A Medical Student's Diary

OSCE

27 February

A/N No art yet to go with this chapter. I'll put one on a later date.
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OSCE, or Objective Structural Clinical Examination.
One of the most thrilling aspect of pre-clinics, where medical students turns into professional rappers overnight.

The pandemic had jeopardized our OSCE schedule. It's something impossible to do online, as Hands-on experience is vital.

We are supposed to have our third OSCE at the middle of semester 3, but it was postponed all the way to the end.

We were given no breaks. 3 modules, a whole semester worth, have to be completed in just 2 weeks.
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In a blink of eye, it was H-5 OSCE. Panicked medical students has banded together to tackle it.
Three of us live in the same place, the other two nearby. All tested negative.
So it's time to go all out studying.

5 days non-stop. We all gathered together.
The progress we made was stunning. I have never had one so efficient before. We ended up scoring a record of 11 hours study non-stop in one day.

That feat is absolutely unthinkable to do alone. At most I can only focus for half an hour.
More importantly, it was fun. Really fun.
The later it became, the more hilarity ensues as our tired brain malfunctioned.

One example is how we all find out just how bad burnt out medical students are at basic math.
There was gems such as,

"Is 5+4 equal 8 or 7?"

"12-6 is 7 right?"

"Guys, what's 250÷5 ?"
"4"
"7?"
"Idk I dont know multiplication"

Still, we all made a lot of progress. Progress I can never do by myself.
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It's the day.

I was so nervous, I had accidentally tore a pair of handscoon while trying to put it on.

We stood in front of our respective stage. Under the protective layers of lab coat, I was sweating cold. My hands feels so clammy, the handscoon clung to it like a second skin.

I no longer registered the feel of stethoscope clamping my neck, because my chest already felt so tight. I drew a shaky breathe. My hands were also shaking so bad.

The atmosphere was so tense, we all stood frozen in time, looking like statues garbed in white.

The commando to start sliced through the silence. I can feel my heart jumps to my trachea, but I just swallowed and starts reading the instructions.

This is it, do or die.
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It was done.
If I had to describe it, it was disastrously fine.
The stage I dreaded the most ended up going fine, while the stage I belittled came back to bit me in the ass.
I am fully aware of every mistakes I made, but I'm still positive that I had filled the majority of checklists.

The sense of relief was overwhelming. I want to bask in this momentary freedom.
The new semester starts in two days, but surely I'll be allowed a day of break?

I shall not think of the result. That's what I decided to.
This time, I did my best. I know I did my best. Everyone too, they have done their best. Therefore, isn't it fine to accept whatever the outcome will be with pride?

For everyone, I sincerely wish you good luck.