NVS

It's been close to a month since I've started seeing pts at NV. The school is housed in the middle of housing flats in Yishun, and the building is 19 years old and counting. The architecture and layout reminds me of the old RJ compound, small, but cosy, a rather homely feel.
The students that I've seen by far are the worst behaved amongst the 3 schools that I've been to. However, the encounters I've had were much more interesting as compared to the other two schools. Population wise, this school has the smallest enrolment. There are only 3 express classes, and 5 other Normal classes.
On some days, I can really be driven crazy by the din that is created by the rowdy students. They usually come in their cliques, and usually it's a all-or-none strategy employed by such students. You either see none of them, or take in the whole jing bang, rowdiness and all. They would refuse to go back to class after you're done with one of them, and they would only leave together when the clique has completed treatment. On some occasions, the clique would refuse to leave, choosing instead to stay in the mobile to enjoy the aircon, expressing their fascination at our 'microwave'(autoclave) oven, playing with the extra chair or simply, being a nuisance. My nurse was worried that the staff may be unhappy with the students staying unnecesarily, but I'm thinking, the teachers should be grateful to us for taking all these students in, who would otherwise disrupt their lessons in class, judging from their behaviour in our mobile.
Some of the students are clearcut disciplinary cases. Most of them come with tongue studs, lip piercings and what have you. Interestingly, they are often the ones who complain that scaling is painful. To me, that tongue piercing of 3mm in diameter looked much more daunting than my scaler tip. Some come in with nicotine stainings and equally potent breaths to match, and are currently under counselling for smoking cessation. They represent the modern Hokkien Shakespeare, and exhibit proficiency in dishing out vulgarities in 3 out of the 4 national languages.
There were even three students organising a group confrontation in my mobile when one of them was recieving dental treatment. One of the them(from sec1) had been 'diaoed' by a sec 2 boy, and the sec 3 students were planning to call in reinforcements to support their confrontation. Apparently, they operate by neighbourhoods. Members at Admiralty are too far to render any support. Yishun members had to be rounded up for the 'big' event.
Of course, there are the perennial jokers. One guy who required root canal treatment for a decayed tooth insisted that I 'knock his head, make him sleep' and give the injection. I duly rejected. There was no need to sacrifice his continued cognitive development for an infiltration.
In general, it has been a culture shock, as well as an eyeopener. Previously, the most rebellious act I've done in school was to turn up late for school. My school life really paled in comparison. However, it is disheartening when you think of them as kids who had just left primary school 3 years ago, but changing from innocent young kids to such rebellious teens. But well, in my short encounters with them, I do advise some of them to work hard for their future. Hopefully, some of my advice had had some effect. Meanwhile, I shall pray that my sanity will be preserved in the midst of the ruckus that the cliques create during my screening sessions.

Yesterday, the mobile DOs made our way back to HPB to attend the briefing on the workplan for HPB for this year. Figures and numbers had been bandied about, and we were told to improve on the targets set last year. Sometimes I wonder,statistics is used by the administrators to rate performances and determine the employees' efficiency and work quality. However, in clinical situations, numbers simply do no justice to the complexity of clinical practice. Grey areas do exist. Sometimes, compromises are made in the pursuit of fulfilling the numerical targets. Well.. but I guess there's not better way to go about evaluating the performance of an institution.
Anyway the briefing ended early, and we managed to sneak out to Clarke Quay, bidding a silent farewell to koffAahemBkoffT. Had lunch at Azabu Sabo(is it spelt like this?), tried the Hokkaido hotball. It tasted like fried potato or sweet potato, topped with vanilla ice cream, red bean and Japanese sweet potato. DS tried a dessert similar to an expensive chocolate ice kachang, minus the jelly beans. The food there looked rather promising, will go back one day to try their main courses.
Attended the NUS symposium today, saw many familiar faces, seniors, Profs and other clinical instructors. The lecturers were rather engaging, especially Prof Stanley Malamed. Americans seem to have a way in lecturing, they're always more engaging, more interesting than the rest, and the way they weave anecdotes into their script is amazing. The other Italian speaker spoke on usage of MTA, and some of his philosophies are rather radical, from my personal point of view, well... take the stuff with a pinch of salt I guess.
Tomorrow will be a packed day of lectures again. Time to zzz..

Today marked the end of the posting at HPB centre, so no more crying kids for a long long time. Back to my mobile tomorrow, together with my DSA, but handling a much more notorious school. Hopefully they'll cooperate, not default on appointments so that I can clear my quota.
North View, here I come!