Experiencing Program Transformasi Minda PTM 2020 in the midst of COVID-19

Hii :D Just a short update about Program Transformasi Minda aka PTM. 

Click on my previous post Stepwise Guide Applying Housemanship 2020 :P

Program Transformasi Minda was previously known as Program Induksi, and it is compulsory for all government servants! It used to be as long as 5 days and 4 nights however due to COVID-19, they cut the program short to 3 days and 2 nights. 

I saw other blogs sharing about what they did during the programme and I was amused. Besides all the talks given, they even had group activities such as singing and dancing, drawing etc. Sadly during my batch, they removed all these. We only had talks as early as 8am till 10pm. To be honest I was relieved :P I'm an introvert! How do I mix around with all others :(

As usual, we were given the location through the e-houseman website about a week before the PTM. We were split up to different hotels all over the country based on states. Not necessarily if your hospital is located in Selangor you will get the hotel in Selangor though; I heard from a friend in PUKM that her PTM is held in Melaka :O  

It only took me a few minutes to draft my packing list and I proceeded to pack my things in a luggage. I didn't want to bring a luggage initially because it's kinda exaggerating to bring that many things just for two nights! My mother convinced me anyhow and I'm glad that I only need to drag the luggage along instead of splitting my things into two hand-carry luggage.

Sneak peak into my checking list!

We were asked to report at 2:30pm however the venue was already packed at 12pm. In some other states, they were requested to go to the Klinik Kesihatan for a COVID-19 test in the morning. Since there was no further instruction from the government (for my state), I arrived at the venue at 1pm :P 

I saw my university mates at the hotel and oh boy, I was excited to see all of them! It has been a year since we graduated and we have not seen each other for such a long time! We submitted the documents at the counter and we were then ushered into the ballroom for our COVID-19 rapid test. There were medical staffs there to prick our finger. (OUCHH- sorry I have low pain tolerance)

I was a little nervous haha! What if my results came out positive?  We were then asked to wait for about 5-10 minutes and phew!!! I'm safe. P.S - This test is not 100% accurate however. 

Majority of us followed protocols, scanning the QR code, temperature taking etc. They have this super cool thermometer where you just have to stand close to the device and it will show your temperature. We have to wear masks throughout the session which is a torture for me because I can't breathe properly in it! Imagine how we have to wear these for hours while working the the hospital ughhh. I carry my hand sanitiser with me but I rarely use it because I wash my hands more often instead :P The reason I said only a majority followed protocols is because there were a handful of them who didn't! They did not wear masks. Like come on, you are a medical doctor! How do you expect the public to follow SOP's when you yourself didn't follow?

We had a super late check-in because the hotel wasn't prepared for this enormous amount of guests. They asked us to leave our luggage outside the ballroom and we have to listen to a few hours of talk first. My mother was pretty worried that my luggage would be stolen because it was expensive hahaha!! She's not worried about my clothes sob sob.

Previously during PTM, participants were assigned a roommate each. During my time, we all had a room each!! *relieved* due to COVID I guesss. Anyways we had more talks. My favourite time was meal time, because that was the time we can sit down and chit chat; or maybe you can just bring up the food to your room and enjoy your meal by yourself! A few others complained that the food was terrible, I think it was just meh because maybe I'm used to Malay food which I tapau-ed from the roadside during my part-time job. The food wasn't great, some was spicy and tasteless shhhh. Some were daring, they went to the mall to eat (our hotel was connected to the mall) and some ordered food delivery. 

They totally cancelled out the group activities from the schedule, which had its own pros and cons. Since we are a big group, it's impossible for us to bond together. We need activities like these to get to know each other. During meal time, I did get to know a few people from IMU, they recognised me first because I was the group representative. 

During the course of 3 days, the talks were mainly about our responsibilities as a government servant; no sensitive issues were raised. They did touch a little about how to make a proper diagnosis based on ICD-10, medication errors but nothing particular about tagging and hospital stuff. 

I'm glad by the time the programme is over because I seriously need more sleep! On the first day, I stayed up late till 2am because I have to finish the PTM assignment! I have to wake up on 6:30am on the following day to get ready! Such a busy time for me because I have to collect PTM documents from all my group mates on the night of the second day  :( Our hospital has quite a large number of people thus the number of documents :O :O :O By the time I settled down it was already 11pm and I gotta revise the exam topics for the next day! I slept like a log after the PTM is over hahaha~

On the other hand, I was a little sad because I won't get to meet my friends as often anymore since we were assigned to different hospitals across the state. Our working hours will be different too~

Anyways I wish you all the best for housemanship, I hope all of us will manage to sail through despite the storm :D