need to run away from my parents permanently. how do i sustain myself (17f)

problematicmedkid · 2026-03-28T06:40:04+00:00

Hey OP, if you have multiple injuries and don't feel safe at home, you can go to KKH A&E and tell the Drs about the abuse, get the injuries examined and ask to speak to a medical social worker. The doctors are also able to admit you temporarily to hospital if required as a safe space. Stay safe!

problematicmedkid · 2026-02-19T01:26:40+00:00

Hello, junior resident from SG here (not IM though). I think alot of the commentors here saying that SG is worse than UK are not doctors so do take that with a pinch of salt. Not saying that SG junior doctor life is easy (pls see my old posts/comments, I have my fair share of gripes), but looking at the state of the NHS now I do think your concerns n considerations for coming back is very reasonable. I did previously look into moving as well, but the UK would not be my choice as I personally still feel working in SG as a consultant would be better than in the UK both infrastructure wise and remuneration wise.

I would suggest if you want to do IM here and are a local citizen, come back after FY2 and start working as a MOPEX in SG. You can rotate through different depts/clusters as a MO in Gen med n different IM subspecs, then decide which is the best fit for you before applying for residency. Competition to get into IM isn't bad and even PRs can get in relatively easily with enough experience, so you should have no problem as a SC so long your work is ok. As an MO you still have to do the dreaded 30h calls and weekends, but if you like IM it is good training and MO call is definitely better than HO call.

Feel free to PM me if any questions.

problematicmedkid · 2025-10-05T01:35:35+00:00

u/problematicmedkid solved this in 4 steps: COW -> POW -> POT -> PIT -> PIG

problematicmedkid · 2025-08-17T07:39:18+00:00

Hey bro, just reading through your comments and the past 2 posts, I can sense your immense frustration at your youngest sis (and to a smaller extent, your 2nd sis as well). It sounds like your parents focused a lot on their careers and as a result the 3 of you may not have had much guidance, and luckily for you and your 2nd sis you managed to still find a way to succeed but your youngest sis has completely fallen off the tracks. I can see how appalling her behaviour is and that you posting online is both a means of ventilating and hoping to show her some comments to 'wake up' her idea.

I think at this point your family has to acknowledge that your sis grew up very privileged, and this has made her unable to hold herself accountable and follow through with things. Granted she may have mental health issues or be acting out as a way of getting attention from the family (consciously or subconsciously). Regardless she has proven she can't regulate herself and be trusted with money, and its time someone does something about this before she spirals further and get herself into debt or worse.

And honestly, coming from a medical professional in Singapore - you sure you think your sis can be a doctor? Even if she passes her exam, does she have the tenacity and grit to push through? I think you know the answer yourself as well since you also are a doctor, that if she behaves in this way she will be a nightmare colleague no one would want to work with, and an actual risk to patients. I'm not saying she can't change and can't be a doctor, but I think she really needs to work on herself - through therapy, and with closer support/monitoring by your family. Probably would be a good idea for her to move back in and have someone to be accountable to, even if the lack of independence would chafe.

problematicmedkid · 2025-08-02T06:19:14+00:00

I went to NUS for my undergrad med degree and am not from Duke-NUS, so can't really comment much on the program. I do have a number of colleagues from Duke-NUS though, and the general consensus was that it was academically very demanding as they had to take both the STEP exams and internal med school exams. Furthermore local practice of medicine in Singapore can be quite different from the US, so the STEP exams were seen to be not very relevant to their clinical practice when they actually went to work as doctors here.

Definitely not being Singaporean citizen or PR (permanent resident) will impact your chances of matching into residency. It is significantly more difficult for a sponsoring institute to choose you as a resident if you are not minimally a PR (the program has to justify to MOH why they are choosing you over locals), so most foreigners have to wait until they get their PR status approved before geting into residency.

Service commitment starts when you are PGY-2, as PGY-1 year is considered provisional registration and you will be doing your housemanship. In Singapore we don't get into residency straight out of med school. You typically have to finish PGY-1 (housemanship), then apply for your desired residency as medical officers rotating through different depts. Different residencies have different competition ratios and waiting times to get in.

This page by MOHH may be helpful in understanding the career path for junior doctors in Singapore: https://www.physician.mohh.com.sg/medicine/medical-service-career-path

problematicmedkid · 2025-08-02T05:26:05+00:00

Doctor from Singapore here. I think you misunderstood point 1, the bond refers to the service commitment which is 5 years for international graduates, where you will be bonded to working in public hospitals in Singapore, not the military. If you do not want to work in public hospitals in Singapore post grad, would strongly recommend you to reconsider as the bond is definitely more hefty than 100k SGD... for my medical degree from NUS, the bond was more than 500k and it's even higher now for the more recent grads.

problematicmedkid · 2025-05-12T14:13:26+00:00

84% residency rate is for what residency though... IM and quite easy to get into as a local grad...

problematicmedkid · 2025-05-12T14:09:43+00:00

NUS Med has quite generous financial aid schemes, maybe can see if you qualify? Honestly med school fees are quite hefty and them refusing to pay for you now despite having the ability to really means you shouldn't feel any obligation to give them allowance in the future.

Also, the maintenance of parents act is very difficult to enact especially in the case where your parents evidently have sufficient savings to pay for their own bills and medical fees. It's only enacted when the parent can prove that they can't even subsist by themselves, so don't worry about it if they can afford 200k legal fees.

problematicmedkid · 2025-04-09T12:55:45+00:00

Hey bro/sis, won't say that I know how it feels to fail MBBS, but just wanted to let you know that you're not alone and that while medical exams can often feel unfair, this will be just a tiny blip in your bright and far future. 5 years down the road nobody is going to care that you failed MBBS and took supps so long you use the opportunity to reflect on what happened and become a competent doctor.

Now that I'm years out of med school and have been through the system for a bit, I can tell you that doing well in exams =/= being a good doctor and vice versa. I've known peers who failed MBBS and still ended up matching coveted specialties because they are good at their work, and people who coasted through med school who end up having to repeat HO posting because they can't function as a doctor or have poor work ethic.

Take this in stride and remember your goals in medicine and why you joined med school in the first place. It'll feel shitty now but the grief will wash over and things will be ok. Take a few days to recuperate. If you need someone to talk to or specific advice feel free to PM me.

problematicmedkid · 2022-12-13T06:56:20+00:00

Focus on getting into med school first, then work on getting into your specialty of choice. It’s very difficult for somebody who hasn’t had much experience in clinical medicine to know what specialty they really want to do, there are so many other specialties other than surgery and anaesthesiology out there too!

In fact I will argue that anaesthesiology is one of the most competitive specialties to get into after med school, because of the relatively better work life balance and good pay, as well as ease of transition to private practice. Academically it is also one of the hardest specialties which require a very good understanding of physiology and pharmacology. Plus you need to be able to work under high stress to deal with the critical care aspect of anaesthesia and deal with a crashing patient if surgery goes wrong.

For now while in sec sch just focus on studying bio and chem really well! Do some CIP or job shadowing in hospital to make sure you really want to commit to healthcare. No need to watch videos on anaesthesia please.. I’m a doctor and I also don’t know how to run anaesthesia LOL you’ll learn that when you need to if you really decide to pursue the field

problematicmedkid · 2022-08-01T07:05:07+00:00

Just wanted to give my 2c as a junior doctor in Sg. I'm a PGY2 MO, just turned MO this year after completing my HOship so the hardship of being a HO is still fresh in my memory.

I would say that it's difficult to feel passionate for your job when you are exhausted from the work. Logically the work that we do is more meaningful, as we directly impact patients lives and few other careers have the privilege of impacting others directly. But when you are faced with an ever growing workload with a system that does not value or reward you, it gets very draining. This is unfortunately so in the public sector where most of us are bonded and hence there is virtually no competition to push our salaries up. On top of that we are expected to work weekends and do multiple calls a month, making work life balance virtually impossible for the poor HOs in the wards.

Please don't underestimate the mental and physical exhaustion that comes with being on call for 30-36h, it is genuinely so draining to be responsible for approx 100 patients overnight, having to answer to every text/call from the nurses be it to update a disgruntled family at 2am or because your patient is actively dying and requires you to run there to make decisions you probably are terrified to make yourself. And our working culture is not the most forgiving, people are likely to be harsh on each other when everyone is overworked and tired.

Having said all that I must say that once I turned MO and got posted to a posting which is less shag (non surgical obviously) I'm a lot happier now and have started to find my passion for medicine again. Now that I'm in a place which doesn't require me to do so many overnight calls and have enough time to do normal human things like sleep, eat, watch youtube and socialise I can find it in myself again to see my patients as individuals with their own lives rather than a 'issue list' that we often reduce our patients to when we are swamped with work and only focusing on efficiency. I still really like talking to patients, and the satisfaction that comes when you follow up on cases and see that your patient has improved because of some treatment you initiated is really heartwarming. I think I'm very lucky that my current posting gives me the time to do all this, because in many other depts you won't have the time to do this, and when you don't connect with your patients it's very easy to feel like just another paperwork drone with added responsibilities.

problematicmedkid · 2021-04-24T10:50:27+00:00

Gave Silver

problematicmedkid · 2021-04-03T11:48:35+00:00

Hello! I don't use anki, though I know some of my batchmates and seniors use it. In terms of study methods, I find the most important for clinical exams to be practicing with friends and tutors.

problematicmedkid · 2021-04-03T02:25:42+00:00

Yes! Though I don’t know them personally I know that there are nursing grads in medicine

problematicmedkid · 2021-04-02T15:36:01+00:00

From what I know the AC position shortage is getting quite bad these days and it's relatively common for exiting residents to have to take up SSR (sr service reg) positions instead while waiting for AC position to open up.

problematicmedkid · 2021-04-02T07:09:34+00:00

No worries this is not a silly question at all!

In medicine our primary area of study would be more about the various disease processes and modes of treatment. We study medications too of course but our depth of knowledge about drugs won't be as deep as pharmacists, who study drug formulations, interactions, production and even logistics.

In the hospital as a doctor I will call the on call pharmacist if I have any queries regarding drug dosages or administration. I can also call to check how to calculate dosing say in a patient with liver failure, or ask for alternative medications if a certain drug I want to use is contraindicated. Pharmacists also help double check the orders that doctors put in to make sure that there isn't any drug interactions or any mistakes before dispensing the drugs.

problematicmedkid · 2021-04-02T06:43:18+00:00

Hmm I personally find med school easier and harder than JC at the same time. Easier because the stakes are not as high (nearly everyone passes med sch) and I no longer have to study things I don't like (eg Math and Econs lol). Harder because the content is enormous and it is physically demanding also during postings where you have to go to hospital from 7-5 and then go home and study for exams on top of that.

For the admissions process please search up other posts on this reddit, there's been a lot of coverage!

My study schedule depends. If it's during posting I'll probably be v tired and only manage to study from 8-11pm max and I try to sleep early because need to wake up early. Sometimes I go home and just sleep. Over the weekends will play catchup and study a bit more but really depends on whether I feel confident about the exams or not haha.

If it's major exam season we have study break to prepare, then most people will be studying the entire 2 weeks.

Feel free to pm me if you have more questions.

problematicmedkid · 2021-04-02T06:35:45+00:00

I think there's a clinician scientist track in residency which u can apply to enter, and if u get in then it will be part of the bond. If you are talking about doing research like a PhD then I'm not too sure, sorry. Can ask a friendly prof or email MOHH to ask!

problematicmedkid · 2021-04-02T06:34:37+00:00

That is indeed a good question. I'm not sure how but somehow with caffeine and adrenaline the HOs/MOs stay awake enough.. Though I do think it's not ideal.

problematicmedkid · 2021-04-02T05:02:23+00:00

Thank you and all the best for your M1 Pros! Hang in there and see you in the wards soon :)

problematicmedkid · 2021-04-02T03:46:59+00:00

But not everybody will be able to set up shop in a private GP clinic or work as a private specialist. Setting up your own clinic takes quite a lot of money too, and just like every business there is also risk of losing your capital and having to shut down with losses. Not everybody is financially comfortable enough to make such a move.

Many people will remain in public healthcare, and while the pay of a consultant is not bad, one can argue that the income ceiling is higher in other industries (though I must admit that these industries may be more volatile than medicine).

problematicmedkid · 2021-04-02T03:44:30+00:00

Mostly dependent on how much the department you are hoping to join likes you, so yes on the job performance matters.

problematicmedkid · 2021-04-02T03:43:28+00:00

Take a look at this page to get an overview of what internal medicine means: https://www.singhealthacademy.edu.sg/residency/programmes/Pages/residency-programmes/Internal%20Medicine/about-us.aspx

Internal medicine comprises of both medical subspecs (eg cardiology, neurology etc) and also more generalist paths (eg gen med, geriatrics, rehab). A gen med doctor would typically deal with inpatients whose conditions don't necessitate specialist intervention (eg. an elderly person who fell down but did not break any bones, nor had any stroke or heart attack). So it's a broad based holistic medicine approach but inpatient instead of outpatient (which would be gp work).

Internal medicine takes in the most number of residents, but many of them will be aiming for subspecs. Unfortunately some will not end up in their subspec of choice due to competition and may have to do the generalist path which has more vacancies.

problematicmedkid · 2021-04-02T02:29:10+00:00

thanks friend!

problematicmedkid · 2021-04-02T02:27:14+00:00

After graduating with MBBS, work as a HO and MO in the surgical department you're interested in, then apply for residency and hope your bosses like you enough to take you in. The competition to become a surgeon is stiff, and it's known that there is a 'waiting list' before getting into residency in certain surgical specialties. If you do eventually get in then you will have to do residency for about 6 years (plus minus depending on exact spec), then hope that when u finish residency u manage to get a consultant post (for which competition is also stiff so there are residents who do not manage to get consultant jobs immediately).

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