Over the past few days, Dr. Frederic Ting's blogpost, "10 Reasons Why Every Medical Graduate Should Aim To Do Internship at the University of the Philippines - Philippine General Hospital (UP-PGH)" has been making the rounds on Facebook. I am happy for his success and his completion of what was probably a very difficult year. I do however disagree with him.
I commented on his blog, but the comments need to be vetted/moderated before appearing. To date my comments have not appeared, so i am assuming i either: 1. submitted wrong, or 2. got vetted out. If it's the former, i don't want to keep trying because i'm sure i'll screw up again. If it's the latter, it's his prerogative. However, i do think my comments merit some "airtime," so i've taken the liberty of posting them here, in their unedited glory:
"Hi Dr. Ting,
"Congratulations on completing your internship and good luck with your boards, with your positive attitude I am sure you will do well with your future endeavors.
"While I appreciate your sentiments I respectfully disagree with most of your points. First and foremost I am unsure that "every" medical graduate should aim to go to UP-PGH; every person is of course different and no internship is a one-size-fits-all solution.
"Regarding your points:
"1. It's unfair to say that "we can’t deny the fact that the University of the Philippines is a place where most, if not all, of the brightest people in the country get accepted and enroll." I am not sure if there is a registry where statistics back this up...? If there is I stand corrected, but while I know that UP-PGH probably "accepts" the best and brightest (by their standards), this does not mean the best and brightest necessarily all try (or even want) to go there. UP-PGH people will laud your statement, but it's somewhat insulting to people who actively decided to go someplace else. The notion that not going to UP-PGH makes you somehow mediocre is just flat out wrong.
"As to points 2 through 10, I think you can safely replace "UP-PGH" with {insert hospital name here} and still be mostly correct.
"I see that the intern's job hasn't changed much since I finished my internship there in 2002. Interns still mostly take vitals and draw blood, which is not bad as long as you know what you're getting into. I think interns at other places are doing more though. I turned green with envy when a friend of mine who went to Jose Reyes told me the story of seeing someone in the ER with pneumothorax, doing all the diagnostics, putting in a chest tube, and THEN calling the resident. We can discuss safety issues surrounding this separately, but the fact is that he carried more responsibility and was more of a doctor on many levels than me dutifully running between wards 1 and 3 checking vitals, giving meds, and extracting blood.
"My main frustration with going to UP-PGH was the absolute insularity of the people I met there. Every PGI was regarded with suspicion and they would be "shocked" when an outsider was actually even good. (i.e. "Magaling siya kahit hindi UP, ha.") Again, very insulting and condescending behavior.
"My personal approach to every medical graduate would be to carefully consider where they want to commit the year of their post-graduate life. Look at all the facets of the internship: patient load, exposure to cases, quality-of-life, quality of the faculty - and decide if it's a good fit for you. UP-PGH should be considered on those grounds as well, not just defaulted to because its graduates say it's "the best." If you flatten out the playing field in your mind and stop looking at one institution through rose-tinted glasses, you might be surprised at what you find."
Comments are always welcome!
Link to Dr. Ting's original post
here.
