New year's resolution

I was never really a fan of new year's resolution. You tend to do it in the first few days of the year then back to the old ways again. I remember back in elementary and high school, my teachers will tell us to make an essay of our very own new year's resolution. Of course, I was forced to make up some devious resolutions. I always write something about doing my assignments and doing better at exams. On the next year, I'll probably write the same thing.

Now as a professional, new year's resolution seems more of a responsibility. It's probably the best time to change for the better. In the laboratory, we usually change some lab procedures or work instructions just to make things work better in the lab. Some labs start to change their logbooks at the start of the year, some changes their scrub suits or buy new sets of uniforms and some even hire new staffs for the start of the year.
On a personal level, my new year's resolution was always to have a good attendance sheet. No absents, no tardy! And yes, I WAS always tardy. For the last few years, I was most of the time late. But this year, I am proud to say that for the first time in my professional career, I probably had just one or two tardies. I don't want to owe it all to my new year's resolution. It's more of a I-got-a-new-job-and-I-have-to-make-a-good-impression kinda thing. Hahaha!  Oh well, I'm not suggesting that you should not make a new year's resolution. People make new year's resolution just so that when someone asks them, they would have something to say. Make a resolution if you really want to change. Whatever makes you better as a professional and as a person is up solely up to you. It's the start of the year; it's a good way to start anew.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!

Share to all Med Teks, and health professionals!

Please comment or share your New Year's resolution (if you have one). Thank you and God bless!

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Holiday Duty

By this time, you probably know if you're on duty on the night of the 24 or on Christmas day. Or maybe, you're on duty on the eve of New Year. Honestly speaking, I don't want to go to work on any of those days. But you don't have much of a choice. For us medical technologists, going to work on Holidays is like going to work on regular days. If you're working in a hospital for years now, you probably embraced this fact already. But if you're really been working for so long and you're in your "senior" years, you probably passed this stage and you're off during Holidays. Hahaha! Just kidding! Although most of the time, there are less number of patients that go to the lab. Sometimes inpatients are decreased in numbers too. It might not be physically demanding because the amount of specimens are low but the fact still remains that you are inside a hospital and you are still working.
It's a lot of responsibility to be a Med Tek. You are obliged to sacrifice your time for your family to give time for your patients. Even without recognition from your patients, you will still be there. Even with a "double pay" during Holidays, it still can't replace the time that was taken away from you from probably having a Noche Buena or a simple Christmas meal for the family. We really don't get much from Holiday duties except the fact that we pat ourselves on the back and saying "good work".
Personally, I'd like to think that there's a consolation when you work during the Holidays. Let's face it, who else would go to work on Holidays? Some jobs might be working on Holidays but majority of health professionals, including Medical technologists, definitely would. Hospitals would never close; they go 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. So do Med Teks, I guess. So here's the consolation I was talking about, since it's Christmas, I firmly believe that we will have more blessings. Kung naka-double pay tayo ngayong Pasko, siguro doble din ang blessings. It may not come in terms of money, but the self-fulfillment that you sacrificed your personal time to be of help to others is priceless. As Med Teks and health professionals, we may not be financially abundant but we are definitely spiritually blessed. And in Christmas season, during this time of giving, we just don't give away gifts or presents. We give ourselves and commit ourselves to our line of work and to our needy patients. Our presence might be appreciated or not; recognized or ignored; and, complimented or denounced. It really doesn't matter. We did our job, we did our commitment, and we gave our gifts.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!

Sa lahat ng duty sa pasko o sa bagong taon o sa gabi ng 24 o 31, enjoy na lang tayo. Dala kayo ng madaming food para masaya. Gaiwng parang Christmas Party part 2 ang duty! Magpa-picture ng madami tapos inggitin yung mga off! Hahaha! Iwasan ang alochol ha, duty pa e... pag out na lang!!!

Share to all Med Teks, and health professionals!

Please comment or share your holiday duty experience. Thank you and God bless! Merry Christmas!

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Simbang Gabi starts tomorrow

The first day of Simbang gabi  will start early morning tomorrow. The first of nine will surely be attended by countless parishioners. More often, people only do simbang gabi on the first and the last day, which is Christmas eve. I hope the majority will complete and attend more mass and be more devoted, just for a change. Aside from the mass itself, I personally enjoy the feeling of anticipation that Christmas is near. Nine days before Christmas! Woohoo! Christmas break and Gifts!!! But who would not enjoy Simbang gabi? After the mass, you buy and eat puto-bumbong, bibingka or maybe suman. Add some hot tsokolate or kapeng barako and you're set! And since it's still dark, some lanterns and Christmas lights are still on and you get the chance to enjoy them. In short, you feel the spirit of Christmas as it gets nearer. You won't find this on any country! It is, as they say, more fun in the Philippines! So sleep early, wake up early, get yourselves fixed early and head toward your parish church and be on the first Simbang gabi of the year!



I did a little web search on the history of Simbang gabi, it's a bit vague but here's what I found out:

Lantern making

On my last blog post (Busy December), I mentioned something about a lantern contest we joined. It is a competition between the different departments of our institution. The objective of the contest is to make a lantern representing the region assigned to you. You also have to wear a costume representing your region during the lantern parade. We represented Region XII or better known as SOCCSKSARGEN. We designed our lantern based on a Fanoos (or a Ramadan Lantern) because we thought that there a lot of Muslim in Region 12. So we basically made a Muslim-based or a Muslim related lantern. We covered the whole frame of the lantern with plastic cover and 5 colors of cellophane. We cut and shaped a lot of old pirated CDs and placed it on the outer layer of our lantern, giving it a mosaic effect. The cut-outs were forming a fish-like effect because of tuna which related to the region's major export product. The size of the lantern is 2 1/2 feet in width and about 2 1/2 feet in height (about 5 1/2 feet with the tail). Overall, I personally think that the lantern gives you the impression that it is Muslim-related but it does not lose the Christmas spirit of a parol. The combination of the colors and the glimmering effect of the CDs are vibrant. I personally think it is very unique (probably the only one of its kind.haha.). It is very eye-catching in the morning especially when the sunlight gives a reflection on the CDs, but it also looks outstanding in the evening when its lights are turned on. Well, you be the judge. Check some pics I posted:

~We placed second on the Lantern and placed third on the costume~

This is our explanation or the meaning of our Lantern:

"Ang aming parol ay kumakatawansa Region 12 o mas kilala sa tawag na SOCCSKSARGEN na binubuo ngSouth Cotabato, Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani at Gen. Santos City. Itong limang lugar na ito ay ipanakita namin sa aming parol na binubuo din ng limang kulay. Ang mala-bituin na hugis naman ng aming parol ay hango sa Ramadan Lantern o Fanoos, pinili namin ito dahi lmarami tayong kapatid na Muslim sa Region 12. Ang bituin din ang isa sa mga simbolo ng pasko. Ayon sa Bibliya, isang napalaking bituin o tala ang gumabay sa tatlong mago upang makarating sa Bethlehem kung saan ipinanganak ang sangol na si Jesus Christ. Ang disenyo naman ng aming parol ay hango sa pangunahing produkto ng Region 12, ang mga isda, partikyular na ang Tuna. Ang tuna at iba pang fish product ang major export ng Region 12. Sa Katholisismo naman, ang isda ay ginawang simbolo ni Jesus Christ ng mga sinaunang Kristiyano. Ang buong parol ay napapalibutan ng disyensyong isda na nanggaling mula sa mahigit na 200 recycled at ginupit na cds. Ito lahat ay hand-crafted at isa-isang ginupit at isa-isang nilagay ang humigit-kumulang na 650 pirasong cds na nagbibigay ng mala-Malong na epekto. Ang Malong ay isa ding kilalang produkto ng Region 12. Ang malong ay isang tradisyunal na kasuotan na sinusuot ng mga taga-Region 12 (gaya ng mga suot namin). Napili din namin na gumamit ng mga lumang cds dahil pangunahing produkto din ng region 12 ang DVD! DVD!."

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Please comment or share your experience. Thank you and God bless!

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Busy December

It's just a few days before Christmas, 15 days to be exact! Last week was a week of cramming! We prepared for our early Christmas party and we tried to meet the deadline for the lantern making contest. We did our best to finish our lantern which actually won today! (2nd prize! Yahoo!!!) We're still not finished with the lab decors yet because we finished the lantern first. Our Christmas tree is literally naked. Haha! The frame of our tree is made out of chicken wire shaped into a cone forming a pine tree like structure. It will be decorated with recycled lab materials. It's halfway done that's why I refer to it as naked. It's going to be pretty glimmering when it's all done. Wink! On a personal level, I have not started buying gifts for my friends and family. I guess I have to hide to my inaanaks too! haha! I have to buy gifts as soon as possible, I particularly don't like overcrowded malls. So I have to do my shopping early to avoid this. Plus, I have relatives and friends arriving from abroad this December. I have to manage my time and schedule to accommodate everyone. Whew! Just thinking about it makes me tired!


Hope all you guys are doing fine this BUSY and TOXIC December! Plan ahead and manage your time properly!

Share to all Med Teks, health professionals and to those who are experiencing a toxic December!

Please comment or share your experience. Thank you and God bless!

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Had a bad day?

Everyone experiences a bad day at work.  You’re doing your thing and suddenly you committed a mistake and everything seems wrong already. Much worse is if it happened on a Monday. Oh you just wished its Friday already. Well, things happen. As I quote from the movie Forrest Gump, “Sh*t happens!”. For us Med Teks, we must be able to adapt quickly since we are working in a fast-paced environment. It’s hard to break down in front of a lot work especially when a life of another person may be involved.

I would like share to you my personal tips that might be a bit of help when you encounter a bad day. You don’t really have much of a choice if you have these kinda days so you might as well do something about it and move on. Here’s what I think:

Relax. This would probably be the best tip I can give. When there’s an earthquake, fire or any disaster you can think of, everyone would tell you not to panic. They’re right. Same when you have a bad day at work. People tend to get irritated and frustrated. Just ease up and relax. When you miss your blood extraction of the day, you get discouraged and you feel that you don’t want to extract anymore. Again, relax. Call the next patient and extract again.

Take a minute. We never had the time to just pause for a while. But the truth is, we need it. I guess sometimes we have a bad day because we’re just so tired and so stressed out. I remember one time, I could not make good paraffin ribbons, I was not sure why but I just couldn’t. I stepped out of the room for a minute, went back in and finished my job. I think it would not hurt if we just relax for a moment, take a deep breath and have a break. I don’t think a few minutes would hurt especially if it can improve the outcome of your work.

Just do your thing.  It doesn’t matter if you have failed extractions, long lines of patients, countless urine specimen to analyze or numerous platelet counts to check from dengue patients, all you have to do is continue on what you do. Remember, just relax, take a minute if you have to, then work again. Don’t let the “toxicity” get the best of you. The flow of your work is continuous, patients will come and go, lab exams and lab works will continue to pile up or mellow down. It is unending. So just take the heat of the moment and do your thing.


Funny but true quotes that my fellow Med Teks have shared:
"Relaks lang, lamang tayo!"

"Ayos lang yan, may bukas pa naman e!"

"Ayoko na, endorse ko na 'to..."

"2pm na ba? 6am-2pm lang ako e..."

"Napagod ako, babawi ako mamaya... kakain ako ng madami!"

"Ang toxic! Inuman na 'to mamaya!"

(Disclaimer: The author of this blog does not endorse any quotes aforementioned. Although, I do believe it is quite funny.)

Share to all Med Teks, health professionals and to those who are having a bad day!

Please comment or share your experience. Thank you and God bless!

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