Page 9 - 01_2021 PULSE@FASS e-Bulletin

ALUMNI VOICES SERIESLUMNI VOICES SERIESLUMNI VOICES SERIES
AA Issue no. 1 | 2021

Reflecting on my career, I have enjoyed my illustrious dynamics, in order to help them back to independence. It
career as a medical social worker. The work is never easy; can also be emotionally nerve-wracking for workers like us
apart from the difficult medical terminology to learn, when financial aid, equipment and food are limited. One of
medical social workers must develop soft skills especially the hardest things I have had to do is turn patients away
in the art of communication. A medical social worker must because the funding for the year has been exhausted.
face the daily challenge of meeting the expectations of Depending on government funding alone is not sufficient
severely ill and terminally ill patients who are poor or as such finite resources can never meet the infinite
homeless. There are also patients who are jobless, poor medical demands. And so, a crucial part of the job is
and impoverished and are mentally and physically having to identify potential donors to complement
government funding through networking. The
affected by their circumstances. Also, prolonged treatment physical
can be harsh on both the patients and their families. and emotional demands of working with hospital patients
has never got the better of me. As an alumnus of the Social
And so, medical social workers must have the ability to Justice Department, I am proud to say that I have never
understand the patient’s environment and their family regretted, nor have I lost the passion of, serving as a
medical social worker. The value of seeing a patient you
“...like the saying “perseverance have assisted smile and recover is worth more than its
and hard work pays”, slowly but weight in gold.
surely I became an expert reading

what was documented and in turn
it facilitated my work.”

We also do our community work to give assistance for patients who With my mentor Prof Dr Siti Hajar Abu Bakar
are bed ridden at home

One of the programs to help the department of paediatric from Petronas for setting up a
mini library and help the poor patients specifically for paediatric wards

9 | Pulse @ FASS