here. It’s actually quite saddening when the lecturers mention it in class. It kind of threw me into thinking, wow; time really passes by so fast. Soon, I’ll be in the midst of packing my stuff and doing all kinds of leaving procedures. For the past one and a half years, India had treated me well. I will surely miss this place. *sigh*

For this post, I will share something that we did last Friday. We had a sort of a group visit to the Rural Maternity and Child Welfare Home of Alevoor and also the various dental departments in Kasturba Medical Hospital.

Alevoor is a small village some 15 minutes bus ride away from Manipal town. We all gathered at our faculty first and later took 2 yellow college buses to the place.

We followed a mobile dental clinic there. The main aim was to exposure us to how community dental services are carried out there. Every alternate Friday, there will be group of dentist from the Preventive and Community Dentistry department come to this area to offer their services to people staying around there. They handle some of the minor cases. If needed, they will refer the patient back to the hospital. The mobile dental clinic is built inside a bus. It is divided into two compartments, a waiting area and the operating room. It house 2 dental chairs. We were 1^st brief on how the clinic operates. Later, we get to observe the real scenario on the patients that day. I got to witness one case of oral prophylaxis and another case of decayed 48 extraction. It was really an eye opening experience.

Besides that, we get to visit the maternity welfare home. The nurses there brief us on the various rooms and how things work there. The most interesting room to see was the labour room. It was filled with all the instrument needed and some interesting information on the walls.

We practically spent the whole morning there. One group photo before we left.

After lunch, we gather at the registration area of the dental clinic of Kasturba Medical Hospital. Dr. Arul brought us to the department of Preventive and Community Dentistry where we got briefed about the operation around the dental clinics. After that, we were split into 2 groups and were brought around all the departments by two interns. It was just a 15 minutes tour so we didn’t see much. Of all the departments, I think I can relate to prosthodontics the best.

Overall, this dental camp was a good experience. Was really happy to observe how an extraction was done and it really pump me up to do a good job in giving LA. I don’t wish my patients in the future to suffer because of my lack of skill. That’s all for now, good day!

Ps: I notice I haven’t been sharing much about the academic side of things for year 2. I will try write up my reviews about the subjects soon.